Sporty commuter bike, recommendations?

[[email protected]]

Hi,

I'm looking to buy a sporty bike for my soon-to-be-daily commute. I've
been spinning for a little over 2 years, but this is the first
"serious" bike I'm considering buying. My commute is going to be about
8-12km (and back, of course), so some 40-120km/week. I don't anticipate
I'll be cycling much in addition to that (my spin addiction doesn't
really leave me all that much time, really )

I started out looking at the Trek 7.5, but have also looked at the 7.3,
but the bike shop (with which I have had good experiences so far)
strenuously suggested getting the 7.6 (which is in fact a little more
expensive than I had budgeted for) with the argumentation being mainly
that the quality of the bike is so much better that I would be making
up the price difference on maintenance in fairly short order. I have no
real reason to disbelieve them, they've been excellent so far, but it
is a pretty penny to spend so I'd love some insights on this matter.

I was also told that the chain and cartridge would last about
1500-2000km, which would mean I'd have to replace them some 4-5 times
per year. Is that also correct?

Thanks!

 

[Mike Kruger]

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking to buy a sporty bike for my soon-to-be-daily commute.
>
> I was also told that the chain and cartridge would last about
> 1500-2000km, which would mean I'd have to replace them some 4-5 times
> per year. Is that also correct?
>

The Chicago Tribune has a review of several models in today's paper (free
registration required).
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-0605310186jun01,0,2298225.story
The reporter (Julie Deardorff) actually rides, and the article is pretty
good. She "tested five wildly different commuter options: Breezer's Citizen,
Kona's Dr. Dew, the Dahon Speed, Easy Rider's Tour Easy recumbent and the
Raleigh One Way."

Trek's a good company, but I can't comment on the models you are
considering.

1500-2000 km seems a little soon to replace the chain, but it depends on the
territory and how clean you keep it. The better option is to measure for
chain "stretch" and replace the chain as soon as it shows measurable
stretch. See "Chain Life" at
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/chain-care.html Chains are cheap, so if
you feel like replacing it every 2000 km, go ahead. It's the bicycle
equivalent of changing the oil in your car more often than necessary.

Cartridge? Do you mean the rear wheel gear cluster? You will get a lot more
than 2000 km out of that, especially if you change the chain in a timely
manner. My winter bike gets a lot of salt and dirt, and I don't clean the
bike very often in the winter, but I still replace the cluster only about
every 5000 miles (8000 km). Other than that, I've replaced only one. That
was off a used bike, and I put 8500 miles (over 12000 km) on it myself.

 

[Gooserider]

"Mike Kruger" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm looking to buy a sporty bike for my soon-to-be-daily commute.
>>
>> I was also told that the chain and cartridge would last about
>> 1500-2000km, which would mean I'd have to replace them some 4-5 times
>> per year. Is that also correct?
>>
>
> The Chicago Tribune has a review of several models in today's paper (free
> registration required).
> http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-0605310186jun01,0,2298225.story
> The reporter (Julie Deardorff) actually rides, and the article is pretty
> good. She "tested five wildly different commuter options: Breezer's
> Citizen, Kona's Dr. Dew, the Dahon Speed, Easy Rider's Tour Easy recumbent
> and the Raleigh One Way."
>

OK, I went to http://www.raleighusa.com, and I couldn't find any model named
"One Way". Google turns up nothing.

 

[Gunny]

[email protected] wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking to buy a sporty bike for my soon-to-be-daily commute. I've
> been spinning for a little over 2 years, but this is the first
> "serious" bike I'm considering buying.

I bought a Jamis Avalon several years ago and I am very pleased with it
to date. Has been problem free. I use it on a local bike trail and
probably have put several thousand miles on it easy. They go for $425,
retail.

Their URL is <http://www.jamisbikes.com/>. Here's what the Bicycling
Buying Guide said about it in 2002:

JAMIS ARAGON
Comfortable, efficient townie

COMFORT DETAILS: The Aragon goes one further than the usual suspension
fork and seatpost, with comfortable rubber inserts on the brake levers
and pedals. The bike is as easy to ride as it is fun. SPEEDY WHEELS:
The slick tires with internally grooved tread give low rolling
resistance and a quiet ride, and still grip on light dirt surfaces. 7
SIZES: 14.5-22"; woman's 14.5", 17.5" FRAME: TIG-welded 6061 aluminum
FORK: InSync Odessa 160 (45mm travel) COMPONENT HIGHLIGHTS:
Shimano/SRAM 21 speed drivetrain; suspension seatpost.

