danygo

So it's been years since I last used a bike and I recently grown an interest over them. I have no idea what brand is good or not or what kind of bike to get. Thought these forums would be helpful.

I'm looking for a bike that I can use in New York City, all the terrain here is almost purely flat and I suppose I'm looking something close to a road / hybrid bike. Currently I'm planning to do 11 miles commutes to my college and another 11 from college to home. Also just to get around since nyc and do some workout on it.

I did some light research and I ended up looking at the Trek FX 3. It's just about the right price and they advertise it meeting all of my needs. Now I don't know if there's better alternatives for something around the same price or if it's the right bike that I need. I just want a bike that will last me a good while, preferably under 1k$.

tarwheel 

My wife has a Trek FX 3, and it's a nice bike for the money and well equipped for commuting. My only complaints are that her's has only one bottle mount and the rear wheel is spaced ridiculously wide, so we can't swap wheels from our other bikes. In the same price range for a new bike, you might also want to look at the Raleigh Cadent and Roper models, and Bianchi Volpe, Lupo and Strada. I am not as familiar with Jamis models, but they seem to offer good value.

TheNormanRider

That's a nice bike, the Trek FX 3. Going to need to add some fenders and a rack to it. Panniers have proven invaluable to me, but those are just for suggestion. Ride what you're comfortable with. However, if you can borrow a friend's bike or something, ride the route you'll be taking to ensure it's something you can do every day. From what you're saying, it sounds like you'll be putting in 22 miles a day! That's a bit, and for a n00b it can be downright challenging when you battle a strong headwind.

MRT2

I would suggest a bike with both drop bars and interrupter brake levers so you can brake from the tops, the hoods and the drops. Thinking the Giant AnyRoad, Fairdale Weekender Drop, Salsa Vaya, or Kona Rove. This is not an exhaustive list.

Nothing against the ubiquitous FX3, but I think if you are riding that much, drop bars are the way to go.

CrankyOne

Curious why?

OP, might be worth your while to check out the VanMoof store in Brooklyn.

danygo

Yeah I'll keep that in mind, thank you all for your inputs so far.

mcours2006

FX 3 is a decent bike. If you're only going own one bike it's probably a good choice--rack, fender, panniers. Commuting and running short distance errands. Good choice.

pakeboi

... if the FX3 fits you well it's a solid choice .
It will last you a long time and Trek has great customer support .
Find a local bike shop you like and test ride as many as you can that meet your requirement ,and buy the one that's most comfortable .
I wanted to buy a FX3 , but found the 17.5 a very slight bit too small , and the 20 too big .
Also , the seat tube angle was too steep.
Go for the fit .

I used to live in NYC , and lots of people rode single speed .
So , go for the fit of the local conditions as well .

MRT2

Multiple riding positions. Sitting upright on the tops, neutral on the hoods, and aero in the drops or for aggressive riding or riding into a headwind.

Flat bars give you just one hand position and one riding position.

mcours2006

Agree with all your points, but if I was going to have only one bike, a do-it-all, no-more-than-11-mile-at-a-time bike, I'd opt for a more upright one.

If it was going to be a second bike, however, then definitely a drop bar road bike.

MRT2

Thinking of more of a light touring bike, with rack and fender mounts and clearance for wider tires. Don't know what it is but, Trek hybrids don't excite me. Maybe the sheer ubiquity of them. Others may disagree,

reppans

Curious what the bicycle security is like at your college, and your plans to street lock the bike for 'getting around' part. NYC eats bikes for breakfast.

danygo

Very much aware of that , luckily my college has a bike storage room in on of their buildings downtown Manhattan, should be safe there. Can only get in if you're a student.

CrankyOne

A surprisingly ignorant Amerocentric view. There are more than just drop and flat bar bikes in the world. Far more people in the world ride uprights than drop and flat bar combined. If you go to any of the top cycling nations in the world (or really go anywhere outside of the US) the overwhelming predominant bike is an upright. Keep in mind that the US, with our focus on recreational drop and flat bar bikes, has the lowest bicycling of any developed country (and likely lower than any country since bicycling is a critical bit of transportation in developing countries).

