Originally Posted by
RickGr4
As my wonderful mom has always said, ya gotta pee or get off the pot.
There are no miracles here. There is not one bike greatly better than another unless you jump prices ranges (as MRT2 just suggested). To make things worse, you will not find all of these bikes you are considering in the size you need on display and ready to ride at your LBS. Also, even though there are many extremely experienced bike riders out there, the chance that you will run into someone that has ridden all of the bikes you are considering and is slim and none.
You need to use the process of elimination to narrow your choices on paper. Narrow it down to two or three bikes and then try to ride them. Make sure your LBS has the right bike in the right size and have them take an extra minute to adjust it to you. Then do your test rides.
MRT2 is right when he says stick to a budget. You do not want to test drive a Ferrari unless you can seriously afford one. When I bought my Giant Fastroad, I did NOT test ride the carbon version because I had no intention of spending the extra money so I decided not to tease myself. I am very happy with my purchase...
I do have it narrowed down to 2-3 bikes, I will not be able to test ride one of them until tomorrow as the LBS had to put together the right size bike, because I told them I wasn't interested in riding a bike that was too small for me.
So depending on how the Coda rides I could get that, or end up getting the Trek FX 7.4 disc that I had another store order for me.
Thanks for the input.
Originally Posted by
MRT2
OK, here is the thing. For the sort of bike you are talking about, a sturdy, versatile bike, you can find a decent, if somewhat entry level bike for around $500 retail. $800 gets you a better bike, and $1,200 gets you a better bike, and so on, up to, IMO, about $1,800. (if you are talking dual suspension mountain bikes, or road race bikes, obviously you can spend a lot more for better performance).
So you need to decide on your budget and stay within it.
I agree and understand your point. However being ignorant to what I needed to accomplish the task at hand, I think I might have had unrealistic expectations on what I needed to spend.
The last bike I bought was around 2002 and what you could get for your money then was a lot different.
So my budget has adjusted up some, but still in a comfortable range.
Thanks for the input.