Buying a bike for daily work commute



gazza12

New Member
Aug 18, 2011
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Hello all,

I have recently decided to get into the riding scene so I could live a more active lifestyle, and also so I can commute to work during the week (5-6kms each way, give or take) which is along 1 bike track and a small stretch of road a block away from the office.

The local bike shops here are mostly Giant resellers, so my choices are fairly limited but thats fine with me. Research on the internet pointed me in the direction of the GIANT Transend and the Cross City.

I decided to go to the local store yesterday and they seemed to suggest the 2012 Roam, The Cross City 4 and the Seek 2. They discouraged looking at the Transend, calling it a "Gentleman's Bike" and saying it wasn't worth it for a commuter (they didn't ask what my trip would be). They were really pushing me to look at the Roam, saying that the 27 spd would make it a much better bike for the price. I don't know how big of a difference the 27 would be from a 24 spd though.

So I thought I'd come here in search of opinions. I do like the look of the Transend, the rear rack would be quite useful for those days when I need to bring back some papers from the office, or to even if I need to take stuff in with me one day (All small things that would go in a bag of course). The Seek looked really good also, I did like the feel of the breaks on it, they seemed very responsive and easily controllable. But I haven't been able to find much with comparisons of the bikes from other riders.

They didn't have many test models ready when I want in, so I couldn't actually test any out, but they said they would have more ready on the weekend, so I think I will go back and have a look then.

If anyone is able to give a few pros/cons or even a bit of advice it would be appreciated. I haven't looked at bikes in some time so I don't really know what I should be looking at.
 

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