So, i need a bike for three hundred dollars or less, good for commuting and some mild off roading. I’ve test ridden a few from shops in my area and so far i’ve come down to two that are on sale and i’ve enjoyed riding 'round on tests. Which would be the better value for my money: the Gary Fisher Mamba or the Trek 4100? This is my first bike purchase and im new to all this, give me advice, pro’s cons, any thing you think would help me! Recomendations for other things to try… it would all help.
I bought a Trek Navigator 200 a couple of months ago. It’s last year’s model so I got it for $250. I’ve recently seen the same model at another bike shop - also last year’s model - for $230. It’s a hybrid bike, upright riding position with mountain bike overtones. It’s got tires good for on-road or mild off road, aluminum frame, & 21 speeds.
Gotta say I love it. I’ve started commuting with it.
It’s available this year, basically as the Trek model 100. I’ve seen this one at my local bike shop for around $280.
I haven’t ridden the two you refer to but general advice would be this:
Always buy the best bike you can afford otherwise you will find in just a few months that the one you bought is pretty limiting and you will want to trade up.
*Look for the one with the best gear on it. Pretty well everything comes with shimano gears and parts these days but there is a huge difference between the worth of the parts. Go to the Shimano website and look at their range and check that against the gear on the bikes you’re looking at.
*Don’t reject secondhand bikes - you can often get pretty good bikes at a huge discount due to the aforementioned tradeing-up
*See if the dealers won’t let you take them for a long test ride.
*Don’t but a bike fom a department store. They don’t have the back-up and service (most bike shops will do the first 6 week service for free if you bargain) and they don’t know how to find the right bike to fit you.
*Go to a couple of dealers, get written quotes and trade one dealer off against another but don’t try to screw them down to hard (they’re not likely to be very keen with back-up service if they haven’t made any profit off the deal).
*Make a careful assessment of what you’re really going to be doing with the bike. If you’re really going to be spending 90% of the time commuting and just a bit of time offroad then you might consider one of the hybrid bikes. I use a (relatively) cheap hybrid (Shogun) for commuting and light offroad stuff and find it pretty useful but, without suspension its no good for the heavy duty offroad stuff and suspect that the frame wouldn’t hold up to real abuse. So I’ve got a mountain bike for that sort of thing.
The mountainbikes have got smaller wheels, lower gearing and heavier weight so they can be a bit of a chore if you’re doing a lot of road riding.
The Gary Fisher Mamba is a steel framed bike so it’s going to be relatively heavy compared to Chrome-moly and aluminium framed bikes. I don’t know about the Trek 4100. If you’re going to be doing a fair bit of riding, I’d go for an aluminium framed bike.
In adition to what others have said (listen to Motog, he knows this), I’d recommend that you try to get as smooth tires as possible. They’ll be crap on mud, but roll ohh, so much easier on tarmac.
And if you go to a proper bike shop, they’ll be able to put any kind of tire on any kind of bike - within reason. Try that at a department store!
One very good reference source for bike related questions is Sheldon Brown. Look through his articles, and you’ll find more than you’ve ever wanted to know about sadles, spokes and spanners!
thank you so much for your advice! I am dealing with two very nice bike shops in town, no department stores and have ridden all the bikes I have considered buying so far. Thanks for the review links and the componetry links. I really really appreciate the help!!!
I work at a shop but would not consider myself an expert yet but I can tell you that at your price range, the bikes are all going to be pretty much the same ride. The only difference is the color or frame design. Once you start looking above $500 on mt. bikes and $700 on road bikes will you notice a difference.
I’d go with a shop. If you get a Wal-Mart bike, the same guy who is putting together lamps is going to put your bike together. At my shop, we take every bike we sell, strip it down, and relube and tighten everything down. Even when we get bikes shipped from the dealer we do this b/c people and machines will make mistakes. I would ask the shop if they do something similar.
It does sound like your looking for a hybrid bike so no one brand is going to be better than the other. If your going to be on trails more than the road, I would go against an aluminium bike b/c they are a much stiffer ride and you will “feel” the road a lot more. Steel (and carbon more so) will absorb the shock of the road. If you can, lift up the aluminium bike and the steel bike and see if you notice a difference. Steel absorbs the road shock, AL might be lighter and easier to get up hills (this would be important if your going around, say, San Fransisco). You know your route better than me, so you can decide from there.
The biggest advice I can give is make sure the bike is going to fit you, that’s why most people hate or stop riding. Tell the shop what kind of riding you’ll be doing and they should be able to suggest a frame, tires, and size. Best of luck and keep us informed.