Originally Posted by
neil
Not really enough information to tell you anything useful.
- How far do you ride? The Commuter line is great for short commutes, but isn't terribly efficient and could leave you quite tired after a long one.
- What kind of hills are you looking at? The IGH is enough for most situations, but doesn't give you the same range as modern derailleur systems. If you've got constant ups and downs of widely differing grades, it may be less than ideal.
- When you say "exercise," what do you have in mind? From the shortlisted styles, I'm guessing you're not planning on off-road mountain biking, but if you are, then obviously there's some equipment demands to that. If you have visions of yourself racing bikes, then that also will be a driving factor in your decision, though racing bikes are a very poor choice for commuting (handle loads poorly, high value target for thieves). If your vision of exercise is to go for a long ride on paved roads and well maintained trails, with no view to speed, then the touring line is more up your alley.
Four years on, I still love my Aurora, and I'd buy it again. The change to bar-end shifters, though, is not my thing, so I'd probably be looking for other models of similar design.
My commute to class would be a mile to a mile and a half at most. The area is pretty "hilly" so there's a decent amount of uphill and downhill. In terms of exercise, I'd probably only be doing a couple miles at a time, at most 30 min.