CHValor

First, I apologize if there are any forum veterans who get sick and tired of this kind of post. That said, any help would be appreciated!

I've recently finished up with law school, and started working about two miles from my home. I used to ride a mountain bike fairly regularly, and my wife has been a fan of bike riding for a while, so I've been trying to get back into some leisurely cycling. A year and a half ago I purchased a cheap 7-speed Schwinn cruiser/hybrid from Walmart on a whim, but that ended up being a grave mistake. It feels like I'm carrying a wagon behind me, and pedaling the thing feels immensely more difficult than any bike I've ridden in the past. I'm not that much heavier than I used to be, and I'm only 26, so I assumed it must have been either the quality or make of the bike and it's been collecting dust ever since.

Now that I've got a little more money to spend, I'm looking for recommendations from more informed folks so I can do it right this time! I'm 5'11 and 240lbs. The bike would be used for everything from a quick 15 minute occasional ride to work, to prolonged rides when the wife wants to hit the trails.

Thanks in advance, I've been looking through various posts and this looks like an awesome community.

gunner65

FX - Trek Bicycle

These seem to be quite popular around here all brands offer a similiar but you are almost guaranteed a trek dealer in every major town. Go to a shop and check them out.

1loosemoose

My wife has a FX 7.3 and loves it and I plan on picking the same bike up this week for myself.

We both have road bikes and are purchasing the FX's for when we want a little more comfort.

MRT2

Not a problem. Everybody is a little different and frames the question of which bike to get a little differently.

But first, you need to answer a few questions.

1. How much do you want to spend? Decent bikes can be found from $450 to $550, but $1,500 isn't out of the question depending on what you want to do.

and
2. What is it you want to do? And for your work commutes, do you have a secure place to park your new steed?

CHValor

Sure! And thanks to everyone for the suggestions already.

1) Price isn't too big. I'd like to spend less than 1K, but if the perfect bike is a bit over I'd likely be willing.

2) What I want to do is have a bike for bike lanes, light commuting, and trails (paved) along the park. Yes, I have a secure place to put the bike when I'm at work.

Black wallnut 

#1 there is no perfect bike.
#2 one bike to do all these things is going to be a compromise on all.

Instead of telling you what bike to buy might I suggest you visit a number of Local Bicycle Shops (LBS) in your town, city, village, etc. Choose the one that treats you the best and then listen to their advice and ride a variety of styles that would work for what you are looking to do. Let them know your price range up front but understand that entry level bikes come with components that will have a finite lifespan. If you end up riding lots or hard or neglect maintenance the life might be shorter. Choose the one that appeals to you not just by ride feel but also the looks. It is more likely you'll ride a bike you like.

mr,grumpy 

I LOVE "what bike" questions! Every one dog-piles on about whatever they just bought being the perfect bike for YOU! I'm not going to do that. I have two bikes that I ride on a regular basis. They both pretty muck live the life that you describe with one being a little more "leisure" and the other being a little more "sport".

The first is a Specialized Tricross. The base model. I like that bike a lot. It fit's me well and even thought it's a dropped-bar bike it's not as extreme as sat, the Trek 1.5 it replaced. It's given me no problems and cost me nearly $0 in spares and repairs. Outside o rack, fenders and lights it's bone stock. I have recently come to find out, thought, that their business practices are somewhat dodgy and Microsoft-ian. They are very avid protectors of their "brand" and are quite the bullies about it. To the point where is any cycling entity uses any cycling word that they feel is "theirs" they sue them. Is this REALLY true? Don't know, don't care. It's the appearance of impropriety and they are a big enough company to afford the right kind of PR to squash out these rumors if they war not true. The fact that they haven't done that suggest to me that…. they are bullies. SO, I love my Tricross but I'd never buy another one. If it got lost or stolen I'd replace it by a similar model from a "smaller" company like Kona, Salsa or Red Line.

The other bike that I have is a Trek 820. The cheapest thing that you can roll out of a LBS I think. It's a tank. It's indestructible. It looks NOTHING like a MTB at this point and does a bang-up job at performing the tasks that you describe. For me. It weighs a ton, isn't very "sexy" and is as slow as a pair of grannies in a three-legged race. BUt it gets the job done. Every. Single. Time. If it got lost or stolen I'd replace it a bottom of the line rigid-forked Hybrid bike from one of the Big Guys like Giant, Canondale, Raleigh or, most likely< even another Trek.

If you have money to burn then get disc brakes as the first upgrade of all. The caveat there being that you will mess them up over and over and over and over if you try to adjust them yourself. You CAN learn it (I suppose, I haven't bothered) but most likely you'll be a slave to the bicycle mechanic. Every single other up=grade that the LBS guys will "suggest" to you is bollocks. Eventually you'll want a "nice bike" and by that point you'll pretty much know what style and options YOU feel are necessary.

Welcome to Riding! HAve FUN!