Hi,
Well this seems like the most recent active thread on this subject so I'll jump in here.
I'm new to this and just thinking about getting a bike. My primary goal is for fitness which pretty much any bike will work for.
I plan on riding mostly around town on paved streets, or parks with bike paths, however if I do keep my interest I may want to venture
out onto dirt or gravel trails up in the canyons. Even though my intentions are good and I'd like to keep at it, I'm a realist and don't want to
drop $800-1000 on something that ends up on the back porch after two months, so I'm trying to keep my price range in the $500-600 or below range if possible.
My initial thought was a Hybrid, something like a Fisher Zebrano, Nirvana or maybe a Kaitai or one of the Treks 7300 or 7500. It seems these would
suit the primary goal. However if I do keep at it and want to go up onto the trails, my thoughts are that these wouldn't be too suitable, for that
I was looking at the Fisher Marlin, Wahoo or a Trek 4300 or 4500. I know from reading my searches that there are others out there, but the local
shops I've been to seem to mostly have these brands.
Anyway I'm sort of thinking that my best bet would be to get the mountain bike rather than the hybrid, I'm guessing that I could put different tires on them more suitable for riding on the road?
Can you put the type of wheels that are on the hybrids on the mountain bikes, the 700's or will they not fit?
The other thing I'm unsure of is if I get to the point where I ride for any distance, like more than 10 miles or so, would the mountain bike be suitable for that?
One of the guys at one of the shops (showing me the Zebrano), seemed to indicate that for any extended period a mountain bike would be more uncomfortable than the hybrid type.
I'm going to try and test drive some of them this week to see which ones feel the best, but I was hoping to maybe get some opinions from
some of the more experienced people on here.
Thanks.
