Hi there! I rather new to the forum, having only browsed here for a couple days, but I found many comments useful and need some help.

I had a rather cheap bike (Geoniks) that was a folding bike probably built here in South Korea. (I am located in Korea, btw) It started to have problems rather quickly, starting with the stem coming loose and bending, rendering the folding capabilities null and void, followed by other things slowly coming undone. I tend to ride my bike hard. Though I don't do any real mountain biking here in Korea (I am not aware of any trails that you can mountain bike here) the roads and sidewalks are not always the smoothest things in the world. I ride for pleasure, but when I ride, I tend to ride a variety of distances, from only an hour to 4 hours (when my old bike was in better shape). My eventual goal is to ride from Seoul to Busan, roughly 600 km. So I need a bike that is relatively light, but more importantly, sturdy to handle the curbs, bumps, holes, and whatever else I might run into.

Browsing here and other forums, and being originally from Wisconsin, I gravitated to Trek, a local company, and from that, came up with 3 different series, most of them suggested here, the DS, FX, and 3 series. My price range is in the lower end of the spectrum, at about 500-600 USD.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a bike shop here in Korea that actually allows me to RIDE the bike before buying, a rather odd thing, I think. This makes my decision making rather difficult. With that in mind, any tips or suggestions of which bike would be best? Thanks all!

That's a bummer that you can't ride one. If you browse these forums a little more i'm sure you'll find an answer as there's loads of trek ds fx etc threads asking the same question.

my 2008 trek 7.2fx has proved pretty tough in terms of rough terrain. I did some mountain biking with it back when I was 110kg/242lbs and the stock wheels and tires have held up fine.

IIRC they still use 35c tires - that's perfect for rough gravel roads, so you should be fine.

IMO the suspension of the DS series is overkill, but I ride 80% on road 20% off so *shrug*

Originally, I was going to get a 3 series, as it was what was available at my local shop, but I am concerned about the massive tires and weight of the suspension fork. (especially if I am going to be travelling long distances) Is that a big problem? How much more weight does the suspension fork add?

A suspension fork generally adds a few pounds. I wouldn't be terribly concerned about the weight, although having a cheap suspension fork generally isn't a good thing. Stock MTB tires definitely will slow you down too. The FX is lighter than the DS. Also, the FX has a short top-tube, while the DS has a fairly long one. As much as a FX seems like a perfect bike for me, I hate the short top-tube on it, but the DS feels great. If you know what you prefer in a frame, I'd use that to decide. If you go for a DS, I'd either go with the 8.1 to get the rigid fork, or 8.3 or higher to get disc brakes.

I like the 8.1 DS myself. Rigid fork, room for wider tires, can upgrade to disc brakes in the future when funds allow (frame and fork have the tabs), about $20 cheaper than the 7.2 FX, and when I took a 8.1 for a test spin, it felt like a better fit than the Giant Escape (and I really like the Escape on paper).

"On Paper" I am also leaning more towards the DS. However, I have never ridden a suspension bike so don't know what are the advantages/disadvantages of it as it pertains to my use of mostly city riding (with plenty of jumping over curbs and large bumps). I was looking at the 8.3 DS, with the suspension lockouts, but then I read here that someone had one with the lockouts that failed after only three weeks.

I for one can't fathom why anyone would buy a hybrid with suspension as in most cases the suspension on hybrids are of low quality and bound to wear quickly and force the owner to spend more money in the long run. Just my opinion that's all.

It really is overkill for kerb jumping. The disadvantages are the weight, and the fact that even when locked out it still won't be fully solid and will suck some of your energy in sprints or standing climbs. It's also one more moving part on your bike to maintain. There's no point unless you're reading technical single track most of the time.

IMO etc etc.

I've just discovered that the 8.1 DS is not available in Korea . I agree with the opinion about the suspension in terms of maintenance of more moving parts, but I know that the FX series is definitely not going to cut it, after looking at it. Perhaps I should be looking at other brands?

Of course looking at other brands is a terrific, if not essential thing to do. Korea would have to be similar to Japan. The options are endless.

Would just like to thank everyone for your educated opinions. After consideration, and constantly searching for other brands here in Korea, I finally decided and purchased a 8.3DS yesterday. Wow, it was an amazing ride. Only problem is now that I let my wife ride it, she wants to replace her cheap no name brand bike with one like mine. What a wonderful conundrum! Thanks again all!