Originally Posted by
dr_lha
One question: Do you have a Jamis dealer nearby? If yes, check out their offerings. For flat bar bike, the Jamis Coda Sport is a great bike, and I would say, Clyde worthy. The steel frame is tough as nails and the wheels that come with it are pretty strong.
If you're looking at drop bar, then the Jamis Renegade series should interest you. I'd go with the steel frame one personally, but the aluminum is closer to your budget.
Originally Posted by
MRT2
The Jamis Coda Sport is a good choice, as is the Jamis Quest. Both steel frames, which I like.
Another good budget pick is the Giant Escape 2, if you like aluminum. Only $400 retail, which is about $100 less than similar models from Trek and Soecialized.
Never heard of Jamis, so I hadn't looked for them. Turns out, we have a new bike shop I wasn't yet aware of that focuses on rentals (it's in a building on one of the popular bike paths here), but also sells Jamis bikes. I'm not positive if the rentals are Jamis bikes as well, but if they are it would be a good way to take one for a test run for more than a spin around the shop parking lot. Either way, though, it's not a shop that I foresee sticking around for the long haul, just given its location. So I'd probably feel better about using one of the other two major shops in town.
I did look at the Giant Escape series in one of the shops, too, and liked what I saw. Wasn't sure about not having disc brakes at the time, but that was before starting this thread.