On Sun, 30 Apr 2006 19:55:58 -0400, Nobody Important
<
[email protected]> wrote:
>I'm in the market for a new hybrid bike but I haven't bought a bike in
>many years. In trying to compare bikes from different manufacturers,
>I'm trying to classify the gear in terms of highend, value, budget etc,
>but the Shimano website is not very helpful in this regard (indeed, I
>think it's specifically engineered to prevent this kind of comparison).
>
>Anyone know of a web page that gives this type of information in a frank
>manner?
As you go down the column from top to bottom on the US Shimano website
pages for road, mountain and comfort lines, you descend in price as
well. Price is an indicator of quality with Shimano in most cases,
but among the top two or three brand designations in the road and
mountain categories, the differences start to get much more esoteric
than the average hybrid rider needs to be concerned about. My
personal ballpark method of estimating quality on the fly when looking
at a bike is centered around a few quickly-examined indicators.
First, if the clamp that mounts the front der to the seat tube is
stamped instead of cast, the der and the rest of the stuff on the bike
is probably low-quality, and is likely to be annoying. Second, if the
bike has grip-shifters, I count that as a negative indicator, in part
for personal reasons. If the bike has less than 8 sprockets in the
rear, it's probably equipped with a freewheel instead of a cassette;
this is another indicator of low quality overall. If it has *exactly*
8 sprockets in the rear, and it's not a major bike-store-brand bike
(particularly if it's any brand sold by a department store or the
equivalent), it becomes necessary to look closely enough to verify
that the rear wheel uses a cassette and not a freewheel. The presence
of an 8 speed freewheel is a sign of cost-cutting; the unsupported
length of the axle on the right side of such a rear wheel is a known
problem that leads to axle breakage.
Be aware that many low-end makers gleefully mark the bikes "Shimano
Equipped" when only one or two items in the drivetrain, shifting or
brake systems are from that company.
An honest bike shop will be candid with you about the real relative
value of the various Shimano lines. In the midrange stuff, there's
really not a lot of difference in how well they work in my experience.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
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