New bike question

[freeagent1970]

I know its been asked a million times, this is a bit different. My 36 year old brother had a total knee replacement back in nov 07. He put on some weight while laid up. He is about 5 foot 9 now and about 260 lbs. Hes strong as a ox and has done hard laborous work his whole working life. His doc told him its ok to exercise and try to strengthen up the new knee and surrounding muscles. He has been riding a exercise bike now at home for some time and he knows im a bike nut so he came to me with this problem. He wants to ride with me.

My local LBS main brand is trek and they give me decent deals there. He is fine with the trek name. What would be the way to go for him..im thinking more hybrid/comfort bike. He will not be pulling any speed records or anything so i think that or a mtb will be perfect. My big question is i have not priced new bikes in awhile so anyone know some good cheap models to look at? I have a 820 mtb and he likes it but i dont know about the bent forward position of a mtb will be good for him. What is treks low level hybrid called/ I went to the website and im guessing its a 7000? I ride a 18 inch so im sure he will take a bit shorter then me since im over six foot....i have stubby legs...lol. Any help or other brands we can look at if we have to?

300 is probaly his max price for a bike btw.

[freeagent1970]

One last thing...i dont forsee him ever riding offroad either...all paved bike paths.

[bdinger]

The 7000 line is hugely popular pretty much everywhere, as they are very affordable and very durable for the money. He might have some wheel problems, though, as they are 700c wheels built by the lowest bidder in Taiwan.

The 820 is a great bike, a new one will be well in his price range. Throw some slicks on it, and I'd imagine he'd be plenty happy.

[freeagent1970]

I thought so too about the 820, i just ordered mtb slicks in 26x1.25 and new conti tubes for mine

[Fribley]

i just bought a 7100 the step right above the 7000. I bought it about a month and half ago i have over 500 miles on it with no complaints, i did break a spoke last week not quite sure how, i think i was bound up from the factory but i was lucky to get it replaced and retensioned for 10$. I love riding it and the wheels are pretty strong i weighed in at ~280 when i bought it and weigh ~260 now. The 7000 would be nice with the rigid fork and i wish i would have done a little more research about my use of bikes since i dont need the suspension fork and that seems like the main difference between the 7000, and the 7100. I would definitely recommend the 7000 series bikes they are pretty solid and dependable, very easy to ride on paths or through town and a great bike to get started on. I just did my first metric yesterday on mine 49 days after buying it.

[Tom Stormcrowe]

How is his knee mobility? Shorter crank arms may help if he has issues with full range of motion post replacement. ;)

[ScrubJ]

The 7.x FX series of bikes are very nice. Trek classifies them as "fitness" bikes, you can think of them as something like a flat bar cyclocross bike. I have about 4000 miles on mine now with only chain and cassette replacement up to this point.

[freeagent1970]

his mobility is good...jsut real slow....i think we will look at the 820...nothing to exspensive right now