Originally Posted by
Rolla
If you're riding road most of the time and would have bought a road bike if one was available, I don't get why you're looking at mountain bikes.
Both of the bikes on your list have the bells and whistles that customers want, but to hit their price points, a lot of corners have to be cut.
60-dollar coil suspension forks are heavy (5 lbs for the Vaxa, 6 lbs for the Suntour) and offer very little adjustment. Cheap mechanical disc brakes are usually more trouble and no better than a simple set of V-brakes.
If I was looking at riding 70% pavement and 30% dirt, I'd opt for a more hybrid-style bike, unless the trails you plan to ride are gnarly -- in which case, these two mountain bikes probably aren't up to the job anyway.
Maybe look at a Raleigh Detour or something similar?
You’re probably right... when I bought the bike last year it was essentially the only thing available, and since I was just starting I didn’t know how much I’d even ride it. my wife works at Sportchek and thus I get everything from there at cost. They don’t have any road bikes and my issue is that being off work for 14 months makes it hard to spend $$ on a bike at all, let alone a road bike from somewhere else.
the other aspect is that I LOVE riding the forest trails we have here (when they finally open). I ride the paved paths for exercise and mostly cause I can get away for an hour or 2 while my kid does schooling or video games. The forest requires a much longer time commitment with driving time. I’d def go forest trails everyday if it was closer... and it’s hard to justify to my wife that we need to move farther away from... well everything, just to be closer to the forest. Lol