Sitting fully upright eliminates the need for multiple hand or body positions as there is no pressure on your hands at all. Upright bikes put your weight where its designed to be - on your rump and with your rump, spine, neck, and head properly aligned (rather than expect riders to be more like apes, supporting weight with your arms and hands like drop and flat bars).

bikemig 

Either flat or drops can work. For a commuter in a busy city and with often dicey weather, I'd opt for flat bars. You'll have an easier time keeping your head up so you can keep an eye on traffic. Also focus on the size of the tire. Ideally you want a reasonably fat tire with excellent flat protection for commuting.

reppans

Well, this a long shot, and above your budget, but I'd suggest a Brompton folder then. You may lose up to 5% in efficiency to a traditional bike, but it will open up incredible options in city like NY. You'll be able hop any type of public transport (buses, subways, taxis, uber) to duck out of dangerous traffic, bad weather, crime areas/times, bring your bike inside (restaurants, friends apts, libraries, stores) free from theft concerns, and get of the city for great day/weekend trips via Amtrak, MetroNorth, LIRR, NJT for coastal exploring and rail-trail riding.

However, if all you want to do is that commute, and ride around without really stopping/parking, then I'm with with MRT2's suggestion - drop bar, interrupter brake bike... I'd personally suggest a CX/gravel bike. I find a bar that has variable grip/back angle positions (with brakes accessible from multiple positions) to be more comfortable and efficient than an single upright position, particularly on will likely be a longish 1 hr commute for you.

mcours2006

Many of your posts start with this type of sentiment toward North American bicycle culture and how unevolved and unrefined we are because we have preference toward a type of bicycle. Does it matter what the rest of the world does if what it does does not suit our needs? Give it a rest already.

It's like saying soccer is the most popular sport in the world outside of North American. Are we ignorant there too? Imagine how silly your post would sound if you replaced the words 'upright' with 'soccer' and the world 'dropbar and flatbar combined' with 'football, hockey, baseball, and basketball combined'.

rumrunn6

remember accessories cost $ too. fenders, rack, trunk bag or backpack, lights, lock, helmet, some cycling specific clothing & shoes, pedals, water bottle cages, floor mats, etc ...

also - some used Trek FX bikes for sale. we have 4 - bought all off CL

https://newyork.craigslist.org/searc...=fx+3&hasPic=1

I'd be o this one in a New York minute:

https://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/bik/5967388208.html

then there's other brands - this one already has fenders and a rack
https://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/bid/5958537386.html

college bikes are often vandalized, nice ones are stolen (used bikes are easier to replace). will you have secure parking at your school?

figure out your size before test riding a used bike
https://newyork.craigslist.org/que/bid/5957372986.html

danygo

Thanks for searching a few bikes for me. And as for my college , it's a room insidea building where only students can get in so I don't there's too much danger there, the room probably has a camera there. But as for other places, I don't think it's safe-ish. I was considering getting a folding bike but I'm sure they have a totally different feel. Thing is that I also want a bike where I can do some cardio, longer rides as I build my stamina. Don't think folding bikes are good for that... that I know of.

rumrunn6

marioval might have some info on that. check post #8 in this thread. he has a red folder ...

https://www.bikeforums.net/northeast/...-trail-ct.html

MRT2

Use a good lock, just to be safe. Keeps honest people honest.

MRT2

OK, your first paragraph contains 3 at least 3 logical fallacies. I will break them down.
A surprisingly ignorant Amerocentric view. The ad hominem. Don't believe him. His is an ignorant, Amerocentric opinion. Since presumably, Americans don't know anything about cycling, why should anyone heed the advice of Americans?
There are more than just drop and flat bar bikes in the world. The non sequitur. OP asked about the FX, which is a flat bar, and I responded that OP should consider drop bars.

If you go to any of the top cycling nations in the world (or really go anywhere outside of the US) the overwhelming predominant bike is an upright. Appeal to authority. Sort of the flip side of the ad hominem. If Americans don't know cycling, Europeans presumably do. So because they ride upright bikes in Europe, that is what you should ride since, presumably, Europeans know cycling. (Nevermind that in a country like Holland, folks may be using their bikes for trips of 5 miles or less, exclusively in protected bike lanes, riding very slowly, and maybe not at all for recreation.)

Finally, sitting bolt upright is fine for very short trips at slow speeds, but quickly get fatiguing when riding for longer than, say 5 miles or so, uphill, or into a headwind.

