Buying a bike

[Debbles]

I have been looking for a ladies leisure bike, mainly for using on bicycle tracks. I will ride approximately 10 hours a week and my budget is between $400-$600. My research and visits to a few shops has narrowed it down to the following:

Avanti Flat Bar Road Aria 2 (2012 model) $499

Apollo Trace 10 WS $450

Malvern Star Sprint Series 5.0 W $550

I have tried to do a comparison between the bikes, however, with limited knowledge of the gearing systems etc it is a little daunting.

I look forward to some advice.

[rangersac]

The gear system on the Avanti and the Malvern Star (MS) is of slightly better quality than the Trace 10. There's not much between the MS and the Avanti once past that though without getting really specific about hub and rim types, which don't really matter a lot since you just generally want to cruise around on bike tracks. I'd go the Avanti, only because it has a CroMo fork rather than the steel of the MS so should be lighter.

[TDC]

10 hours per week will possibly equate to 200 - 300 km per week. This is quite significant. Your fitness will pick up quickly doing this amount of riding. You may want to not rule out drop bar road bikes with this volume of riding.

[jasonc]

10 hours per week will possibly equate to

a lot of maintenance on a cheaper bike

10 hours per week - get shimano 105 as a minimum. so you're either going to have to up your budget or go second hand.

[rangersac]

a lot of maintenance on a cheaper bike

Regardless of the gearing system you will need to do regular maintenance given the volume of riding you are aiming for. Whilst this may sound daunting, realistically all it involves is wiping down your chain, gear sprockets and cables to get rid of any gunk every 2-3 weeks and re-lubing. That, and learn how to work the barrel adjusters for your gear mechs (very, very simple) and that's the drive train taken care of (until you need to change cables, cassette etc., and that's what the LBS is for if you don't fancy being too technical). I also don't agree with the statement that you need 105 as a minimum. I commute 60km a day on a drive train of a DNP front derailleur (if you google it, you will see just how cheap and nasty these are!) and an Acera rear derailleur, and have done so for the past five years. They still work perfectly fine provided I clean and lube regularly. I also have bikes with much 'nicer' gear systems, which still get the same regular lubing and cleaning routine otherwise they stop performing well. Sure, they shift more crisply and quickly, but at the end of the day you still get where you need to go with a minimum of fuss.

or go second hand.

+1 for this though, particularly if you have a mate who can help you out searching who knows a bit about bikes. You'd get a level of components far above the new bike equivalent.

[jasonc]

Regardless of the gearing system you will need to do regular maintenance given the volume of riding you are aiming for.

Agreed that regular maintenance will be required whatever groupset you get.