[Morton]

Hi, first post.

I am 42 and in relatively good shape but I haven't really ridden in 17 years. I am intending to start going of longish ride of between 4 and 10 hours on Sundays. I will be cycling on roads only but in an area of hills and mountains; the area held a winter olympics. Some of the hills can go on for quite some distance. My budget is about USD 2000 but can go to USD 3000 at a push. I am about 182.5 cm tall and weigh around 80kg. My inseam is about 86.5 cm/34.1 inches.

What I want?

I don't intent to break any speed records but I'd like a bike that allows me to get some momentum going up the hills and can allow me to push it a bit on the flat. I'm only really comfortable pushing in on inclines or slight inclines. I will freewheel and enjoy the scenery going downhill. Basically I'm a coward.

I would like racing style handle bars, due to the variety of positions I can choose on a long run. Ideally I would like a bike with 2 sets of brakes, that seemed to be common when I was young; one set horizontal and one set vertical. I haven't seen this in years, despite looking.

I live in Japan and there is a shop close to me that stocks Surly and Salsa bikes. The LHT and the Pacer have been suggested. How would either of these bikes suit me?

Given the above information what other bikes would you suggest?

I'd really appreciate any advice.

Thanks in advance.

[LarryM]

Last year I was looking for a bike for long rides that was suitable for general riding as well as loaded touring. I settled on a Surly LHT.

I did make a few changes to the stock bike mostly to set it up for multi-day trips.

The standard gearing is 26/36/48 chain rings and 11-34 9 speed cassette. I thought an even lower granny gear would be handy, so I replaced the 26t chain ring with a 24t one.

Because of a range of motion issue in my wrists, the standard drop bars were replaced with flat bars and bar ends. The bar end shifters were mounted on the flat bars with Pauls Thumbies.

The stock brake pads were replaced with KoolStop Salmon MTB pads for better stopping in wet weather.

The standard WTB Slickasaurus tires were replaced with Continental Travel Contacts because I anticipated riding some gravel roads.

After a shade over 3,000 mi, I am still absolutely delighted with the bike.

[chh55]

With all the fantastic japanese bikes available why not choose a Nishiki? I think you should go with a staright road bike and not a hybrid. Get one with a "compact" crankset to help with the hill climbing. Here's my suggestion:
Nishiki | Racer | Race Carbon | Specifikation
You can probably get it on sale in Japan and have money left over for helmet, clothes and a Polar HRM computer. