Discuss Bicycles with me

[yellowdoyle]

Hello there,

I have recently got into some light/medium mountain biking. For those familiar with the area, I go to Sycamore Canyon on the PCH near Pt. Hueneme and Malibu.

I am looking to upgrade my bike fairly soon, and am looking for some ideas. I currently ride a GT Avalanche 3.0, w/o discs, and am looking into the 400-500 dollar range. Any specific or general recommendations are appreciated.

Also - lots of the roadbikes at the shop are looking very appealing to me right now as well. I have rode to work and college a couple times (both about 8-10 miles) but with the Mountain Bike tires it seems much harder than it has to. I have seen some very lightweight roadbikes (duh i guess?), and I am really finding the ones with the flat "regular" handlebars appealing as of late. I am not too big a fan of the curved style...but I am not too educated on it either.

My current mountain bike

A road bike example

[Klompy]

I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for, another mountain bike or not. The only thing I can say is that if you're using it for concrete riding most of the time buy a good road bike with the curved bars, you'll wonder how you ever biked on anything else.

[Paul B.]

[yellowdoyle]

Klompy -

I guess I am saying I am looking into 2 bikes. One a better MTB and then perhaps a road bike as well. So any info on either style would be appreciated. I am not versed in bike lingo, so I would not necessarily know what to look for in either type of bike.

[Alobar]

Shop around for a used mountain bike (ebay, craigs list, etc), you can get some really great bikes in the 400-500 range sometimes.

You can buy a pair of slick tires for a mountain bike that will make riding it on the road MUCH easier.

As far as a road bike handlebars go, I see a lot of people now wanting a road bike with the flat bar. Honestly I dont really understand why, other than the fact this is what everyone is used to. The normal "curved" bar on a road bike offers a lot more grip positions which is nice because it allows you to change your hand position which helps keep your hands from going numb and allows you to find a comfortable grip. Also it puts you in a more responsive stable (and aerodynamic) position when you are riding with your hands on the hoods (the standard position). Most people dont know how to properly grasp the bar in this position, so dont be afraid to ask the guy at the shop (find out if he actually road rides first tho, heh). Once you get used to it, i think its far superior to a flat bar for any sort of road riding.

[swede123]

First of all, now is a pretty good time to purchase bikes, as many shops are offering the '05 and '06 models on sale to make room for more of the '07s. A couple of quick comments...

Roadbikes typically cost more than comparable quality mountain bikes. You'd be hardpressed to find a solid roadbike for anything less than a grand, but you could get a pretty decent mountain bike for $700 or so.

If you're mostly concerned about the friction of the tires you can get two sets of wheels/tires for your MTB, one with knobby tires and one with slicks for road riding. This will make quite a bit of a difference, though obviously nowhere near the step up to an actual road bike. You could also get aero bars installed on your mountain bike handlebars, allowing you to be a bit more aerodynamic when riding on the road.

If you're looking to spend $400-500 I'd suggest you stick with your GT until you can save up a little bit more. For $800-1000 you can get a solid mountain bike with quality components (compared to those on your current bike for example), perhaps previous years' model or something, especially if you're not extremely tall (it gets much harder finding bargains when you need a 23" frame as opposed to a 19" frame).

Ultimately decide what you need the bike for more; off-road riding or commuting to work/school - let that dictate your purchase.

Swede