I, somewhat urgently, need help in making the right selection for a couple of bikes I'm prepared to buy for my son and I.

After a ton of online research, we have settled on Trek as a brand ... our individual specs and needs are as follows:

Me
1) 57 years old, 6 ft, 190 lbs
2) will be using on pavement 50% of the time, gravel 25%, off-road 25%
3) my area is hilly terrain with some steep inclines (Ozark Mountains)
4) maximum price $750

Son
1) 24 yrs old, 5-11, 225 lbs
2) pavement 75%, light off-road 25%
3) his area is less hilly
4) maximum price $600

We have been to our local Trek dealer and test-driven several bikes ... the store is new and they have been somewhat helpful, but not to the extent that they have made us confident in choosing the right bikes. Basically, they have recommended the GF Bodega for my son and the 4300 for me ... we both have also considered the 7300. We are relatively new to biking and all we basically know about Trek is what we have gathered online and from the bike shop ... specs for each of the bikes becomes very confusing to us after a while.

Can anyone help us make the right selection? One question I have in particular is about the GF Collection ... it doesn't seem to have caught on in our area ... research shows that there are a lot of recent changes with Gary and Trek ... should that be a concern in buying a GF bike now?

Anxious to pull the trigger and get to riding, but dazed and confused about hybrids versus true mountain bikes and all of the various models and specs, we are

Bill and son

If I were you...I'd scrap the Trek idea and give you my typical regurgitant remark...go buy yourselves a couple of Specialized Hardrock's.

Gravity sleds make an alright father/son one-two . . .

Drop trek go with specialized for the money

Oh and good luck the mountain bike bug bites hard!

Wow... seems to be a consensus of opinion against Trek and for Specialized, albeit it limited feedback ... any Trek lovers out there that want to speak up? Any Gary Fisher fans want to chime in?

I have no problem with Specialized ... it is our second choice based on our online research and limited knowledge. Don't know that they do the hybrid thing, though, which has driven much of our decision-making. Our planned use for bikes seems to lend itself well to hybrid over true mountain bikes.

Thanks,

Bill

As milkman said, the MTB bug bites hard. You can take a true MTB change the tires and make a few adjustment and it makes a OK hybrid or park trail bike, if you decide to do some off road style riding, a hybrid doesn't work so well for that. Don't think because you are 57 you cant do the off road stuff, I ride with a couple guys in their mid 60s. Fisher back in the day was the bomb, but now they really are just a name on a trek bike. At the end of the day, you take a Trek with the same components and compare it to a Specialized it going to cost more, you pay for the name. At the level of bike you are looking at, all the frames will come from China / Taiwan and probably made in the same plant. I think the reason against Trek is you will get more bike for the buck with Specialized, GT ect.

Bottom line, find a couple of bikes that work in your budget, fit you and your son and go have fun. Everyone is different, no one in our family rides the same brand bike, each of us like the feel of a certain bikes more than others. I ride a Niner, my wife rides a Fisher, my son a GT, my daughter a Raleigh.

ok, i'll champion trek. people might feel they "sold out" or are a big evil corporation (both true to a certain extent) but fact is, they make damn good bikes. they have the bazillions of dollars for research to make the damn good bikes they make. Trek bought out Garry Fischer, so gary puts his name on the bike but trek makes them. good bikes, don't bother worrying about the name on them. trek/gf/ all the same.

the 4300 is a good solid bicycle that will last you many many years and is worth the price.
for your son, have you thought about the 7.2 FX? if he is riding mostly on the road, it might be a good choice for him.
if the bikes are comfortable, and they are in your price range, then go for it.
try as many bikes as you can and get the ones you can afford that feel the most comfortable. good luck.

(just so you know where i'm coming from, i don't ride trek at all. but my friend who is a super badass rides and swears by them. he rode his trek remedy on the centurion, 100+ miles of mountain bike trails in moab in under 24 hours. if trek is good enough for him, it should be good enough for most. we just recently started carrying trek, but my support for them has nothing to do with it. my wife currently rides a Trek 820 that she has had for 15 years. trek was my first mountain bike.)

Thanks to you guys for continuing to help this novice sort this out. Though everyone seems to have obvious favorites, one thing I'm quickly learning is that all of the major brands are really pretty good bikes ... personal preference seems to really play a large role in making a choice ... I think I'm comfortable buying a Trek or a Specialized at this point.

