First Bicycle, Need info!
 

I am going to purchase my first REAL bike. My commute to work is about 20 miles roundtrip (mostly paved). I also want to be go in the dirt every once in awile (i live in the dessert. LOTS of dirt). My LBS sells Specialized Bikes and I am considering the Tricross Sport Triple or the Allez Elite Compact. They cost about the same. I was wondering if anybody was ridden either of these. I want to have some fun biking again.

P.S. I am a complete newbie. i know i can get some info at my LBS, but the more knowledge the better. Thanks

I'm afraid I haven't ridden either of these bikes. Very nice bikes, however. (I've still got my Hard Rock as a good luck charm! ;)

The most important thing is that you get a bike that is "FIT" to your legs/torso and is comfortable.


Then ride, ride.. and ride.

i have researched how to FIT a bike online and i am hoping my LBS can help me with that. And hopefully i can test ride both bikes. Just nervous since all i have every owned was an $80 bike i bought from Wal-Mart. $80 dollars down the drain :(

The Allez is prettymuch useless in the dirt, so if that's a big consideration you should cross it off the list.

+1 to what Adrian said on fit - Muy Importante!

Both those bikes will get you through your daily commute... But I would recommed the 'cross bike. THe major reason has to do with the fact that it can accomodate a wider, more rugged tire. That will make it possible to do a little "off-roading" with a lot more grace!

I lived in the Mojave Desert for 17 years and commuted to work by bike while living there for eight. I can kinda relate. My weapon of choice for off-road fun was a hardtail mountain bike, but a cyclocross rig would have done OK in most situations.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the info JeffS and dwr1961. Looks i'll it the Tricross for me! :)

The Tricross was just featured in last month's issue of Bicycling Magazine. I almost bought one based on the review alone. I want one!

Nice bike!! I thought about a trek, but only one LBS in town and they sell Specialized and Giant.

Since the LBS carries both, ask about the TCX series from Giant. The TCX 1 costs a little bit less $$ than the Specialized. Of course the Giant has only a double up front. If you don't have any serious hills, you could make do with a double...

Feel like an idiot for asking, but what do you mean by double?? I am a complete newbie, still trying to figure all this out.

never mind. i just figured that out

How much have you ridden just for fun? In other words, are you new to bicyling long distances or just new to commuting?

Hey welcome to bike commuting!

Since i dont know much about the bikes you mentioned, ill just give a few pieces of advice before you start. Firstly, be sure to check out the resource thread, (lots of handy info) if you haven't already. These threads have a lot of good info about commuting .. and bikes in general.

Secondly, +1 on the Fit of the bike, but also make sure you have your seat post adjusted properly, probably the biggest mistake by noobies is that they usually have their seat post too low.
Sheldon brown is also a great resource for everything, basically every cyclist's bible.

Also, the first week or so will be really tough on your ass.. just thought id add it in, especially because 10miles each way is kinda longish for a newbie, so you'll really feel it starting to hurt after a day or two.
This pain will eventually go away (1-2 weeks) as your ass starts to toughen up, so don't immediately come to the conclusion that your seat is bad.

Apart from that, good luck with the commuting!

the last time i rode a bike i was in the 6th grade. i am 29 now. i am new to everything. and back then i rode a bike my dad bought me from the swapmeet.

thanks for the info. i checked out Sheldon Brow. MAn that is alot of info!!! thanks for the tip!

I think the Tricross would be much be better off-road than the Allez. It might even be a bit more comfortable.

The tricross will be a good, multipurpose bike. I expect the tires will be wide, slick tires versus knobby mtb tires. Plus, you will probably have room to add fenders, should you decide you want to commute on the bad weather days as well as the fair weather days. That will make a good first bike for you. Just know that "one day" you may want both a mountain bike and a road bike. The cross bike is kind of between those two, but will honestly do both really well.

OK. I have some ideas.

Spend as little money as possible. Here's why: As many posters in this forum have pointed out, a newer rider most likely will get a bike, ride for a while, and soon discover that they don't like x, y, and z about the bike and would prefer a, b, and c instead. At that point of dissatisfaction (maybe after a few months), you will be ready to shop for the bike that you really want. You'l be better able to test ride different models to know what feels good and meets your commuting needs.

