Buying an all terran bike, need your advice...?

Question

Ok, i'm looking to buy a bike for trail riding and just cruising. This is just for recreational so i'm looking for a decent bike for cheap.

I was looking at Pacific Arrow
Is it as bad as Huffy?
How is it compared to mongoose?
And please share your knowlege about what brands are good and what are bad.

P.S. i dont want a Trek, ironhorse, (insert expensive bike name here), cuz this is only for fun not serious biking. aka no $.

thanks first eprson to answer, ive never thought of that

Answer 1

First...go to a bike shop...DO NOT, I Repeat DO NOT get a bike from Wal Mart, Target, Toys R Us, etc. Why??? Those bikes are of low quality both in frame materials and components such as shifters gears and wheels. The parts are usually difficult to find, and by the time you do find the parts once you have to repair the bike (not if, but when) the repair bill can eaisly be equal or more than the origional cost of the bike. Not to mention assembly is usually very poorly done. (While at "Wally World" take a look at the brakes, are they semetric? can you twist the brake handles around the handle bar?) A good bike has professional mechanics and sales staff who are knowledgable about bikes and accessories (I went to a two week school to learn about bicycle mechanics)
A quality bike from a bike shop can be had starting around $250.00 and then goes up from there. Here are some things to look at and to consider when buying a bike:
First things first, what type of riding are you gonna do? Mountain biking (all off road)? Road Riding? A little of both? Second, ask yourself, how often you plan on riding? Once a week? 2-3 times or more? Next, how far or how long duing each ride? 1-2 hours, 2-3 hours, 10-15 miles 20-40 miles and so on. Once these questions have been answered, you can consider what bike you need to get (MTB, Road, Comfort) Then what price level ($250.00-$500.00 for light riding 1-2 times a week @ 1-2 hours; $500.00-1200.00 3-5 times a week @ 2-4 hours per ride, and $1200.00+ for more serious riding i.e. every day for 2-6 hours a day.) *note, some of the price ranges do overlap* Also you want to consider frame material. Steel, while Resiliant can be somewhat heavy. It will take away some road shock but for the most part will add overall weight to the bike. Aluminium is light weight but rigid, and will beat you to death on the trail/road espcially in a hardtail (no rear suspension) MTB or on long road rides. Carbon Fiber is resiliant and light weight, but expensive, and lastly there is titanium which has similar qualities to Carbon Fiber. If you plan to ride often and can afford it, consider carbon fiber. A good Carbon Fiber bike can be bought around $1400.00 and up. If that is to much, go for aluminimum (particularly on a MTB) with front and rear suspension. However, if doing road, I would reccomend steel as opposed to aluminium because of it's shock absorbing properties. You can also do a combination of aluminimum and Carbon, but again, those bikes start around $1200.00. Lastly, for a LOT of riding, plus a coolness factor, and a total comfort factor, is a fully customized bike. The bike is made specfically for you. They can be made of any material mentioned above, however they are mostly road bikes. There are a few companies that do make custom MTB however. Those companies usualy use Titanium or steel though. Some manufacturers of Custom bikes include Moots, and Serotta, while stock bikes include Bianchi, Raleigh, Trek and the like. I used to own a bike shop,have worked at Galyan's, and REI, worked at two other shops, and now work in a shop called Black Bar Bicycles in Virginia.

Answer 2

its like this. if you buy a cheap bike, you may not enjoy riding it, and will lose interest, whereas you buy at least a non-department store brand bike, you may enjoy riding it more.
the cheapest brand name bike is going to be better then the most expensive walmart bike... and probably wont cost much more.
when you say you like trail riding, im assuming your speaking of just dirt paths, not true trail riding (3-4 foot drop offs, mild stunts, etc).
id be very wary of taking a walmart brand bike off road.. they are cheaply made and very heavy.
treks and ironhorses do make pricey bikes, but they also make cheap bikes (in monetary terms only)... companies like santa cruz, or mountain cycles make the pricey ones.
a department store bike wont fit right.. they make one size and say it fits everyone.
I personally think jamis makes the best bikes for the money (although i wouldnt buy from them, because they are just another chinese made company... but if where it was made doesnt bother you...)
this company can give you quality components that make other companies jealous.
for $315 (Cross Country 3.0) you get:
aluminum frame
rst gila front suspension
SEALED bottom bracket (normally found on bikes over the $500 range)
and a lifetime warranty against defects...
and an acera rear derail (a step above the cheapest shimano!)

If i wasnt anti communism/socialism/free trade/human rights, this is probably the company id buy from... but, im an isolationalist, so ill spend the extra money and buy my hand made trek from waterloo wisconsin.

Answer 3

Just look at some bikes, and try to test them. See how they fit, and how the components look like, even if you're not expert.

Try to go to some bike shops, they might have better bikes. They don't handle only carbon fiber or titanium or unobtanium bikes, probably they could have some bargains that are worth a try.

Answer 4

Splendor is till now proving as best bike on Indian roads, but you need to travel a long distance everyday. So Unicorn may suit. But if you are worried about your height you can try "Honda Shine" which has same features of Honda Unicorn, but It will suit your height. One of my friend is a short guy. But he is comfortable with Honda Shine.

Answer 5

You should buy a used bike from pinkbike.com or dropmachine.com because there are good all mountain or any kind of bikes really on there and some are very very cheap, if you are looking at full suspension didn't get kona's because they get brake jack. unless you buy a floating brake.

Answer 6

JUST PICK ONE.