Advice Anyone???

[Chuckles1981]

Hi This is my first post so be gentle with me
Im looking to purchase a commuter for my daily 15 km ride to and from work. Im riding an Jamis Ranger 3.0 and its abit heavy and missing 1st and 2nd gear . So i've been looking around and the Trek Soho 4.0 and the Moongoose Sabrosa Ocho has the feathers im looking for. (Internal gears & disc brakes). So i would like eveyones 2 cent on if what im looking for is correct and what else should i keep an eye on???
Sorry this is off topic but is the a good time to buy bikes?? cos i called around for prices and one guy said that in 3-4 months all the 09 models are coming out...should i waite??

PS i got a good price on the moongoose from cycolgy (gladeville) $1299 and the trek is $1499 from renegade (lane cove)

[Aushiker]

G'day

Welcome to the forums.

Is your commute all the riding you plan to do? Can you give an idea of the ride conditions?

Why do you want disk brakes and internal gears? I ask this as it seems the Trek is low spec components and for the price you can get a better spec Giant (and probably Trek amongst others) but without disks and internal gears.

All that said you should really ride both and if they are the style you want, buy the one that "sings" to you

Andrew

[Chuckles1981]

it 95% back roads/resdential streets but very hilly
I hear internal gears r carefree and dont need to worry about the rain and easy to use and disk brakes cos more power and i like the looks of them ... i've only been biking for about 3 months so i dont know much and all the info i get is from mags and books...

[Aushiker]

it 95% back roads/resdential streets but very hilly
I hear internal gears r carefree and dont need to worry about the rain and easy to use and disk brakes cos more power and i like the looks of them ... i've only been biking for about 3 months so i dont know much and all the info i get is from mags and books...

Hi

Okay, I don't have any experience with internal gears so will let others discuss the merits of them or otherwise. With respect to the brakes I have V-Brakes on my CRX 1 which is my commuter and they are fine for the role. I have dicks on my XTC 2 mountain bike and they are great in that role. My concern would be that you are getting heavy low end components for the $1500 when you can a better spec bike with better quality components by going with a external gears and v-brakes.

But if you are someone who wants hassle free and really only want to do your commute then the way you are thinking is probably fine. It just wouldn't work for me.

Andrew

[Kalgrm]

I have dicks on my XTC 2 mountain bike and they are great in that role.

Really? I've never thought of that particular application for them.

Cheers,
Graeme

[simonn]

I currently commute from Freshwater (formerly Harbord) to North Ryde, so I am guessing by the LBSs you mentioned that I know the area-ish. I also used to commute up Allambie Road which is ~165M climb.

FWIW and IMHO...

Get a light a road bike as you can afford because it makes a huge (unbelievable for me!) difference, particularly on hills. I was lucky to find a cheap Giant OCR2 on this forum and it has made a HUGE difference over my average to low end MTB with slicks e.g. I would estimate an extra 25% speed (or lack of effort).

Three chainrings are worthwhile if you are commuting because you are not riding for fun (although fun it may be) and some days you may want to put as little effort into hill climbing as possible - I find spinning a lot less effort now than I used to.

Don't worry about disc brakes. I have them on my MTB, but not on my roadie and they both stop the bike equally well.

[Geoff3DMN]

I *love* the hub gears on my Giant Cypress City for commuting.

Not having to worry about being moving or what speed one is moving and just being able to spin the gear change from 7th to 1st at the lights and take off in 1st is so much easier.

Do you really need disk brakes?

Giant do a CRX City pro flat bar 8 speed internal hub gear road bike with standard rack that might also suit you.

[senator52]

Regarding time of sales:

Yes you can wait and there is a chance you will find what you want at a better price. The longer you wait however the less chance what you want will still be in the store. Your LBS will stop ordering new stock sometime soon and therefore whatever they sell, you want be able to get between now and the new models, in which case you're looking at full RRP again or as rumoured on another thread, more than the RRP of this year (because of materials cost etc). Its a judgement call.

When my dad was shopping for his new bike he was keen on a Giant OCR C2, think it was retailing at around 2.5k but on special it was just under 2 if i recall (which Im not sure I do...) by the time he went back to put the deposit down, of course it was sold and apparently none left in the state...so he missed out. But then again he just went up to the next model and got full Ultegra

[Hawkeye]

Internal gears are reliably rumoured to be less efficient (read: more effort to pedal for the same road speed), and getting the wheel off and re-aligned when it goes back on after a puncture is more painful as they have neither the tensioning effect of a derailleur, nor quick-change skewers, nor vertical dropouts.

I find that changing gears up and down is now second nature: I rarely think about it and it just happens. On the occasions I get distracted and find I'm still in the big ring and little cog when I've come to a stop, it's as simple as lifting up the rear wheel and spinning the crank with one foot until you get the one you want.

