Originally Posted by
InnoxiousD
Hello Everyone
So I've been stalking this forum for quite a while now and finally decided to register. I'm searching for a good commuter bike. I haven't been much of a biker in recent years, but I enjoy it, like fitness and now I live somewhere without a car, so I plan to bike all over town daily. This will be a main form of transportation for me and I want to get from point A to B as quickly as possible. That being said, I'm looking for a hybrid because I don't have a lot of experience with road bikes and there may be some dirt and gravel paths I will be traversing. My budget is only $250, so used is all I have to work with.
Here are a few bikes I'm looking at:
Raleigh Hybrid -
$170 Raleigh Hybrid - awesome condition
Trek 700 -
TREK 700 Hybrid Bike
Specialized Globe Carmel (too slow?) -
Specialized Globe Carmel comfort urban city bike bicycle
Any help you can give would be awesome!
The Trek or Raleigh would be the best choices. However, be aware that the size range for both of those bikes is overly optimistic. The range of fit on bicycles is much closer than 5'4" to 5'10". The Raleigh looks like it is bigger (it looks like a 17" mountain bike, not a hybrid) and would fit someone 5'6" to 5'9". The Trek is smaller and would fit someone from 5'3" to 5'8".
The main differences in the bikes are going to be in the reach from the saddle to the handlebars. The Raleigh is going to be proportionally longer because it is meant for someone who is taller with longer arms and longer torso. Mountain bikes are sized 2" to 3" smaller than road bikes so that you have bail-off clearance. Hybrids tend to be sized more like road bikes so a someone who rides a 17" mountain bike would ride a 20" road (or hybrid) frame. Someone small enough to ride the Trek would have to have a 12" to 13" mountain bike frame.
I would suggest that you ride both and take someone who is knowledgable about bikes and bike fit with you. As to the price, both are over priced. The Trek is likely a 2012 that sold new for $330. You can buy a new 7.0 FX for $380 (probably less at the end of the season) that would professionally assembled, tuned, they would size it properly for you and they will do tune ups on it for a year, at least. I suspect with end of the season sales, you could get for about $100 more than your budget.
$100 seems like a lot but only a rich man can afford to buy cheap tools...because he usually has to buy them twice. Same goes for bikes.