Road Exercise / Commuter Bike - GMC Denali?

[itbrti]

I looked around on the forum, read through some threads but they mostly all from 2007. I'm looking for a bike for both exercising and commuting <4 miles to local places. I've been on a tight budget for a while and having a car isn't helping (even if it's a Ford Focus!). I liked using my Fuji mountain bike to get to where I wanted to be, it just took a little more effort. I've been looking on Amazon.com for road bikes and one that kept appearing was the GMC Denali. It has some good and bad reviews, but they basically said the same thing: you get what you pay for. I've done some research for the past few weeks on road bikes and I learned that they are not cheap! I was relieved when I saw the Denali bike had a good rating and was cheap too. But after reading through some reviews I started to worry. The shifters are low quality (from a Mountain Bike?), as much of the rest of the parts. a forum user, n2t, said that the low-quality shifters do not make hills easy. I live in a flat area so hills are not really a problem for me. The only issue I'd have to worry about it a bridge I have to cross if I so choose to. He gave his opinion on it in a thread from 2007 (http://www.cyclingforums.com/t/396309/gmc-denali-commuter#post_3274581) but I'd like to get a more current review. To me, the bike is looking like an IKEA build to me. (You have to put it together, it looks nice, but it performs not as nice as you want it too). For example, I have a beautiful IKEA desk, it works flawlessly, but it's cheaply made. I found a really nice LBS that sells custom beach cruisers, I'll have to print out the specs of the Denali and get their opinion on it too. Since they mostly deal with beach cruisers, I'm not sure if their opinion on it will be the same as some on this forum. If they (or people on this forum) do give it a thumbs up I can take it to their shop to get it finalized. I'll take any opinion really, all the opinions I've found on the web are outdated reviews. I know people said that it's from Walmart so stay away. I first saw it on Amazon (I buy EVERYTHING on Amazon) with some good reviews. Thanks -Dustin

 

[vspa]

  .

whats wrong with your Mountain Bike ? for less than 4 miles rides there is no need to buy a road bike, it would make no difference really, im also a fan of Amazon, but for a complete bike i would buy it on a bike shop, where you would return often for mechanicals and tweaks you might want to make,

 

[itbrti]

Originally Posted by vspa .


whats wrong with your Mountain Bike ? For a complete bike i would buy it on a bike shop, where you would return often for mechanicals and tweaks you might want to make,

Nothing wrong with my mountain bike. I do need to get the shifters tuned (or replaced?) since they haven't been in a long time. I'm going to stop by my LBS in a few days to see what they have in stock. From what I've seen from their main area, it's like a build-a-bike shop. I'll have to see what they do specifically. There is another bike shop about 15 miles away but I'd rather not go there (Guy prices bikes at 120%, real know-it-all smug guy).

 

[itbrti]

There's nothing wrong with my mountain bike, other than the front and rear (new) derailleur need adjusting. I called the local bike shop and they basically said they don't sell road bikes, but they do get them in now and again. Once the holiday (New Years) is over, I'll stop by and see what they can recommend. Like you said, if there's no difference, I'd rather just get the derailleurs adjusted and maybe a set of fresh tread. I just did some measurements (Google Maps) It's 3 miles to where I work, and 5 miles (plus bridge) to the suburbs. Not too bad.


I'm still waiting for a moderator to approve my last post. Do you know how much I have to post to be taken off of post moderation?

edit: weird this one posted right away.

 

[vspa]

no, posts go in automatically, moderators delete them afterwards, if they are spam like or ofensive posts, forum members also help telling moderators about spam posts,

 

[itbrti]

Weird - I didn't think I posted anything spammy. Nevertheless thank you for your input, I'll take a look around the forum for some basic road bike options. Do you recommend any specific brands that are good?

 

[maydog]

Front deraileurs and adjustments should be cheap. If you are not comfortable handling these items yourself - I cannot reccomend that you pursue a GMC bike.

If you use your mountain bike primarily for commuting, then you should look into getting street tires for it - that will make a big difference.

 

[itbrti]

I had put the derailleur on a few days ago and adjusted them today using Park Tool's guide. http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/categories/derailleur-systems

My mountain-type tires still have tread on the side (see photo album) and are not cracking so I'll keep them till summer. I'll keep an eye out for road tires in the meantime.

 

[itbrti]

My post was held for moderation because it said I was new. Must be because I posted a link. Let's try that again.


I had put the derailleur on a few days ago and adjusted them today using Park Tool's guide.

My mountain-type tires still have tread on the side (see photo album) and are not cracking so I'll keep them till summer. I'll keep an eye out for road tires in the meantime.

 

[ChrisRider]

It really depends on what you personally like, you could get a 700 x 38C thats a good compromise for you i think.