General Cycling Discussion - New bike

Hello

I have around $520 to spend on a new bike. At the moment I am riding some cheap-o wal-mart bike that I got about 2 years ago. Since then i have gotten more into riding and feel that I need a new bike.

The two bikes I have been looking at are the Trek 4900 or the Cannondale F300. My uncle rides alot(to and from work everyday) and said that these bikes seem ok for the money.

If anyone has one of these bikes could you please post how pleased you are with the bike, have you had any problems, and what you like about the bike.

Or if there are any other bikes that are better for the money feel free to mention them.

thanks for all your help!

Hello

I have around $520 to spend on a new bike. At the moment I am riding some cheap-o wal-mart bike that I got about 2 years ago. Since then i have gotten more into riding and feel that I need a new bike.

The two bikes I have been looking at are the Trek 4900 or the Cannondale F300. My uncle rides alot(to and from work everyday) and said that these bikes seem ok for the money.

If anyone has one of these bikes could you please post how pleased you are with the bike, have you had any problems, and what you like about the bike.

Or if there are any other bikes that are better for the money feel free to mention them.

thanks for all your help!

What kind of riding do you plan to do? What is insufficient about your current ride?

My current bike is quite heavy for me (around 40lbs) and the components are not of the best quality. Im riding a very used and worn out Mongoose Diverge right now.

Im basically looking for a lighter bike with some higher quality components.

I will be riding mostly trails. The dirt is somewhat smooth with occasional stretches of rocky terrain. I will also be riding it around on streets part of the time.

help anyone?

Everyone must be out riding. :)

I'm not familiar with the two bikes you mentioned. I just bought a road bike from IBEX. The quality is comparable to a bike costing $300 - $400 more. They only sell over the internet or by mail order. Here's their web site:

http://www.ibexbikes.com/index.html

I had to make a couple of tweaks: 1. The rear derailler wouldn't stay on the smallest cog. Customer service walked me through the limit adjustment. 2. The front brake cable was a little too loose. I tightened it up by about 1/4 inch. 3. One of the spokes on the rear wheel was loose and ratteling around. I tightened up the spoke using the multi-tool that was provided but that put the wheel out of true. The LBS wanted $15 to true the wheel. Being the cheapskate that I am I Checked out Ken Kifer's (rip) article about doing your own wheel truing and gave it a shot. It took about 15 minutes and it came out pretty good if I must say so myself,

So far I'm happy with the bike. I have over 150 miles since last Wednesday.

thanks for the help! Im doing some research on those bikes to see if they are what im looking for.