Originally Posted by
steel_is_real
I test rode the Giant. Compared with the Trek I didn't notice much difference in the ride, except the Giant felt lower to the ground and more maneuverable. I preferred the click shifters of the Giant to the grip shifters of the Trek. The gearing of the Trek felt better for riding on pavement.
The gears on the Giant kept slipping off the largest front cog so I guess that is just a matter of adjustment, but because of that the price was lowered to $50, which kind of makes it a no-brainer pricewise compared to the $140 for the Trek.
The owner commuted 5 miles to work on it. One of the front brakes was rubbing against the rim and she said didn't know how to fix it, so it would seem not a lot of maintenance was done on the bike. It seems to go ok though.
So I'm just thinking about which one would be better for me now.
Might be a matter of adjustment, or you might need to replace the chain, cassette/freewheel and possibly chainrings. As for the brake rubbing, possibly the wheel is out of true, or even has a broken spoke or two. If the Giant is really beat up, you might need to put $100 or $150 in parts and labor into it.