Brigid
I am looking for a bicycle to ride around town and pull my 2-yr.-old in a trailer. At this point, I don't want to spend a lot, since I don't know how much time I will end up spending doing this, though I used to enjoy biking a lot when I was a teenager (on a Schwinn, which was stolen during my senior year) and may get into this and decide to upgrade at some point. But, at this point it just needs to be able to handle rides around the neighborhood (very hilly) and pull a trailer.
I looked at the Trek Navigator series (I noticed several people on this board like the Trek 7000 series, which no one showed me at the lbs. Should I check into these? I looked at them in my catalog and saw they are more leaning over than upright posture. Would this be harder to pull a trailer?), the Giant Sedona series, the Specialized Expedition Sport, Cannondale Adventure 400, Marin San Anselmo and San Rafael, Bianchi Advantage and Avenue and Raleigh m20 and c40. Whew! That's a lot of bikes, and they all seemed pretty much the same. I liked the finger shifting, which only Marin seems to make in the lower-priced models, and I liked the looks of the Bianchi. Unfortunately, someone told me that the only dealer in the area who sells these two brands has terrible costomer service. She said she had her Cannondale adjusted by them 3 times, and it never was right, and then she had it adjusted by another dealer one time, and it was so much more comfortable, it was like riding a different bike. The dealer she recommended only sells Raleigh, which I didn't care much for, only because it seemed more mountain-bikey, and I like the look and feel of the more road-bikey ones better. Another friend recommended a dealer who sells Treks and Specialized, though he didn't have any of the lower-end Specialized. He said they don't carry them because they aren't big sellers -- Trek sells better at that level, he said. They might be able to order the low-end Specialized, I didn't ask. That dealer did seem really helpful and knowledgable. He was apparently the owner, which I'm sure makes a difference. The people I talked to at all the other shops were teenagers who probably would have paid a lot more attention to me if I were 10 yrs. younger and weren't toting a 2-yr.-old behind me.
Anyway, does anyone have experience with any of these bikes? Also, is anyone from the San Francisco area, and can recommend (or not recommend) bike dealers? You can send me a private message, if you don't want the world to know where you live. I live in the East Bay. So, now the world knows where I live, but good luck finding me! (Why would you want to, anyway?)
--Brigid
I looked at the Trek Navigator series (I noticed several people on this board like the Trek 7000 series, which no one showed me at the lbs. Should I check into these? I looked at them in my catalog and saw they are more leaning over than upright posture. Would this be harder to pull a trailer?), the Giant Sedona series, the Specialized Expedition Sport, Cannondale Adventure 400, Marin San Anselmo and San Rafael, Bianchi Advantage and Avenue and Raleigh m20 and c40. Whew! That's a lot of bikes, and they all seemed pretty much the same. I liked the finger shifting, which only Marin seems to make in the lower-priced models, and I liked the looks of the Bianchi. Unfortunately, someone told me that the only dealer in the area who sells these two brands has terrible costomer service. She said she had her Cannondale adjusted by them 3 times, and it never was right, and then she had it adjusted by another dealer one time, and it was so much more comfortable, it was like riding a different bike. The dealer she recommended only sells Raleigh, which I didn't care much for, only because it seemed more mountain-bikey, and I like the look and feel of the more road-bikey ones better. Another friend recommended a dealer who sells Treks and Specialized, though he didn't have any of the lower-end Specialized. He said they don't carry them because they aren't big sellers -- Trek sells better at that level, he said. They might be able to order the low-end Specialized, I didn't ask. That dealer did seem really helpful and knowledgable. He was apparently the owner, which I'm sure makes a difference. The people I talked to at all the other shops were teenagers who probably would have paid a lot more attention to me if I were 10 yrs. younger and weren't toting a 2-yr.-old behind me.
Anyway, does anyone have experience with any of these bikes? Also, is anyone from the San Francisco area, and can recommend (or not recommend) bike dealers? You can send me a private message, if you don't want the world to know where you live. I live in the East Bay. So, now the world knows where I live, but good luck finding me! (Why would you want to, anyway?)
--Brigid