Recreational & Family - insight, please!

just curious -- is anyone in this forum familiar with the gary fisher 'cronus?'

i am currently riding a fisher 'capitola' with an 18.5" frame. i purchased it impulsively less than two months ago and now wish that i had held out for a different bike with a 21" (xl) frame to accomodate my 6' 4" height. the geometry on my capitola does not work.

fisher currently only offers three models in his comfort (sport utility bike) classification. the cronus, at least price wise, is his top of the line, listing at $569 i believe. however, upon viewing this bike on the fisher website i notice that it only has one front sprocket - crank - a 38 tooth, and apparently 9 on the rear cassette. that would make it a 9 speed, correct?

that certainly doesn't seem practical, unless of course the bike will always be used on fairly flat terrain. comfort bikes, after all, are pretty bulky critters and it would seem that the most expensive model would offer a wider range of gears. the capitola i have now is a 21 speed and the in-between model, the 'napa,' is also 21 speeds.

am i missing something here?

also, a little background on me. i'm 59 and had taken an almost 15 year hiatus from cycling. in my younger years i had ridden a road bike around all of the hawaiin islands as well as extensively throughout southern california. then, mountain biking became my passion - riding fire trails as well as other off road terrain in the local foothills. i live in a fairly hilly area of southern california - sierra madre - and don't plan on doing much, if any, off-roading - dirt, that is - i'm primarily interested in finding a bike that will be enjoyable to ride on paved paths - one that will also be capable of navigating the local grades easily.

i am also considering two bikes in fisher's line of hybrids - the nirvana 's' and the utopia.

any thoughts would be appreciated as well as any insight on the cronus, 9 spd.

thanks,

sdr

The cronus 9 speed casssette has a large 34 T on the back...so your hill climbing ratio is 38:34. For example, my old road bike's easiest gear is 42:28, which is harder. However, lots of hybrids with triples up front have an easiest gear of 28:32 or 28:34, which would be easier than the cronus. The range of gears seems pretty reasonable, there just aren't that many of them. But when you think about a triple, there are lots of gears you can't use b/c of cross chaining, or other gears combinations which are essentially duplicates of each other.

i am currently riding a fisher 'capitola' with an 18.5" frame. i purchased it impulsively less than two months ago and now wish that i had held out for a different bike with a 21" (xl) frame to accomodate my 6' 4" height. the geometry on my capitola does not work.
sdr

Hey SDR:
Have you spoke to the shop you purchased the bike from, letting them know how you feel. My concern is how you feel, and if you are not totally comfortable, the excuse to not ride enters the picture. Some shops will work with you and make sure you are on the right bike, even trade in at a decent value on the bike you purchased towards a better bike. Some don't. Worth looking into anyway, and making sure you are comfortable, wanting to ride, should be the main concern of any shop IMHO. Good luck too
Hope this goes well
Tim

tim,

fortunately, the shop that i purchased my bike from has indicated that they would be willing to work with me as far as taking my bike back, the capitola, and allowing me to trade up for a more expensive "right sized" bike. we still haven't ironed out the exact amount that they will allow in trade, since i didn't have my bike with me at the time i spoke to one of the employees. worse case scenario on my current bike is that i could sell it to a friend for very close to what i paid for it.

my quandry now is what do i really want -- comfort bike vs. hybrid?

since i hadn't ridden a bike in quite some time my riding preferences have yet to be clearly defined, and, quite frankly, the more that i investigate my options (so many) the more confused i become.

thanks for help!

sdr

SDR:
Oh yeah!! I hear you on the confusion part. Be careful in choosing from what you read versus what you test ride, and go test ride anything you can find, friends bikes, the loal shop, anything that can help you find the right feel. Also find out if you have a local bicycle club where you can interface with others who can share in the experience with you, more bikes to test and so on. Good luck, and have fun here!
Tim

update on my dilemma.

today i went back to the store that i had purchased my capitola from and spoke to the owner, explaining my situation - to wit: the bike was just too small and i wanted to trade up for a different bike. his response, "no problem!" he credited every cent i had paid toward the purchase of what i eventually decided upon - without riding one since they didn't have one built in my size (22"). a trek 7300 in the burnt orange and silver, which trek calls matte latte/matte parchment gold. the bike will be ready on saturday.

