zekepdx

so usually when I wanted a bike I'd go to walmart & spend like $100 on their version of a mountain bike.. the last one had shocks & all that which frankly I hated & stopped riding..

well now I'm living in downtown Portland & want to get back to riding.. I'm currently looking at a few bikes & some reviews are hard to come by on some of them.. I'll be mostly riding around downtown or around the paved trails around the waterfront area so an urban/hybrid type is what I've been looking at..

so far these are the ones I'm leaning towards:

https://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebik..._allegro1.html

https://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebik..._allegro2.html

https://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebik...a/10_coda.html

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/urban/pdx/pdx/

https://www.roadbikereview.com/mfr/ko...8_5672crx.aspx

which would you recommend or is there something else you would recommend entirely??

thanks in advance for your help..

garage sale GT

do a few online fit calculators to back up what they tell you at the store. It never hurts to be informed.

MRT2

Looks like a nice short list. Go with what feels best to you. The big decision, I guess is whether to go with a steel or aluminum bike. All my bikes are steel, and I like the ride of steel. But, aluminum is a little lighter, but (supposedly) not as comfortable.

If all things being equal, I would try the Jamis or the Kona, but that is mostly because I am in Wisconsin, so I see a lot of Trek bikes wherever I go. But if the Trek feels better to you, go with that.

dedhed

Budget? girl/boy? If you're going to ride "a lot" in Portland, I'd try to get disc brakes for wet weather performance.
Portland has a thriving used market too.
https://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/bik/1935694506.html

MRT2

Not a bad idea. Pick up a 2 or 3 year old bike for $200 instead of $500 new. You can do even better if you can get the seller to throw in a pump, lock or rack. Something to think about. The year I bought my bike, I spent about as much on all that stuff.

RonH

I'd have to recommend the Jamis Coda. When I was working at the bike shop we sold a ton of them to commuters and urban cyclists.

dedhed

+1
Figure on $100 min. for accessories if you plan on riding a lot. Racks, fenders, lock, light, repair tools, tube, pump are all things you may want or need.

Inertianinja

I bought an 09 jamis allegro 2 as my "first real bike" and tired of it quickly.
It's nice, but the flat handlebars get annoying for anything other than a short ride.

Honestly, if you think you'll do a lot of biking, just go with a road bike & relaxed geometry. You can always tweak a road bike to make it more or less aggressive.

With a hybrid, you're stuck with one position.

MRT2

You can always put bar ends on for additional hand positions. These look really comfortable. https://www.treefortbikes.com/product...o-Control.html

Or these
https://www.jensonusa.com/store/sub/1094-Bar+Ends.aspx

Inertianinja

My first few posts on this forum were investigating those as options.
Happy i went with drop bars instead