As to the rain, a wipe with a rag and a spin around the chain with the lube bottle afterwards is all the effort you need to expend. You would need to do this with hub gears anyway.

[Geoff3DMN]

Another advantage of hub gears (to counter the issue of wheel removal) is that chain alignment is always perfect which means loss of power in the chain/sprocket system is minimized.

Running chains on derailers at wide angles is also 'rumored' to be less efficient

[Aushiker]

I have dicks on my XTC 2 mountain bike and they are great in that role.

Really? I've never thought of that particular application for them.

Andrew

[Dcyclist]

I ride both an internal (hub) geared bike, and a derailleur MTB. Much as I love my commuter bike, it is more awkward to remove the rear wheel than on my other bikes. If you have a lot of hills in your commute you may find that the range of the hub gears is not quite wide enough for you as well. That said, they are very easy to keep clean and lubed. I bought the Blade8 nearly a year ago. Initially I found it a bit hard to get used to, but now for a commuter bike I can't see myself riding anything much different. I now have nearly 8000km on the bike and other than a few broken spokes early on, the bike has not missed a beat. Yes, I'd like to get a conventional road bike for a play bike for weekends, but at the moment the budget won't extend that far. If you do go for the hub gears, don't mistake low maintenance for no maintenance. The hub does need to be cleaned and repacked with grease periodically. Whatever you decide on, don't forget the main thing, have fun riding that bike.

[crhoo1]

My wife bought the avanti blade 8 speed internal geared bike. We paid $700 for it . We've been happy with the performance.

[Chuckles1981]

Thanks everyone for the replies...
im guessing at the end of the day eveyone has different idea on what they want out of a bike.
The only way to tell for sure is going into the shop and ride it for myself.
So what kind of a bike should i get for $1500 then???

[Mulger bill]

...So what kind of a bike should i get for $1500 then???

Anything with Giant on the downtube

G'Day Chuckles.

It really depends what you want the bike for, if you want the ultimate low maintenance ride, a 1x1 or fixie is the go, but a killer on hills. Hub gears are low maintenance but the wider range might be a killer on the hills.
Derailleur bikes can be a PITA to maintain, but set up right are great all rounders.
Disc brakes rock in the wet, but can be overkill otherwise. (My next roadie will have discs, they just look soooo good. )

Think about what surfaces you're riding, how fast you want to get there, do you want comfort above all, load carrying ability if you want to do a shop run and a dozen more. Different answers to that mean different ideas from us.

Good luck on the hunt.

Shaun

[Chuckles1981]

I have been going thu most of the post...and i see a general trend on Giant bikes... Are they that great??? or is eveyone working for them here
???

[senator52]

Are they that great???

Value for money - yes.

[Kalgrm]

Are they that great???

Recently, someone here likened them to the "Toyota" of the bike world. Serviceable, reliable, good value for money but common as muck and not very prestigious. If you're into function over style, Giant bikes are indeed great.

Cheers,
Graeme

[senator52]

And if you're into style - PASS

[rustychisel]

I dunno, some Giants can be made to look quite stylish and individual, IMO.

http://www.fixedgeargallery.com/2005/ap ... heaton.htm

[Mulger bill]

Now that's adding your stamp to a bike.

Should really post a pic of Princess since the work.

Shaun

[Mulger bill]

That Giant/Toyota thing eh? True, Giant is not rare but you don't see many Maseratis built in the Hyundai factory. Badge engineering is rife in this game. You'd think that other companies sending Giant a cad file and getting back a container load of soon to be "exotica" might just say something about R&D and production quality.

Big thing is Chuckles, if you don't feel special on the bike, be it a $2k Giant or a $12k Tommasini you've wasted your money. Go with what makes you smile.

Shaun

[vitualis]

For commuting, the Shimano internal hub gears (Nexus or Alfine groups) are really quite good. Both groups come with hub or disc brakes though they may not be used on the bike.

With regards to getting the rear wheel off, it is true that it is somewhat more difficult than on a standard rear wheel as they do not come with a quick release. However, if you use a good quality tyre and a slime tube, you can mostly avoid needing to repair or change a tube on the road.

With regards to cleaning the chain, I still do it my Alfine equipped bike, but most out of obsessiveness (as I keep the bikes in the house and I don't want to get the floor dirty). I have let the chain get very dirty in the past and after a good clean, there was no real improvement in performance afterwards. The same is not true for my other bikes.

In terms of the range of gears, the Shimano 8 speed hubs will not be as wide as your average MTB but the lower gears are definitely lower than your standard roadie. That is, unless you specifically set up a road bike, the hub gears equipped bike is probably better for climbing hills than a road bike (the weight of the bike notwithstanding). The big difference though is that there tends to be a big jump between gears on the hub gears.

Cheers.