What is the best bicycle to buy?

Question

I need a bike to get to work and back. It's about a 5 to 10 mile ride. Would like a bike that's good for the road and mild hills and can also go off road if need to. (looks nice too)
Price doesn't matter.

Answer 1

Personally, I really like the Marin Mount Vision Pro. This bike is Marin's top of the line cross country mountain bike, with Shimano XTR (top of the line) componentry, XTR Hydraulic disc brakes, Fox rear float with lockout and front fork with lockout. The full suspsension will be alot of fun for the back roads, if you're planning on doing some offtrail stuff, but since you have lockout, you can turn off the suspension on the bike for when you're riding on roads. I would recommend switching to a semi-slick tire for the commuting, but maybe investing in a pair of really nice knobbies to swap on when you hit the trail. Price wise, you're looking at $4699, which is fairly midrange for a full suspension bike.

If that is a little high, I would recommend getting two seperate bikes, a flat bar road bike for commuting and a hardtail or full suspension mountain bike for the trail riding. Getting one bike to do commuting AND trail riding ends up with a bike that is ok at both, but doesn't excelt at either. Flat bar road wise I like the Novara Express, from REI, and the Marin Highway One. Other fun cross country full suspension bikes include the Specialized Stumpjumper FSR, the Cannondale Rush 3 or 4, and the Marin Mount Vision or Rift Zone.

Ideally, find an upper end road bike shop to take whatever bikes you want for a ride, because it is hard to pick out your ideal bike without getting onto it. Have fun, picking out new bikes is only surpased by the fun of riding it.

EDIT: I beg to differ, on a 10 mile commuting ride, a mount vision with slicks can handle anything the road will, and you won't have the issues with the suspension, and it gives him the option of riding basically anywhere else. The "hybrid" bikes will NOT handle any offroad other than flat or slightly uphill fire trails and gravel, since they are ment for bike paths/urban mountain biking/the like. A hybrid bike would be ideal if he was looking to bike to get into shape, maybe hit the bike trails (paved) and commute to work, but if he is looking to commute 10 miles in a decent time and then be able to go off road and really enjoy himself, rather than be stuck with a junky front fork and low end brakes, I would look at getting a nice XC bike, since you keep the weight down, if its nice it will have lockout, and if you run 2 sets of rims, you can have a slick tire for commuting and knobbies for fun time.

Answer 2

I won't go to brands. One of the most important things to look in a bike is fit. If you're unconfortable on the bike, you won't like, no matter if it's made of titanium, carbon fiber, aluminium, steel or candlesticks.

I think it is important to know what you mean by off road. If it doens't involve drops or jumps, I would say go for a hardtail (bikes with only front suspension, or a fork). A full suspension is overkill, and will only work against you. Full suspensions are only good if you're really more intrested in doing off road than road.

Road bikes are really designed to go fast and on pavement. For that, no mtb will beat it, no matter what. But your offroad stuff will be hampered.

One option is to get a hardtail, but buy another pair of tires (or probably also wheelset). You can have some slicks for city riding, and knobbies for off road.

Some wheelsets go for around 100-200 bucks, and slicks can cost like 20 or 30 bucks each. Plus a casette (like 40 bucks).

Answer 3

5 - 10 road miles? Most race or comfort bikes will do this easily. I would not go for the Mount Vision. Yes, it is a nice bike, but too much all mountian for the sort of riding thay you want to do.

Some off road? Sounds like you want a hybrid. IE a roadish bike with front suspension.

The advantage of this is that it will still perform well on the road, but the wheels are not so skinny that they will buckle as soon as they look at a bit of gravel (If you are worried about this, get your front wheel snowflaked.).

Most manufacturers will do a hybrid bike. So what you are looking for is the quality of the frame or components. Do not get a steel frame. Purist heaven, but you have to move that much weight. You want a decent grade aluuminium, 6061, 7005, A1, M4. However, money no object, get a decent Titanium frame (£1500 ($3000)). Has the rigidity of steel, but is lighter than ali. Carbon fibre will only be an option for top race cycles, or top end XC.

The components are the next. Look for a resonable fork, drive train and gears. You shouldn't need discs, as they are a lot of weight that you won't be taking accross fields. Brakings better though. XTR is good, but poor durability. I prefer SRAM X0 for a bit of bling, but X9 is very good (Better than Shimano). But basically, branded components (Hollowtech II chain set would be viable) and look at a decent finishing kit.

If I were to build you bike from scratch. Titanium frame. SRAM X0 gears and casset, R35 forks, with lock out. Race face chain set, or Hollowtech II. Avid V Brakes. Hope wheel hubs with Alex rims (they arn't bad for the money). Carbon fibre bars and seat post (Easton). Panaracer road tyres.

Luck

Answer 4

i disagree with the scapal, thats much more of a mountain bike then a commuter. they said they want a bike to go off road if it needs too, this to me says that the person isnt riding off road all of the time, so the cannondale brand was right, but the 'bad-boy' would be a much better choice. its a hyrbid, thats more mountain bike then road bike.
any cyclocross bike would be great for what you need. its a lightweight bike, with fatter tires that can handle the occasional off road riding.
The trek fx, cannondale bad boy, bianchi axis would all suit youre needs.

Answer 5

A bike that fits, feels comfortable. You have to test ride them to see. Bike shops can fit you - tell you what size frame you need, adjust the seat height and back or forward setting. Any bike can be used for commuting. It depends on how fast you want to go and if you need racks, fenders, etc. If you don't care about speed, mountain bikes & hybrids are great. All the hardcore commuters say it's the engine (you) that matters, not the bike.

That said, many commuters recommend Kona or Jamis bikes. If you want to be upright in riding, Breezer, Electra Townies, Trek hybrids, Giant, Specialized Globe, etc.

Answer 6

If price isn't an issue, get the Specialized S-Works Epic carbon disc. It will be efficient to pedal on the flats and great for cross-country tral riding. It's got stable platform shock valving so the suspension tays firm and will react only when you hit a bump on the road/trail. $6500 isnt a high price to pay for a stte-of-the-art bike that performs excellently!

Answer 7

Get a hardtail and stick Kenda Krisp slicks on it. I can ride them off road through everything but deep mud and snow.

This is my "City bike"

I have a full suspension Mtn bike and a road racer as well.

Answer 8

cannondale is the best bike out there and it is not made by slaves in china like most of the cheap *** (not inexpensive) bikes people try to shove down our usa throats. the lefty is an odd looking bike but it is much stronger than a regular bike's fork

Answer 9

http://www.cannondale.com/bikes/07/CUSA/large/7VP1_blk.jpg

This is a Cannondale Scalpel, check out the Lefty front shock. This is by far the coolest looking bike out there. Plus Cannondale are all handmade in the USA.

Answer 10

70 bucks may not rather purchase you a lot of a motorbike (until all you do is experience up and down the street then its satisfactory.) I'd maintain it dependable and check out to save lots of up a bit of extra coins to get whatever you rather desired if you're within the temper to splurge.