Gunny

 

[Todd Tannenbaum]

Previously [email protected] wrote:

>
> I started out looking at the Trek 7.5, but have also looked at
the 7.3,
> but the bike shop (with which I have had good experiences so
far)
> strenuously suggested getting the 7.6 (which is in fact a
little more
> expensive than I had budgeted for) with the argumentation being
mainly
> that the quality of the bike is so much better that I would be
making
> up the price difference on maintenance in fairly short order

Sounds fishy to me. Trek makes a good product. Moving up the
line I would expect better components, i.e. lighter weight for
same strength, smoother drivetrain/shifting. But I would
consider any of the models you mention above as durable.

> I was also told that the chain and cartridge would last about
> 1500-2000km, which would mean I'd have to replace them some 4-5
times
> per year. Is that also correct?

Not in my experience. I am no competitive racer, but I do
commute daily and bring my bike into a shop for tune-up annually.
My chain goes almost twice as far as you state above, and
cartridge 3x or 4x as far. A lot of cartridge wear is determined
by how clean you can keep your chain, and the terrain on your
commute (sandy or dusty roads, etc.). Maybe one reason my chain
and cartridge last is that I do use a Park Tool chain cleaner
regularly. YMMV.

Enjoy bike commuting! I love it, and I've commuted daily for
many years on my trusty 14 year old Schwinn CrissCross. Don't let
someone tell you to spend more $$$ than you budgeted for commute
riding. I can only guess you'd be happy w/ either the Trek 7.3
or 7.5. I'd use the $ you save on full fenders, some rain gear,
a good rack (don't use a backpack!), halogen lights, and an Arkel
bag for your rack.

On the other hand, even the 7.6 is a lot less then you'd spend on
a junky car ...

Regards,
Todd

--
Remove NO SPAM to reply via email
Posted via a Palm OS PDA (Handspring Visor Edge)

 

[Earl Bollinger]

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking to buy a sporty bike for my soon-to-be-daily commute. I've
> been spinning for a little over 2 years, but this is the first
> "serious" bike I'm considering buying. My commute is going to be about
> 8-12km (and back, of course), so some 40-120km/week. I don't anticipate
> I'll be cycling much in addition to that (my spin addiction doesn't
> really leave me all that much time, really )
>
> I started out looking at the Trek 7.5, but have also looked at the 7.3,
> but the bike shop (with which I have had good experiences so far)
> strenuously suggested getting the 7.6 (which is in fact a little more
> expensive than I had budgeted for) with the argumentation being mainly
> that the quality of the bike is so much better that I would be making
> up the price difference on maintenance in fairly short order. I have no
> real reason to disbelieve them, they've been excellent so far, but it
> is a pretty penny to spend so I'd love some insights on this matter.
>
> I was also told that the chain and cartridge would last about
> 1500-2000km, which would mean I'd have to replace them some 4-5 times
> per year. Is that also correct?
>
> Thanks!
>

Nothing wrong with the bikes, if they feel good to you go for it.
if you aren;t sure of which bike you like the most go with the dealer you
like the best, a good dealer may be worth more than the bike itself.

Now chains and cassettes are always interesting. I didn't say anything
earlier as I had to go and check my commuter bike's chain and cassette
first.
On my commuter bike, I was using some cheap OEM types of chains and
cassettes and they wore out pretty fast, something like 1,000 miles or so.
I have a 23 miles one way urban commute that i ride often, but not every day
though. I would clean and oil the chain once a week. The "favorite" cogs on
the cheap OEM cassettes seem to wear down fast on me. But usually I could
run through two chains per cassette. I think all that road grit, dust,
riding in the rain, etc would really play havoc with chain wear.

