Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Hi, am back to Melbourne after 6 years in London. Am 36, 5'11", and just started riding last year (first time since childhood BMX) to and from work, and to the gym, supermarket etc. Changed my life and meant I gave up travelling on London buses.

The bike I had in London wsa a cheap hybrid (approx au$400), which was okay but did need a fair bit of servicing/replacing parts in the one year I was riding. So I've decided to spend a bit more here, but don't know whether to stick to hybrid or go up to 'flat-bar road bike', which I'd never heard of till I came back here.

The bloke at the bike store suggested Giant CRX4 or Kona Dew (both flatbar road bikes), but this was in response to me saying I wanted a bike + accesories for under $1000. If I'm travelling, say, 15km round trip every day, plus occasionally going out and riding, do I need a flat-bar road bike, or would hybrid be fine? I'm happy to service my bike, but would like to have a bit more faith in it that I did in the Kmart-style version I had before, ie I'd like to have less go wrong than that one!

The crux or my question is: should I feel ripped off spending $1000 on a commuter, when I don't care about how it looks, I won't be racing it, I won't be riding with other people - it's just transport - or is that a good, sensible investment?

Thanks.

G'day Darthminogue,

Welcome to the forum.

I've shifted your thread across to the appropriate section for these (million or so) questions.

~$1000 sounds like a fair sum to pay for a bike you'll own for many years, will perform reliably during that time and be a pleasure to ride.

Some people would be happy with a hybrid, but few people who get into cycling in any meaningful way would. They may be heavy, not necessarily comfortable and can be slow when compared to bikes which are built for the purpose of riding on roads. (Hybrid = compromise in my book.)

Have a look through the sticky in the "buying a bike" section. See if that helps at all. We made it to help people in your situation.

Cheers,
Graeme

Another option would be too look in the second hand market.. there seems to be some very nice 07/08 hybrids & flat bars selling for sub $1000 (IIRC there was a Cell road bike, with all the accessories for $80 on this forum) and I know of at least two nice FlatBar's being sold on other biking forums, again under $800...

Just a thought..

$1000 was my budget when I dipped my toe into cycling with the Avanti Blade 2 ($550 new at the time) plus helmet, shoes, pedals, pump, etc. That was a good starting bike for me for 6 months until upgradeitus set in.

I've since blown that out by let's just say a factor of over 10 in a year.

If you plan to use your bike for commuting and the occasional going out, a not too expensive bike gives you more peace of mind when you lock it somewhere in public places. For exactly that purpose I bought a CRX4 a few years ago (for only $550) and found it a very reliable bike. Apart from changing the chain and gears after 4500km and patching a few punctures, which is not too unusual, it hasn't required any repairs or changing parts yet (at 6000km).
I guess the best person to answer your question is you anyway, if you do a test ride on a road bike and one on a hybrid you will see which one makes you more happy.

suff wrote:Another option would be too look in the second hand market.. there seems to be some very nice 07/08 hybrids & flat bars selling for sub $1000 (IIRC there was a Cell road bike, with all the accessories for $80 on this forum) and I know of at least two nice FlatBar's being sold on other biking forums, again under $800...

Just a thought..

Care to share which forums?

I am in a similar situation - back in Melbourne after 8 years in USA and back on the bike. I had the advantage of 6-9 months on an old bike I brought back with me but now it's on it's last legs and too hard work (dual susp MTB). My commute was 44km round trip and is now 30km each way (only ride one way each day). My budget is similar to yours but since I have almost all of the accessories which I purchased already (shoes, pedals, helmet, computer, ligths, clothing, etc...) I have been looking at a higher limit for the bike.

I decided on flat bar road bike over hybrid - mainly because the hybrid doesn't seem to have any advantages over a flat-bar when riding in the city, and the hybrids don't have many fans on here.

I looked at the Giant CRX4 but have decided to go up in spec. Giant gets great reviews. Giant usually has a premium due to the name. Others you may consider are Scott Sportster P, GT Transeo, Shogun Mach. Others were also recommended to me but I haven't found I saw as great value over and above that list.

I am going test riding this weekend hopefully

Good luck with your search.

alect wrote:Giant gets great reviews. Giant usually has a premium due to the name.

I disagree - until the recent price hike, Giant were consistently great value for money across their range. So much so that many people wouldn't consider Giant because they were "too common". They are the Toyota of the bike world - reliable, cheap(ish) and everywhere. I don't think you pay a premium for the brand.

Cheers,
Graeme

Kalgrm wrote:

alect wrote:Giant gets great reviews. Giant usually has a premium due to the name.

