Hello Everyone,
This is my first post on this forum, even though I've been reading for a while. I am in the market for a new bike and I don't know anything about bikes. I am 5'10'', 200 lbs student, who is planning on using the bike mostly for commuting to school ~7 mi one way.
I am in the $300-$400 budget and the $400 is a hard limit. Craigslist is not an option in my area and I am hesitant to buy off of bikesdirect, mostly based on things I've read here. I also don't feel like I have the required bicycle knowledge to purchase a bike online.
I've gone to my LBS and I've narrowed down my selection at his store to Jamis Commuter I or Trek 7000, both are right at $400
I might be wrong, but component wise it looks like the Jamis is the better bike (like I said, I don't know much about bikes).
Unfortunately, he doesn't have either one of these in the store and he will have to order them in order for me to test ride them.
He said that's not a problem, but I would still feel uncomfortable if he orders two bikes, I test drive them and I still buy a bike from performance(my last option)
Performance has Fuji Absolute 3 on sale right now for $399, with %10 off through their club membership, that would make it $369.
I would say that the customer service both at the lbs (blue ridge cyclery charlottesville, va) and performance has been pretty good.
I like the fact that at the LBS I deal with the owner, who happens to be very nice, but the guys at performance have been nice too and also seem quite knowledgeable.
I should also mention that I do prefer giving my business to local businesses, rather than corporations, but in this case having a nationwide lifetime service with performance is a nice deal since I will be moving out of town after college and the LBS I assume wouldn't be able to cover me nationwide.
How would you rate the bikes as far as components go?
What would you do if you were in my situation where both bikes that I am looking at need to be ordered before I can try them out?
Here are links to the bikes:
Jamis Commuter I:
http://jamisbikes.com/usa/thebikes/s...ter1_spec.html
Trek 7000:
http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes...n/hybrid/7000/
Fuji Absolute:
http://2009.fujibikes.com/LifeStyle/...bsolute30.aspx
Note that the Fuji is 26 lbs and the Jamis is 32 lbs. The Trek doesn't have the weight listed, but I would assume it's around 30.
An added thing going for the Commuter is that it already comes with fenders, which I would need anyways.
Thank you soooo much for any help.