millhouse

Well, after doing some reasearch I bought a bike i had no ideas about. I have not bought a bike since I was 13...and even then it was a bike not even worth mentioning.

So without knowing much about bikes in general, I went out and bought a Haro v-3 at my local galyans. I looked at a giant for a similar price, but the components on the haro seemd a bit better, as did the fork and fram...but hey, I'm a noob so what do I know. They were having a sale, and I bought it for $315 plus I got a 10 gift certificate for spending over $300.

My first impressions after riding it are that it's a pretty comfortable bike. I think that they didnt set up the shifters/derailers quite right, because it seems a bit tricky to get into the bigger gears. I also noticed that I really need a chain gaurd do to my jeans being sucked into the gears and damn near ripping my leg off.

One more thing I noticed was how much brakes have progressed since my last bike. At first I got cought up in the disc brake is cool thing....and then I realized how well the newer style brakes work...and thought that I might as well go for some better components rather than worrying about the bling.

Anyways, did I do good...or is this a decision I'm going to regret?

Here is a link to the bike I bought ------> Haro V3 Linky

seely

The Haro's are nice bikes... if its a triple chainring up front you may have trouble finding a decent chainguard that will fit over a large outer ring--most are designed to fit over a >36t ring for urban riders. Anyways, if the gears are out of adjustment I think Galyans has a tune up policy though I question how good their work is. Another option you have is to get an ankle strap to hold your jeans in... most bike shops sell these.

iamthetas

I think it is a good bike for the money. my first "real" mt. bike came with tectro brakes and they did fine until I upgraded as needed. IMO the tires have to go ASAP. welcome to the forum by the way. the type of riding you do will determine the need to upgrade in the future. what type of riding do you do? street,light offroad with small jumps,long distance offroad with singletrack type courses,or are you going to do more extreme type riding?happy riding

millhouse

Wow, thanks for the quick replys...and the welcome!

Hmm, I'd much rather have a chaingaurd then go back to tight rolling my jeans (for those of you old enough to remember the rediculious fad ).

Yes, Galyans does have a lifetime tune-up, rim straightening etc. policy with every new bike. I'll probably just end up reading a bit on how to do a tune-up myself, as I am accustomed to working on my own vehicles, toys etc.

I'm currently just biking around the town every day with my daughter...so I imagine the tires will be going sooner or later.

The reason I bought the bike in the first place though is due to some friends that plan on, or have already done the same. We have some pretty steap inclines/declines around here...although I have yet to see them.

As far as the breaks go...I'm still impressed with them. Well see how well they handle some real abuse and perhaps some foul weather. Another thing that I was keen on was the mounts for future disc brakes...if at all needed.

iamthetas

thats what I upgraded to was Avid mechs. the tectros did well except when wet but I changed the pads to koolstops and they did better.the Avids ROCK! if you know how to tune the car you will be able to tune derailer with no problem.the cable may actually be a little tight if the larger gears are the area its not shifting right in. that will change shortly if that is the case as the cables will stretch. the nice thing about Shimono is the adjustability at the rear and at the shifter.just ride it for a bit and see what happens. the Kendas will be good for urban but I found that they bounced all over the place on rocks and I dang near killed myself within a 1/4 mile of my home on a sewer access road with small rocks so I had to lose them quick.Ive seen some of the covers for the big front gear but am not familiar with them.I stopped wearing jeans on my bike a long time ago and also double knot my shoes now too. I like taking my kids riding too