Illinest

A quick side story first: I took my 7.5 y.o. to a real bike shop instead of the Toys R Us. We wanted to get a 20" to replace her 16" bike, but the gentleman at the bike shop surprised me by bringing out a Trek 24", and my daughter fit on it and she loved it. Hell I even loved it. It's one of the coolest looking bikes I've ever seen.

I'm negotiating with the wife to get that for my daughter but in the meantime I asked the salesman what might be a good bike for me just to be able keep up with my kid. He pointed out a Giant mountain bike. I don't recall the model but I know it was $360-ish.

I remembered my last bike. I spent 200$ on a Diamondback - maybe it was a Sorrento? It was a mountain bike. It seemed really heavy and it seemed to shake if I was going too fast. I was using it for road riding at the time and maybe I needed different tires, but my opinion of that bike was not too good. I think I gave it away.

I definitely don't think I want a road bike. I weigh 230 lbs and it won't occur to me to be careful with it. I also don't have any interest in riding all bent over. All my biking habits were formed 25 years ago on my 20" bmx style kids bike. But I'm still a lot more likely to ride on streets than on trails. I'd probably even avoid gravel and grass for the most part.

I had heard the word "hybrid" and I mentioned it at the store. The salesman had a hybrid to show but he said he still thought the Giant would suit me better.

I liked the guy and I think I should trust him but my curiosity is killing me. Is there still something about hybrids that I don't understand?

Kapusta

It seems to me that if you don't plan to go off-road, you probably are better off with a hybrid / commuter / urban bike.

Did the bike he was showing you have a front shock? If so, skip it. You don't need it, and is a waste of money that coyld go towards other parts of the bike.

Also, you don't want knobby tires if you're not going to be going off-road.

If you can post the name and a link to the bike he is showing you, this may be more informative.

fietsbob

change the tires to street type .. now there are 3 sizes of wheels 26, 27.5 (aka 650B), & 29, a wide tire capable 700C

Hybrids are like a 29er but lack the clearance for a 2" wide tire..

MRT2

Unless you plan to go off road, go with a hybrid. If you do want to go off-road, you need to budget way more than $360.

jefnvk

If it is a rigid MTB frame, you can easily swap out tires, and more or less end up with a hybrid.

Was it one of these? https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/revel-2

Something like this would suit you better than Revel, if it was what you were looking at. You get better components in place of the front shock, which is really not necessary: https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/escape-2

General Geoff

Front shock is very beneficial for urban riders who hop curbs and negotiate pothole-ridden streets. A mountain bike with smooth road tires is my preferred urban machine.

Illinest

That's pretty direct.

At everyone - it's impossible for me to say exactly what it was that I looked at. I know it was a Giant and it had the 'thick' type of bottom bar so it's at least not the Revel. It could have been ATX 27.5 perhaps? Or a lightly used bike - although it looked brand new.

It hadn't really occurred to me to just change tires though.

Kapusta

Good recs

Kapusta

Whatever suspension fork comes on a $360 bike is not good for much.

ridelikeaturtle

I dunno, I only ride my mtb in the city, and find myself liking the front shock. I'm always riding through grass or going over a curb (not bashing into them, of course). Maybe it's because the roads in Dublin are terrible, lots of bumps and a few potholes, but I appreciate having front suspension.

If you're always only ever going to be on smooth paved trails, you have a point. But if you are going to be on uneven pavement and all sorts, then a front shock can be nice to have.

Illinest

Backtracking my statement, price on the Revel is right so maybe it was a Revel.

manapua_man

I wouldn't discount something like a CX or a gravel bike. And nothing says that you can't have a fairly upright position on a road bike. Well, nothing other than maybe people who need to mind their own business.

And you're only about 10 lbs heavier than me and I haven't had any problems beating the crap out of road bikes. Realistically I only see you getting pinch flats and maybe dinging rims by flying into potholes...which you can still do on mountain bikes.


I would argue that no suspension and decent tires are better than cheap, heavy, crappy suspension forks that are gonna break sooner rather than later.

General Geoff

Fair point. Hard to find a quality brand-new, full rigid mountain bike though.

Dave Mayer

One of my bike shop pals had a deep perspective as to why casual riders should buy mountain bikes, despite the fact that they are slow and not suited for longer rides over pavement.

He said that your average new bike gets ridden for as long as the tire pressure holds out. Tires naturally deflate a few psi per week.

Once the tire pressure gets down for the point where the first impact/pinch flat occurs, the bike then gets hung up in the garage, likely to never be used again. I see this all of the time, while trolling yard sales. Almost mint 30 year-old bikes with flat tires.

Mountain bikes have the advantage here, due to their greater tire volume, and therefore longer deflation lifespan.

So where as your standard department-store 'road bike' may last a month from 'political-re-education' workers factory to landfill, the 'mountain bikes' last 3.

Of course to do any real 'mountain -biking', you really need to spend in excess of $2k.