I disagree - until the recent price hike, Giant were consistently great value for money across their range. So much so that many people wouldn't consider Giant because they were "too common". They are the Toyota of the bike world - reliable, cheap(ish) and everywhere. I don't think you pay a premium for the brand.

Cheers,
Graeme

+1

When I was researching bikes late last year/early this year, I really didn't notice Giant's prices being any lower than brands like Trek, Avanti etc - at least in my price range of <$2k.

m@ wrote:When I was researching bikes late last year/early this year, I really didn't notice Giant's prices being any lower than brands like Trek, Avanti etc - at least in my price range of <$2k.

That would be true - that was after their price hike took place.

Cheers,
Graeme

it really depends on what its use will be. both me and my partner have hybrids amongst other bikes which we bought for social rides and short commutes with not so great security, ie i'd rather that get stolen than any of my other bikes and at $300 it was so cheap comes with a years free servicing and has reasinable parts that have been trouble free for what we use them for. last month we took them down south and rode them on some hard packed sand, pea gravel access roads, forest fire trails and they don't handle like an mtb but they made it and it was reasonably easy and comfortable. i find them to be slower than a road bike but a fair bit quicker than a hard tail mtb with slicks.
if you were going to have one bike to dabble at everything they can work if you could afford two bikes then there is no point which i think is the issue here most members seem to have more than one bike so a hybrid has no use, but they sell really well so they must work well in the right situation.

Thanks, this is really helpful. I am worried about it being stolen, but will look into insurance for that rather than getting a cheap bike that will be more frustrating in the long run.

suff wrote:(IIRC there was a Cell road bike, with all the accessories for $80 on this forum) Just a thought..

That should be $800 in the For Sale section on here, but that's still quite a lot of bike and kit for the money

Check out the Fuji, Merinda, and Felt, flat bars the Avanti Blade is a great bike and Giants are crap

Big Jonny wrote:Check out the Fuji, Merinda, and Felt, flat bars the Avanti Blade is a great bike and Giants are crap

you sound a lot like a goldcross employee

Big Jonny wrote:Check out the Fuji, Merinda, and Felt, flat bars the Avanti Blade is a great bike and Giants are crap

BJ,

A friendly word of advice on forum etiquette: check the dates of the last post in a thread. If it's been dormant for some time, it's usually best to just let it lie without comment. Darthminogue only made two posts, both of them in this thread. There is every chance he had his question answered 8 weeks ago, has bought the bike and doesn't need any further advice on this particular topic.

To dig up old threads is known as "grave digging" and is generally considered poor form unless you have some wonderful new insight or new information relevant to the thread has surfaced. Yours was only a shallow grave to dig - I've seen some threads exhumed after 18 months, so don't feel too bad. Just consider if the comment you're about to post is actually adding to the knowledge contained in the thread before turning the sod.

Cheers,
Graeme

im_no_pro wrote:

Big Jonny wrote:Check out the Fuji, Merinda, and Felt, flat bars the Avanti Blade is a great bike and Giants are crap

you sound a lot like a goldcross employee

not an employee but a buyer of a new flat bar and i was surprised to find 2 brands felt and fuji that I hadnt seen before.

Kalgrm wrote:

Big Jonny wrote:Check out the Fuji, Merinda, and Felt, flat bars the Avanti Blade is a great bike and Giants are crap

BJ,

A friendly word of advice on forum etiquette: check the dates of the last post in a thread. If it's been dormant for some time, it's usually best to just let it lie without comment. Darthminogue only made two posts, both of them in this thread. There is every chance he had his question answered 8 weeks ago, has bought the bike and doesn't need any further advice on this particular topic.

To dig up old threads is known as "grave digging" and is generally considered poor form unless you have some wonderful new insight or new information relevant to the thread has surfaced. Yours was only a shallow grave to dig - I've seen some threads exhumed after 18 months, so don't feel too bad. Just consider if the comment you're about to post is actually adding to the knowledge contained in the thread before turning the sod.

Cheers,
Graeme

thanks for the advice Graeme, message understood, cheers BJ

Big Jonny wrote:

im_no_pro wrote:

Big Jonny wrote:Check out the Fuji, Merinda, and Felt, flat bars the Avanti Blade is a great bike and Giants are crap

you sound a lot like a goldcross employee

not an employee but a buyer of a new flat bar and i was surprised to find 2 brands felt and fuji that I hadnt seen before.

Fair enough, there is someone who works (AT) my local GX by the name of Jonny, so made an ASSumption

Edit: sorry for gravedigging grame, missed the new post when it was put up