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07-28-08, 11:45 PM
Yeah, I've seen the ones at wal-mart, but the used Mongoose MGX DXR bike I bought suggests that a walmart bike might not be worth the hassle(After 350 miles, the right pedal stripped the threading on the crank arm.) but the cheapest dually I could find locally at something beyond Walmart was $700+! :eek: Is there no middle ground between Walmart quality and "bicycle shop" quality? Ok, so I found a Schwinn bike that might suit my purposes for the swell price of $600, but the sucky but large town of Spokane seems to be mysteriously void of Schwinn dealers and the closest dealer is in the lake-tourist town of Couer D'Alene some 30 miles away and... I have no truck and the gas would be $15 just to pick up a bike??? I'm usually using this as a commuter and occasionally on "novice trails"(a.k.a neighborhood shortcuts) but I roll onto curbs and roll off of them which creates the spoke-shattering effect I'll explain below. Also, I plan to commute somewhere between 4000-7000 miles a year on this bike.
Anyways, let me begin. My irreplaceable back wheel is a crystalyte. All that's relevant is that their spokes tend to break on hardtails and don't on back suspensions as that's what nearly all fellow owners of crystalyte wheels seem to experience so I'd have to re-lace it with durable spokes if I were to go with a hardtail(Also... the back wheel is irreplaceable). Also, I need to ride in the rain as I need to commute on this bike nearly everyday, rain or shine, and that would require at least a front disc brake(Unless they make v-brakes that work well in wet weather while riding down hills with a 15% slope) and I'd prefer to leave my back brake as a v-brake since the wheel doesn't come with a disc-adapter or as no brake at all(I don't currently have back-brakes and I'm just fine with that although a back-brake might be a useful assurance). So, I'm trying to find the most cost-effective way.
One option would be to replace the current bike's front-fork to one that'd accept discs along with the wheel and add a disc brake on(A $250-300 adventure) and then gradually upgrade the "crappy walmart components that'll inevitably break" as they break(Another $100-300, possibly) and that option could cost anywhere between $400-600 in the long-run, about as much as buying that Schwinn bike I'd possibly have to travel across the border to get.
Another option would be to buy the $600 schwinn bike (listed at http://www.schwinnbike.com/products/bikes_detail.php?id=976 ) and then sell off the back-wheel+disc-brake assembly and just use whatever v-brakes I have laying around(assuming I can install them; If not, no big deal as it wouldn't be any different than it is now) and the schwinn bike might end up costing me $550 after everything else(tax, etc.) and I assume it'd be better quality than the front-suspension-improved-and-nearly-every-moving-part-replaced/"upgraded" MGX DXR bike but... would it, really?
Another option would be to go with a hardtail with a $400 diamond back-disc brake fork and then pay an additional ~$150 to get a disc-brake-front-wheel with BB7 disc-brakes along with paying the $80 rear-wheel relacing and truing cost, so that'd option would be in the $600-650 range and... it wouldn't have any form of back suspension which would impact more than simply the back-wheel. XD
Also, are there used bikes for sale anywhere? It seems that the local store here really has a hard time keeping hold of used bikes, so they seem more of a fable than reality. I really wouldn't mind a "last year's" or "4 years ago" dual-suspension bike if it meant it was cheaper but still relatively good quality(AND, it seems like any relatively large frame will fit me.). And, yeah, "dual suspension" really means ANY kind of suspension: I don't need air as springs will do just fine.
(Another reason I wouldn't want to buy an expensive dually bike is that I commute alot in the city and on the university campus and I often lock-up for 6+ hour stretches in the downtown area and to have peace of mind, I'd have to be spend at least another 100 dollars in security and locks but the potential loss would still be unnervingly tremendous; Not only monetarily, but also as a source of transportation.)
Anyways, let me begin. My irreplaceable back wheel is a crystalyte. All that's relevant is that their spokes tend to break on hardtails and don't on back suspensions as that's what nearly all fellow owners of crystalyte wheels seem to experience so I'd have to re-lace it with durable spokes if I were to go with a hardtail(Also... the back wheel is irreplaceable). Also, I need to ride in the rain as I need to commute on this bike nearly everyday, rain or shine, and that would require at least a front disc brake(Unless they make v-brakes that work well in wet weather while riding down hills with a 15% slope) and I'd prefer to leave my back brake as a v-brake since the wheel doesn't come with a disc-adapter or as no brake at all(I don't currently have back-brakes and I'm just fine with that although a back-brake might be a useful assurance). So, I'm trying to find the most cost-effective way.
One option would be to replace the current bike's front-fork to one that'd accept discs along with the wheel and add a disc brake on(A $250-300 adventure) and then gradually upgrade the "crappy walmart components that'll inevitably break" as they break(Another $100-300, possibly) and that option could cost anywhere between $400-600 in the long-run, about as much as buying that Schwinn bike I'd possibly have to travel across the border to get.
Another option would be to buy the $600 schwinn bike (listed at http://www.schwinnbike.com/products/bikes_detail.php?id=976 ) and then sell off the back-wheel+disc-brake assembly and just use whatever v-brakes I have laying around(assuming I can install them; If not, no big deal as it wouldn't be any different than it is now) and the schwinn bike might end up costing me $550 after everything else(tax, etc.) and I assume it'd be better quality than the front-suspension-improved-and-nearly-every-moving-part-replaced/"upgraded" MGX DXR bike but... would it, really?
Another option would be to go with a hardtail with a $400 diamond back-disc brake fork and then pay an additional ~$150 to get a disc-brake-front-wheel with BB7 disc-brakes along with paying the $80 rear-wheel relacing and truing cost, so that'd option would be in the $600-650 range and... it wouldn't have any form of back suspension which would impact more than simply the back-wheel. XD
Also, are there used bikes for sale anywhere? It seems that the local store here really has a hard time keeping hold of used bikes, so they seem more of a fable than reality. I really wouldn't mind a "last year's" or "4 years ago" dual-suspension bike if it meant it was cheaper but still relatively good quality(AND, it seems like any relatively large frame will fit me.). And, yeah, "dual suspension" really means ANY kind of suspension: I don't need air as springs will do just fine.
(Another reason I wouldn't want to buy an expensive dually bike is that I commute alot in the city and on the university campus and I often lock-up for 6+ hour stretches in the downtown area and to have peace of mind, I'd have to be spend at least another 100 dollars in security and locks but the potential loss would still be unnervingly tremendous; Not only monetarily, but also as a source of transportation.)