magicdog

Hey all,

I want a new bike to do some commuting and leisure biking on. By leisure biking I mean biking around my neighbourhoods, some light trails (gravel, light mud), those sorts of things. My commute is 5km one-way, and when I bike for fun I usually spend about an hour doing a nice local tour. Fairly flat, but I do go on the occasional steep hill which I feel demands disc brakes and appropriate gearing.

The bike I have now is a 2008 Trek 7.6 FX. It has a carbon fork, which I suppose is nice, though I honestly don’t notice it much. It does not have disc brakes, and for that reason I’m looking for a replacement. Also the cassette is pretty worn out and it needs new parts in general.

There are lots of bike paths in my area – when I’m at a straight section, I find myself bending forward and wishing I had aero bars or drop bars. I do enjoy speed. But I do not want a road bike. I want a fairly upright experience and enjoy 50/50 road/path.

On to my dilemma: After some searching, I narrowed my options down to a Kona Dew Plus (hybrid) or a Jamis Nova Sport (cyclocross bike). Both are in the same ballpark money wise. The brakes on the Jamis seem worse due to being mechanical, but maybe I’m wrong. I don’t know what one will give me over the other beyond the drop bars on the Jamis. I tried the Kona out and it does feel really fun.

Based on my uses, which do you guys recommend?

mcours2006

The Kona has hydro brakes, I believe, which is really nice. Mechanical discs on the Jamis are fine too. I'd take the Jamis just because I'm partial to the dropbars. But you like the upright position, so go with the Kona.

MRT2

Both of these bikes look like a substantial downgrade over your Trek. To find a modern bike that is an upgrade over the Trek, you need to aim a little higher.

My advice is to update your Trek, and that would include new/better brake pads, new cassette, chain, and whatever else is worn. Honestly, unless the bike has really been beaten up, 8 years is not that old of a bike, especially one that came equipped with fairly high end components. The price of replacing cassette, chain, and brake pads is maybe $60. Even if it needs some other stuff, it would be worth it.

The Dew has Altus/Acera drivetrain parts. Nice, but lower end consumer grade mountain bike parts. The Jamis has Claris, which are entry level road components.

I realize that with Shimano's trickle down technology, today's Claris was yesterday's Sora. But if I owned a bike with Deore level components, I would not replace it with entry level.

tyrion

The Kona gives you a more upright position and wider gear range. You can make the Jamis more upright with a high-angle stem, but you might need new cables to do that. I bet the Kona can take fatter tires than the Jamis.

magicdog

I would, but the fork on the Trek can't take disc brakes and I've decided that I want it. The Trek is great, don't get me wrong, but I kind of want something different.

mcours2006

Aside from the hydro brakes the Kona is going to ride much like your Trek, which, as @MRT2 pointed out, already has better components than the Kona. The Jamis, while not any better equipped, is going to ride quite differently. That should figure into your decision.

A while back I had a chance to acquire a Dew Plus for a good price. I was thinking that that eventually I'd convert it to a drop bar, but the hydro discs precluded that option.