what i have discovered is that in order to know if it's the right bike i need to really ride it - not just around the parking lot or sidewalk in front of the bike shop. with a no hassle exchange policy, like the shop i'm dealing with has, it affords me that opportunity. hell, i rode the capitola for almost two months!

i briefly considered the fisher nirvana 's' but the tires are 42c knobby's vs the 35's on the trek - i opted for what should be a faster bike? i think i'll be happy with the trek - at least it will be the right size, and it was size that put me in this quest to begin with.

thanks for the help - i enjoyed reading some of the commentary in this forum. i'll keep you posted.

size matters!

sdr

oh yeah! i almost forgot. since my original post was about the fisher cronus and it's single 38T crank, i failed to mention that the owner of my lbs stated that he had never carried that bike because he couldn't figure out who he'd sell it to - stating that the low gear would prolly be sufficiently low 38:34, but that the high gear (in his opinion) would be inadequate 38:11.

peas out

sdr

Hey SDR:
Kewl Beens here. Sorry it has been a few days since last post. One of the valuable reasons of a good LBS. I am really happy for you. You BET!! Ride Ride Ride and find that PERFECT Bike, in that the perfect bike will make the difference of whether or not ones rides at all. Leave no excuse to go peddle, and shopping for the right bike is a great reason to pedal. Sounds like your LBS has taken the time and made certain of the right bike for you here, thats a great thing.
Do keep us posted and pics too once you get your bike ... OK?
Tim

Riding the bike that is the right size for you is extremely important. If you tweek the seat level and the handlebar setting to get the bike where you can ride it all day long.

thanks guys! i appreciate the input.

tomorrow my lbs will have a trek 7300 and a fisher nirvana 's,' both with 22.5" frames, built and ready for me to test ride. the owner of the store is taking my fisher capitola, comfort bike, back, after i had ridden it for two months, and crediting it's full cost against the purchase price on one of these bikes. how cool is that!

i love the color of the trek - matte latte/parchment gold - but prefer some of the components on the fisher??? one way or the other, by tomorrow at this time, i'll have a new bike to ride. i'll keep ya posted on my decision.

sdr

ok, i had to wait an extra day...but, i'm very pleased to report, i am now the proud and happy owner of the gary fisher nirvana 's'.

after riding my fisher capitola, comfort bike, the 4 miles down to the bike shop, initially, i was somewhat taken aback by the radical differences between hybrids and the cumbersome comfort bike that i had been riding for the past two months.

i first test rode the nirvana. it felt very solid and the trigger shifters were a nice change from the grip shifting on my capitola. the only thing that i was suprised by were just how pronounced the 42mm knobbies were; they seemed to roll rather rough at first. once i became accustomed to the lower more-mountain-bike-like handlebars i immediately noticed the responsiveness of this bike.

then i rode the trek 7300. it IS a nice looking bike - that was the only thing i liked about it. the grip shifters just looked cheesy, and, perhaps because the lbs hadn't properly straightened the handlebars, i almost instantly rejected this bike in favor of the nirvana.

the ride home on my new bike felt exhilarating! i live at the base of the san gabriel mountains and the 4 miles back were almost all uphill. now, remember that i am 59 years old and hadn't ridden much, save for puttering around on the comfort bike, in about 15 years. this bike's speed and agility completely blew me away! the knobbies were barely noticeable once i started flying, although i still may swap them out at some future date - we'll see. by the time i got home i couldn't pry myself from the saddle - i probably rode another 3 or 4 miles, tweaking a few things to my liking and then riding some more.

so, having only ridden the nirvana a few miles this evening, i absolutely love it!

http://www.fisherbikes.com/bikes/bike_detail.asp?series=dualsport&bike=Nirvana_S

g'night all,

sdr

Congrats on the bike. That is a great bike. I am glad you held out for the right bike for you. I bet you will ride it a lot more then that comfort bike now that you have one that fits you right and you really like. I was waiting to see what you finally got, thanks for updating us. Enjoy, have fun and ride safe. Let us known in the future how the riding goes.