Question ... is buying a GF hybrid and getting a second set of wheels with fat tires to pop on when doing single-track off-road riding a good option? Again, I foresee about 75% of my riding on pavement/tame trails/gravel roads, up and down hills (some steep) around town and about 25% on single-track trails in forest parks (rougher, some steep) outside of town.

Bill

Thanks for the encouragement ... I'm really younger than my 57 and in pretty good shape and have always been active, so I'm not intimidated by taking on biking at this age ... that said, I think I'm over the "throw caution to the wind" part of my life, so this is more for exercise and enjoying being outdoors in our beautiful part of the country than some middle-aged, thrill-seeking thing.

Bill

you can do that, but you will get tired of switching wheels, and you will need a whole new rear wheel with cassette and hub etc.
instead maybe you can get a good semi slick tire, with knobbys on the sides for grip and relatively slick middle for pavement, such as the maxxis high roller.

I think I would only characterize a very worn-out High Roller as as semi-slick .

Hate to utter the name, but a Larsen TT may be a good choice for that mix of riding. Or better yet, a Kenda Small Block Eight.

Unless, of course, it's a High Roller semi slick.

to clarify...
https://www.amazon.com/Maxxis-High-Ro.../dp/B0021G9W78

oh, wait, cryptid already beat me to it

This is Greek to me ... keep in mind that I am a complete novice ... feel free to talk down to me ... could you not just have a second set of wheels with true mountain bike tires that you put on when doing single-track off-roading? Is it really that hard taking the wheels off and sticking on different wheels?

Bill

you can have two sets of wheels, and it's not difficult at all to take off/put on wheels. i suggested semi slick tires because it would be overall less expensive and more simple to have one set of tires that do whatever you need to. by your estimates, you will be riding " on pavement 50% of the time, gravel 25%, off-road 25%." you don't need "true mountain bike tires" for gravel. so you would be buying a second set of wheels for 25% of riding.

to me, and this is just my opinion, you don't need an extra set of wheels for this. ultimately it's your choice, and there are no wrong answers on this point.

Funny, this is exactly what we ended up doing, kind of. Basically, we had narrowed our choices down to 3 bikes for my son ... Giant Roam I, Trek GF Utopia, and Specialized Crosstrail Sport Disc ... all are hybrids with front suspension that locks out and disc brakes. All 3 makes are the major brand for 3 different stores in our area, so the shop itself and the folks behind the shop were important factors in which bike to buy. Giant is sold by an outdoor gear store where bikes are just a part of the overall product mix. Trek is sold by a new store that only sells bikes. Specialized is sold by one of the oldest, if not the oldest, bike stores in the area.

We had already ridden the Trek bike and yesterday our intention was to start with Specialized, then go to Giant, and finally finish with Trek, our favorite, where we were likely to buy a bike. Well, we never made it to Giant or back to Trek. We test rode both the Crosstrail we were settled on and, at the suggestion of the store owner, we also rode the Hardrock Sport Disc 29er. After hearing how my son was going to use the bike, the store owner felt that the 29er might be a better compromise for him and fit his overall usage better ... we really do have a lot of great single track trails in our area and both my son and his girlfriend want to use them. Anyway, we loved both bikes, though the Crosstrail, because of its tires, was a slightly smoother ride on the paved trails we test rode on. Because we loved the bikes, and especially because the owner of the store (a hardcore rider himself) was more knowledgeable about his product than everyone else we have talked to combined (he has carried many brands, including Trek, since opening in 1972 and finally settled in on Specialized several years ago), and because my son was anxious to end the shopping and get to riding, we bought him the 29er, his personal favorite ... matt black and a great looking bike.

Question ... my son is is 5'-11" with short legs ... he had about 1", maybe 2", of clearance from the top tube while straddling the bike with both feet on the ground and spread shoulder width apart ... he test rode a 19 ... the next size down is a 17.5 ... the store owner felt that he would be happier with the 19 because of the other geometry of the bike and the fact that he wasn't going to do any serious or dangerous offroading or downhill and wasn't likely to come off the bike hard very often or at all. Good decision or not? 17.5 a better choice?

As for my new bike, I'm still trying to figure out what to do. I have a Bridgestone MB-3 that I bought in about 1995 that has never been used and is at our small local bike shop now getting a tune-up. I'm thinking about using it as a "townie" to get around on paved areas in our small town and getting a true mountain bike for use on trails ... maybe a 29er for me, too, espeically if my son ends up really liking his.

Thanks in advance for your input.