Hello everyone, this is my first post. I will be buying my first real bike soon (my last one was when I was roughly 10 and it sucked) and need some advice.
After doing some very heavy crash-course research over the past several days, I think I've decided to get a SS bike from bikesdirect. Since I'm on quite a small budget it seems like a no-brainer. I thought about getting the Cafe' Express 3, but since I'm likely to be commuting on flat ground for 95%+ of the time, it doesn't seem practical enough and only one gear seems like it would require less maintenance. Further info: I don't plan to be using the bike more than just a few miles a day for work. This could change if I become addicted to it as a hobby
Currently I think I'm between the SST and the Clockwork (though that could change if new information is uncovered).
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/dawes/sst_steel.htm
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...kwork_plus.htm
They seem to be very similar except that the Dawes has either Alex R500 or Weinmann ZAC1800 rims (Clockwork has "Custom Color" rims- which I assume are worse) and the Clockwork has "Precision Bearings" (SST has "Rubber Contact Sealed"). Are the bearings in the hub really enough to be work $80 more (and over the price of the rim difference- if there is any)? If the hub is that bad in the SST, would getting a better one separately be a better idea than going for the Clockwork (and if so, by how much pricewise)? Are both the rims bad enough to need replacing soon, even for a low-mileage novice?
Bonus question- Is the SST AL [
http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...al_carb_x.htm] really worth $180 (which is 72% if my math is correct) more than the SST1? I mean, I know that the parts are probably better, but as far as "bang for your buck" how much better is it actually? Or is it mainly just incremental in performance/weight? Speaking of weight, I can't seem to find that info on the site. Do any of you guys know what the weight of these bikes are roughly?
That's a lot of questions, lol. Sorry about that.
Thanks for all your help in advance!