Iride01 

If you are going to ride on pavement you don't need suspension. If you will climb a lot of hills, then low weight and low gears are important. If you think you'll get addicted to riding fast then you'll want a road bike with drops. If you will just cruise and prefer to sit more upright then a hybrid. Tire width anywhere between 23mm and 30mm clinchers with tubes. Weight wise... 22 pounds is heavy if you climb a lot though it can be done on a 46 pound bike if you have the gearing (been there, done that).

I wouldn't be ashamed to ride a Walmart bike if you can find one that meets the requirements. My kids had plenty that lasted much longer than their interest in them.

General Geoff

Makes you wonder why foam filled bike tires aren't a thing yet.

jefnvk

Because rotating mass is hard to get going.

There are solid tires out there.

That's only because they have been rebranded as hybrids

Dave Mayer

Solid foam tires: yes good idea.

My shop pal runs a place where the same customer comes in every 3 months with a flat rear tire caused by under-inflation.

Like clockwork. One time he got bold enough for ask the customer why he didn't just buy a pump...

Customer stares at him blankly and responds: "I can just come here for you have fix it.". So there..

This is the main reason why I don't think I could actually own and operate a bike shop: half of the work involves dealing with the same tedious repetitive problems caused by simple neglect.

dabac

My main commuter is a rigid MTB.
And with 6000+ miles/year, a decent amount of curbs goes with the territory.
Don't see any important advantage with a sus fork for curb hopping.
I'm out of the saddle anyway, to go easy on the rear wheel.
Dealing with the front impact is a very minor deal.
Cheap suspension for poor roads doesn't do much for me.
Cheapest I've ridden, a Suntour something, still brought more annoyance than relief. Luckily it had a lockout.
I used it very sparingly on rutted ice, that was all.

Illinest

That has a feeling of truth.


I guess it sounds like I might get along best with a rigid mountain bike with smooth tires. Or a hybrid. A suspension sounds like a luxury I can do without.

memebag

Or a beach cruiser. I started riding as an adult on a Electra Cruiser 1. Single speed, coaster brake, sturdy. Once I started doing 30 mile rides on it I bought a road bike, but it was a perfect bike for just rolling around the neighborhood or going to the store.

manapua_man

They are a thing. They just suck so bad that even most cheap bikes don't come with em.

corrado33

I'll be straight with you.

Any Giant bike will be fine. Brand name bikes are usually decent, even all of the way down in their price range. Orders of magnitude better than a wal-mart bike. Diamondback is one step below the brand names (now-a-day), and one (or two) step(s) above wal-mart.

With that said: A suspension fork on a $360 bike is going to be awful and built for someone who weighs ~160-180. (The average male) Cheap suspension forks are heavy, they don't do much, especially for heavier riders, and they are not at all long lasting. And they SAP your energy. Every time you pedal you put energy into the fork instead of going down the road.

Old hybrid bikes are basically mountain bikes that have been built for city/road riding instead of off-road riding. Their frames leave you a bit more upright than a typical old school mountain bike would, and they're usually equipped with fenders, etc. All in all, they're more COMFORTABLE for most people than mountain bikes. Now-a-day hybrid bikes have become a niche of their own, so they're almost a perfect mix of road and mountain frames with wide 700c tires and a flat bar. I'm not a huge fan of modern hybrid bikes, they've always seemed... fragile to me. They seem to consistently be priced ~$4-$500 and come with awful front forks and are just... skinny. Much prefer the old hybrid bikes (the "street stomper" by specialized for example.)

However, you can achieve almost the same thing by buying an old cheap mountain bike for ~100 and putting smooth tires on it and changing the stem. Not all mountain bikes will work. Some of the old ones are SERIOUSLY long and stretched out. Most importantly, most of them are rigid, with no suspension.

If you post up your local craigslist and your height, we'll GLADLY give you some good candidates for what to buy.

Iride01 

They've tried foam. So far it has to be too dense and too heavy to give the tire the correct shape and size contact patch with the ground. Likely they would also require a different rim altogether.

Illinest

I thought they looked alright but I never liked the swept-back handlebar thing....

@ Corrado - I can buy cheap today or I can buy better in Jan-Feb, so I don't want to shop today. I don't know if this will show up properly but if it does, I set up a little comparison between a few of the Giant bikes if anyone is willing to help me interpret this stuff. The forum won't allow me to post a URL. It's between the Cypress, the Escape-3 and the Sedona. All rigid front bikes in the 300-400$ range.

The Cypress has 700x38 tires, the Escape-3 has 700x32 tires and the Sedona has 26x2.1, but the Sedona looks like it has the biggest tires in the pictures and the Cypress tires look smallest. The images are confusing.

And I don't get the high-up skinny seat on the Escape-3. Is that comfortable? Looks like a knife up in your butt. LOL.

Is there something to know about the gearing? I know the Cypress only has 7 speeds, but would they cover the same range pretty much?