So one day I figured I would try some 'good parts" so I bought an expensive
Shimano cassette and a nice stainless steel Wipperman chain. So after using
up all my cheap parts I put on the good parts. So far with 1600 miles on the
chain and cassette i still don't see any obvious cassette wear, and using a
ruler to measure the chain stretch shows no noticeable wear on the chain
still. On the cheap chains I would have noticeable wear at like 600 miles or
so. The better cassette appears to have a higher quality harder steel versus
the lower grade steel in the cheaper cassettes. The chain of course is more
expensive because of the stainless steel and maybe using bushingless
construction. http://www.connexchain.com/ I am not sure about the actual
chain construction as i didn't have to remove any links when i installed it,
so I don't have anything to pull apart yet to look at for sure.

But I still need to ride it more to see how long it lasts before I can be
more definitive. Wipperman claims like 40% longer life with the chain over
other chains.
there is still the question of value as to whether to wear out say two cheap
rear cassettes and several cheap chains versus the cost of the more
expensive better quality stuff.
I think the cassette cost like $59.00 and the chain was like $49 last year.
This is versus using say two $25 and under cassettes and some cheap under
$20 chains.
Also the performance of the good parts was striking. The good cassette and
Wipperman chain shifts so fast and smooth, in comparison to the cheap stuff,
it just goes from cog to cog so effortlessly and reliably. So it may be
worth it just to get that super nice shifting effect as I really like that.

Another thing is the chain construction or manufacture of the chain. The
older style chain uses the pins with maybe some bushings under the rollers,
so over time the pins wear down causing the chain to stretch wearing out the
cog teeth on the cassette. newer chains use a "bushingless" type of
construction, where the rollers do not rub on the pins. With the newer
bushingless chains, it is easier to get oil under the rollers on the chain
so the chain stays lubricated better. So a cheap chain would have just pins
and rollers which are harder to keep lubed thus seems to wear out faster.
Sheldon Brown goes into a lot of detail here too:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chains.html

 

[[email protected]]

Todd Tannenbaum wrote:

> Not in my experience. I am no competitive racer, but I do
> commute daily and bring my bike into a shop for tune-up annually.
> My chain goes almost twice as far as you state above, and
> cartridge 3x or 4x as far. A lot of cartridge wear is determined
> by how clean you can keep your chain, and the terrain on your
> commute (sandy or dusty roads, etc.). Maybe one reason my chain
> and cartridge last is that I do use a Park Tool chain cleaner
> regularly. YMMV.

I'd only be riding on paved roads. Most of them asfalt.

> Enjoy bike commuting! I love it, and I've commuted daily for
> many years on my trusty 14 year old Schwinn CrissCross. Don't let
> someone tell you to spend more $$$ than you budgeted for commute
> riding. I can only guess you'd be happy w/ either the Trek 7.3
> or 7.5. I'd use the $ you save on full fenders, some rain gear,
> a good rack (don't use a backpack!), halogen lights, and an Arkel
> bag for your rack.

I did budget for those But now it seems the I had forgotten to take
eyewear into account. I wear glasses, so I'll need to get some
prescription cycling glasses; what I've seen so far wasn't exactly
cheap.

> On the other hand, even the 7.6 is a lot less then you'd spend on
> a junky car ...

True, true. But we have two cars, I'm not getting *another* junky car

 

[Kevin]

You mention having to get prescription eyewear. I rode with someone last
week that had a really nice pair of sunglasses that had full protection
frames and she had them OVER her prescription glasses. I figured they had to
be some high priced contraption. WRONG! They were from the local drugstore
chain for a few dollars! I have to make a run there soon! Don't overlook the
obvious...


<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Todd Tannenbaum wrote:
>
>> Not in my experience. I am no competitive racer, but I do
>> commute daily and bring my bike into a shop for tune-up annually.
>> My chain goes almost twice as far as you state above, and
>> cartridge 3x or 4x as far. A lot of cartridge wear is determined
>> by how clean you can keep your chain, and the terrain on your
>> commute (sandy or dusty roads, etc.). Maybe one reason my chain
>> and cartridge last is that I do use a Park Tool chain cleaner
>> regularly. YMMV.
>
> I'd only be riding on paved roads. Most of them asfalt.
>
>> Enjoy bike commuting! I love it, and I've commuted daily for
>> many years on my trusty 14 year old Schwinn CrissCross. Don't let
>> someone tell you to spend more $$$ than you budgeted for commute
>> riding. I can only guess you'd be happy w/ either the Trek 7.3
>> or 7.5. I'd use the $ you save on full fenders, some rain gear,
>> a good rack (don't use a backpack!), halogen lights, and an Arkel
>> bag for your rack.
>
> I did budget for those But now it seems the I had forgotten to take
> eyewear into account. I wear glasses, so I'll need to get some
> prescription cycling glasses; what I've seen so far wasn't exactly
> cheap.
>
>> On the other hand, even the 7.6 is a lot less then you'd spend on
>> a junky car ...
>
> True, true. But we have two cars, I'm not getting *another* junky car
>