If I lived in Holland or Denmark and used a bike for basic transportation, I very well might buy a Dutch style bike for every day transportation and save the drop bar bike for purely recreation. But I live in a country where the distances ridden tend to be longer, and the need to go faster is therefore greater than it is in a place where you only need to cover fairly short distances.

reppans

FWIW, that's not really true. THESE are the two bikes I recommended above and the convenience of THIS folder (I own other folders) has been the only thing to rekindle my interests in touring, which I quit decades ago. I regularly swap between them on my 15 mile exercise loop, and if I can do it in 60 mins on my CX/gravel bike, I can do it in ~62 mins on the folder (since rigging an equiv. aero drop riding position). I can tip riding comfort either way simply with air pressure, and they now have roughly equivalent tops/hoods/drops riding positions. Never brought the '07 CX/gravel bike into the City, but this '16 folder has been in several times, and MANY more places as well. Except for the dirt/off-road limitations, this is the best touring/utility/commuter/city bike I've ever had, and the one I would keep if I could only keep one bike.

I know most folk have a stigma against folders, and I too subjectively thought I was losing 10-20% efficiency to my CX/gravel bike on my first short tour.... but then I started measuring it with a GPS - for me, it was mostly just psychological and aerodynamics. All that said, you don't have the luxury of testing them side-by-side over time, and of course, conventional wisdom will always point toward a traditional bike.... hence my recommendation for a CX/gravel bike as the next best all-around bike (w/interrupter brakes) for a city environment.

Stadjer

Yes, but this about commuting in New York City. It's probably not as windy as the Netherlands, and drop bars are more suited to bike lanes. Sitting upright gives you a much better view of traffic and up to 12 mph aerodynamics aren't that important. The distance is something to consider, but there are good reasons why most Europeans never switched to drop bars for their 5 mile or longer commutes.

CrankyOne

Not really, but when I do, here's why.

Bicycling in the U.S. is a failure. The U.S. is the most dangerous place (based on both fatalities per mile ridden and serious injuries per mile) of all developed countries to ride a bicycle and by a significant margin. The U.S. has the lowest share of bicycle ownership and lowest bicycling share of all developed countries. The U.S. bicycle industry has been declining for 15 straight years (when almost all other countries are flat or growing). In effect, we are killing bicycling in this country.

Part of this is that we are behind other countries in providing safe places for people to ride. Most people are, quite understandably, afraid to ride on our roads. Fortunately this is slowly being corrected. But bikes themselves are another reason. People buy road, mountain, or hybrid bikes, ride them for a bit, and then they collect dust in their garage. These bikes aren't comfortable to ride (compared to a good upright), give people back, arm, and hand aches (why multiple positions are important on them), cause people to sweat more, can't be ridden in most regular street clothes, require a fair bit of maintenance, and are more difficult to carry stuff on.

As @Stadjer said, there's a reason that Europeans (and most others outside of North America) don't ride these kinds of bikes for daily transportation and choose upright bikes instead. A good Dutch bike is much more comfortable to ride, can be ridden in any clothes (tuxes and evening gowns included), is robust and requires little to no maintenance (no not wanting to ride because gears are out of wack), can carry stuff (on racks or in hands since single handed riding is quite easy), have a lock built in to the back wheel, have dynamo lights that are always ready, and other attributes.

There is nothing at all wrong with drop bar road bikes or flat bar hybrids or mountain. I have each and enjoy riding them. But these are recreation bikes not transportation bikes. For the average person they are a bit of a pain to use which is why so many collect dust except for once a year when they're hauled out, pumped up, and ridden for a brief period with gears clacking. Then they're hung up again until next year because 'bicycling is a pain and isn't really very fun'.

OP was asking about a flat bar bike primarily for transportation and someone recommends a drop bar — a bike that is even more uncomfortable and causes more sweat than a flat bar bike which is more uncomfortable and causes more sweat than an upright. But the drop bar has multiple hand positions to alleviate some of the uncomfortableness...

So what's likely to happen is the OP buys a drop or flat bar bike, rides it for a bit, doesn't like that they can't ride in jeans or other clothes without getting grease on them, doesn't like the sore hands and arms, doesn't like that it's more difficult to carry stuff, doesn't like the extra maintenance that's required (or the clacking gears if not done), or is irritated when they're ready to ride home one day and someone accidentally bent their derailleur which now doesn't work. After a while they determine that bicycling isn't for them — possibly for the rest of their life based on this experience.