Help Please
 

I'm looking for a "comfort" bike to use around town and take on trips.

Currently, I have a pretty pristine '86 Raleigh Competition I still ride on the longer hauls(it suits my purpose). I have a Giant Yukon for trails and dirt roads, etc.

I was looking at the "comfort" bikes for the upright urban ride. I do ride in the city a lot and they seem to actually be comfortable as their name implies.

I've checked the performance bike location and searched the net. On that note, I found a site called bikesdirect.com I was wondering if anybody had any information on the bikes off that site? It seems the price might be to good to be true.

I was looking at a motobecane jubilee http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/...ne/jub_dlx.htm . Can anybody shed any light on these? I like it because they sell a 24" frame and I'm 6' 6".

Any input or other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I think the 24" frame is going to be on the short side. I ride a Redline R530 for my "City Bike" I am 6'-2" and have long legs. Mine is an XL(whatever that means) but is still has some "grow" room in it, I would say that I am at the small end of the scale for that bike. FWIW my normal road frame size is a 25.5"/65cm

Aaron:)

If you do a search you'll see several threads about bikesdirect.com.
Motobecane bikes are ok. Nothing really outstanding about them other than the prices are good.

Looks like a fine bike, but if you're that tall I might keep looking. I'm 6'1" and have long legs, and that geometry would kill me. But i wouldn't buy a 'comfort' bike anyway.

Keep in mind that most of the major brands also have comfort bikes right around that price. I just checked the Giant site, and it lists the 2009 Cypress at $410. Likewise, the Trek site lists the 2009 7000 at $360. The Motobecane may have better components or something, but keep in mind that the comfort bikes generally are less expensive than a lot of the other styles.

I bought a Specialized Crossroads Sport, which is a comfort bike, last year. I did some modifications (replaced the suspension seatpost and saddle, changed the pedals, lowered the bars, locked out the front suspension as much as possible), but I have been very happy with it. I really enjoy the ride. Specialized isn't making this same model in 2009, but mine is pretty much the equivalent of the Giant and Trek models I noted above.

Good luck.

The Jubilee does not appear to really be a comfort bike. It uses a conventional frame, the only concessions to "comfort" seems to be pieces that can be put on any frame (adjustable rise stem, shock forks & seat post).

One factor that comfort bikes tend to share is that the bottom bracket is placed forward of the seat tube, and not on it. Moving the pedal position forward makes sitting upright a lot more comfortable. See the Electra Townie for an example.

The Townies are okay for what they are; my main gripe is that Electra insists on putting suspension forks on all the upper-end models of Townies. :mad: On a normal geometry frame you tend to lean forward and rest a lot of weight on your hands--but with the lower hand pressure these bikes provide, the shock-forks really shouldn't be necessary.

Day6bicycles (online) would be another possible candidate.

Up around $1000, there's the RANS crank-forward bikes. They were supposed to be coming out with a Dynamik frame sized for taller riders. RANS put up a website with forum for these bikes, at http://www.crankforward.com/ -where the RANS as well as other similar bikes get discussed.

I have a RANS Fusion and like it, but I probably could have lived with a Townie too.
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Thanks for the input. My biggest problem - and I should have stated this before is that I'm a Clyde, with a short inseam. I'm 6' 6" but a 34" inseam, leaving me with a very long torso. When I buy to fit my standover height, typically, the rest of the bike feels cramped. I thought a comfort would allow me to sit more upright, where I could adjust stems and bars to raise the height required to keep me sitting upright.

You are confusing "crank forward" with "comfort bike". While crank forward is good for those people that feel the need to be able to put their feet down on the ground while still seated, it is not necessarily an attribute of a comfort bike.

Many bikes by many manufacturers marketed as comfort bikes have the BB in the traditional location. For example, the Giant Sedona and Giant Cypress are both comfort bikes, with a traditional crank configuration.

Find a Redline dealer...and check out the R530 and similar bikes from them. It is one of the few that I have had little to no problem fitting myself on. The stem is adjustable up and down as well as the tilt, the seat post is adjustable, etc. I have been very, very pleased with the bike so far. I am sure there are others out there, but I haven't seen them yet.

Aaron:)

http://www.swobo.com/catalog/product...?cPath=201_204

I'm saving for one of these. Nine speed SRAM internal hub. An all-around urban assault vehicle.
I think it will give a good upright position, it has eyelets for racks and fenders. Check it out.
DK

Got a threadless headset which limits moving the stem up and down...

Aaron:)

Check this out:

http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/174...dless-Stem.htm

That is only in one plane...a threaded headset can also be adjusted up and down as well as the angle of the stem. Makes fitting a bike a lot easier. Threadless may have it's place, but once the height has been set you are pretty limited. I have two bikes with a threadless and will avoid them in the future.

Aaron:)

I understand what you are saying. There is quite a bit to it. Your head tube is not straight up and down and so a fixed stem changes your seat tube to handlebar length as you move it up and down. So, you propose that buying different stem lengths and angles until you get it right is an acceptable alternative?

To me, either way, if you know what it is that fits you, you are going to save alot of time and money. I have a whole drawer full of stems from threaded and threaded headsets from different attempts to fit my bikes better to illustrate the frustration of getting it tweaked just like you like it.

If you do decide that threaded headsets are the way to go, stick with ones that use 1" quills rather than 1 1/8". They are hard to find a good selection of the ones you may need.

I use a fairly long threaded stem, I like the ones that have the pivot point in the middle. I can usually dial in a bike fairly quickly that way.

Aaron:)

Yea, and my contention is that bikes like the Giant Sedona and Cypress are marketing B.S. products. They are using an inferior product to capitalize on a hot sales trend and uninformed consumers.

If all it takes to be a "comfort bike" is a tall stem and a suspension seatpost, then you could claim that anything is a comfort bike, just by adding those two parts.

The point of the true comfort bike frames is to move the pedals forward, in order to allow the rider to sit farther back on the wide part of the saddle. Being able to stop and put your feet down while seated is just a side-effect of that.
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