 

[Earl Bollinger]

"Kevin" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> You mention having to get prescription eyewear. I rode with someone last
> week that had a really nice pair of sunglasses that had full protection
> frames and she had them OVER her prescription glasses. I figured they had
> to be some high priced contraption. WRONG! They were from the local
> drugstore chain for a few dollars! I have to make a run there soon! Don't
> overlook the obvious...
>
>
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Todd Tannenbaum wrote:
>>
>>> Not in my experience. I am no competitive racer, but I do
>>> commute daily and bring my bike into a shop for tune-up annually.
>>> My chain goes almost twice as far as you state above, and
>>> cartridge 3x or 4x as far. A lot of cartridge wear is determined
>>> by how clean you can keep your chain, and the terrain on your
>>> commute (sandy or dusty roads, etc.). Maybe one reason my chain
>>> and cartridge last is that I do use a Park Tool chain cleaner
>>> regularly. YMMV.
>>
>> I'd only be riding on paved roads. Most of them asfalt.
>>
>>> Enjoy bike commuting! I love it, and I've commuted daily for
>>> many years on my trusty 14 year old Schwinn CrissCross. Don't let
>>> someone tell you to spend more $$$ than you budgeted for commute
>>> riding. I can only guess you'd be happy w/ either the Trek 7.3
>>> or 7.5. I'd use the $ you save on full fenders, some rain gear,
>>> a good rack (don't use a backpack!), halogen lights, and an Arkel
>>> bag for your rack.
>>
>> I did budget for those But now it seems the I had forgotten to take
>> eyewear into account. I wear glasses, so I'll need to get some
>> prescription cycling glasses; what I've seen so far wasn't exactly
>> cheap.
>>
>>> On the other hand, even the 7.6 is a lot less then you'd spend on
>>> a junky car ...
>>
>> True, true. But we have two cars, I'm not getting *another* junky car
>>
>
>
I got a pair of "Fitover" sunglasses like these
http://www.sunglassesgiant.com/cosu.html at Walmart for a good price.
They work pretty good for me.

 

[Matt O'Toole]

On Thu, 01 Jun 2006 15:14:31 -0700, [email protected] wrote:

> I was also told that the chain and cartridge would last about
> 1500-2000km, which would mean I'd have to replace them some 4-5 times
> per year. Is that also correct?

Most of us get about 3k mi. out of a chain with reasonable maintenance.
Cassettes can last 3-5 times that, especially if you replace your chain on
time (<1/16" elongation over 12").

Matt O.

 

[[email protected]]

Gunny wrote:

> I bought a Jamis Avalon several years ago and I am very pleased with it
> to date. Has been problem free. I use it on a local bike trail and
> probably have put several thousand miles on it easy. They go for $425,
> retail.

The frame looks (to my eyes) a lot like the Treks I've been looking at.
The Treks have a "straight" handle bar with bullbars though, and SPD
clips for my shoes. That's more the type of bike I'm leaning towards. I
think the Jamis also has front suspension; I've tried bikes with
suspension in the fork, but found them a bit "soggy" to ride,
especcially when I got out of the saddle to build up some speed.

Thanks,
Emiliano

 

[[email protected]]

[email protected] wrote:

> The frame looks (to my eyes) a lot like the Treks I've been looking at.
> The Treks have a "straight" handle bar with bullbars though, and SPD
> clips for my shoes. That's more the type of bike I'm leaning towards. I
> think the Jamis also has front suspension; I've tried bikes with
> suspension in the fork, but found them a bit "soggy" to ride,
> especcially when I got out of the saddle to build up some speed.

I am also considering the Cannondale Road Warrior 600 and 800. How
would these compare agains the Trek 7.6FX?

Anyone know where I can find the weight of these bikes? I had expected
the brochure sites from the manufacturers to list them but appearantly
they don't.

Emile