...Whatever money you save right now can be used later to get what you really want. In the meantime, grabbing a bike for around $100 at the swapmeet, Craig's list, garage sale, etc. is a good idea. Just make sure that you test a ride a few until you find one that feels reasonably comfortable to you. Don't worry about getting one of the two models you're looking at. I have no idea what the price range is for either of them, but I'm guessing that they are more than $100.

Finally, as another poster pointed out, 10 miles is a long way for a new person. It's a long way for me, since I've usually done around 5 miles each way for most of my commuting life. ...So, I'm hoping that you can augment your bicycle travels at first. Can you ride partway and catch a bus/train partway? It's a good way to build up to your eventual goal of 10 miles. By the way, this option is another reason to get a cheaper bike; sometimes the bus racks can do some damage, and you don't want that happening to a pricey bike.

Another option (and I might get crucified for this) would be a cheap E-bike from Walmart. I hear they are only a couple hundred dollars, and it should give your more range and speed than you can do on your own. Once you've built up some riding endurance, you can sell the E-bike and buy what you really want. (The only thing is that I'm not certain what range the battery is good for. If you go this route, make sure the battery will last the whole way because you don't want to be hauling one of those big things with leg power alone.)

Sorry that I can't answer specific questions about the 2 models presented. I have never ridden either. Most of my travels have been on cheap, single speed Beach Cruisers, but I wouldn't recommend those for journeys longer than 5 miles.

The Tricross or similar would be a nice all arounder UNLESS your off roading will hit some patches of loose sand. And since you're living in the desert I'm going to assume that sand holes or otherwise deeper patches of loose powdery like dirt are common. If so the more aggresive leaned forward riding position along with the medium width tires of the cyclocross style bike will have more tendency to bury the front when you hit such a patch. For sand you want a wide tire for more float. That says "Mountain bike" more than cyclocross. And definetly do not even consider taking something like an Allez or similar road bike off road in such conditions. You'd hate it.

WIth a mountain bike it's easier to lean back and lift some of the weight from the front and float over the sandy or loose spots. But then it's not as nice or easy for road riding.

Similarly a tire with knobbies will be nicer off road but really draggy on the road. So your choice to do both is going to be bound by a lot of compromises.

Really your two options for riding are so different that you'd be best with two bikes. But I know you didn't want to hear that.

There is an option though. A mountain bike or 29'er with a second wheelset. The first being set up with a narrow'ish smooth road tire for commuting. The second set being set up with a wider knobbie for desert jaunts. The bars and saddle being set up for a moderately aggresive cross country racing like posture so you aren't sitting up like a sail on the road but are upright enough to be able to shift your weight back and forth and side to side when offroading.

I have so many problems with this advice I don't know where to start. First of all, life is too short to be riding a crappy bike. Riding a crappy bike that is right style for you is way more likely to steer you away from cycling than riding a quality bike that isn't quite the right match for your riding style. Plus if it really isn't the right bike for you, a quality bike will actually have some resale value.

Walmart is probably responsible for turning more people off biking than any other dealer. Please do not go there. These bikes will not be fun to ride or be representative of what cycling has to offer.

This poster has indicated he wants to spend the money to get a quality bike. Kuddos to him. He is already way ahead of 90% of the people who post here asking for first time bike purchasing advice. Let's give him recommendations for bikes we'd actually want to ride for more than 5 minutes instead of going for the cheapest option.

I test rode the Tricross triple right before I recently bought my Kona Jake. I really liked the ride of the Tricross, and still wish I owned one, but I didn't buy it for 3 reasons.
1. I could only get it in a Camo paint scheme for less than $1000, which was my cutoff. If I could have had black or blue (the 2008 version) for the same price, I would have bought it I think.
2. I read a lot of bad things about brake shudder with the 2007 that I was looking at. I'm not sure if this is resolved for the 2008/2009, but could be easily resolved by spending a bit to replace the brakes.
3. I thought that for some reason a novice might think it looked like a more expensive bike than the Kona due to the tubing and the front fork. I want my bike to look like it's not worth stealing. I'm not sure if this was good thinking or not, since it was just my opinion of what a thief might think looked expensive.

If you buy one, post some pics. I really like them!

after 6 years in the service i will not be getting anything camo. i like the 08 paint scheme.Thanks for the input!

a friend of mine began commuting to work 2 months ago and the first day he borrowed his brothers bike he had just bought a week ago at walmart and the pedals fell off while he was crossing an intersection!! afetr work he stopped at the LBS and got himself a bike he loves now. No Walmart bikes for me!!

Same issue for me. 6 years too. :lol: