GearsForFears

Hello all - I'm totally alien to mountain bikes and biking, I'm an urban biker and I ride a cyclocross bike around town. However my significant other just won a new Trek 3900 donated by Trek in a charity auction. He paid $320 for it plus a health club membership. He mainly wanted to support the charity and was planning to turn around and sell the bike to someone for a discount to list price and recapture part or all of his donation. However he has taken the bike for a few spins in the neighborhood and kind of likes it. He has been getting around town on an old Gitane road bike and needs more of an urban warrior for the terrible roads in our city; he has been thinking about a cross bike like mine but this feels like it might fill the bill at least for a while. Is this a decent bike for that kind of use? Will the components hold up? He's particularly skeptical of the suspension fork holding up over time. Any thoughts appreciated.

johnnytheboy

kenhill3

That bike will be just fine for his purposes. He can also take it offroad if he so desires (!!!). For commuting, he may want to put different tires on the bike.

guadzilla

^^^ What he said. The suspension and parts wont be a problem on the road.

V.

GearsForFears

We took the 3900 out for a spin around the city this morning, trading it and my Surly Cross-Check back and forth. It was kind of a revelation for us both. The 3900 was a lot faster than we imagined it would be on the road with those thick, heavy, knobby tires; we thought it would be a total chore to push around and it wasn't. And of course the ride was just amazingly smooth over worse pavement than you can imagine - Milwaukee fixes a street only when it becomes essentially impassible. It was as if the whole city road system had been magically fixed. Not only is my partner now seriously considering keeping the 3900 as an urban bomber; I'm thinking about a similar bike for myself, perhaps something a little sexier. (I'm a single-speed lover and my LBS has an amazing looking SS thing called a Bianchi Sok that has been calling to me for a while now despite my total mtb ignorance.)

Anyway I think I get the whole mountain-bike-as-commuter thing now. I always thought it was just a fad for prissy urbanites who wanted to look like mountain bikers.

yellowjeep

That would be "fixies".

mystolenbikes

I know you are not looking for one but if you think that trek was smooth wait till you ride a dual suspention.
When you go to your lbs you should try a dual suspention bike just for the heck of it.

yellowjeep

An FS bike is mucho overkill for a city bike though. High volume low pressure tires is a better bet.

guadzilla

Schwalbe Big Apples 2.35s. Put a pair of dem puppies on it and you're set

GearsForFears

I'm not against overkill. I think I've been doing underkill for too long. I wouldn't be against a Pugsley at this point.

Dual suspension = suspension on front and rear? What would be the better examples of the genre?

-_RebelRidin'_-

the 3900 has *help* up to my abuse...
so it should be good for Y'all's purposes.

-_RebelRidin'_-

yes,
those extra bouncy squishy things..

look up a trek Fuel, as an example

mystolenbikes

I don't know what your budget is but an entry level full suspension bike will set you back about $1000 to $1500.
I think for what you do this would be a good entry level bike.
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-US/...in/2278/32120/

yellowjeep

Money better spent elsewhere.

mystolenbikes

Like what?

DirtPedalerB

haha recommending a full suspension to ride on the road.. this place is getting ridiculous.

FYI
I have a trek fuel... it sucks on the road. I used to ride the road on my hardtail that was fine, but I finally bought a road bike when it wore out as I was left to ride the fuel on the road.

IMO a cyclocross bike would be the best city bike or maybe one of the bikes marketed as a city bike.

yellowjeep

Anything other than a FS for the road.

mystolenbikes

Are we that hardcore or to cool to ride a dual suspension on the road? She says where she lives has horrible almost unpassable streets and also they are not doing time trials they are comuting. I use my FS bike for everything including 30 miles bike path riding on the beach so IMO I rather be on a nice cushy bike than something that going to make me lose my fillings any day.

yellowjeep

Not to hard core or cool just to practical. Right tool for the job kinda thing. But to each their own.

GearsForFears

I don't think I'd ride a FS on the road but I'm game to try it and if I liked it I'd go for it. I should snap a photo of 2nd Street here, which is the main bike route from the south side of the city to downtown. You can get thrown off a bike if you're not watching. Even the cars swerve around to avoid the worst patches. My cyclocross bike is OK on it but like I say the 3900 feels like the better horse for the trail. I've taken to running right over the potholes for fun. It can rock you when the back tire hits, though, so who knows - FS may be the way to go. I'm not against $1000 for a bike. I ride it more than my car.

(I'm a he, btw.)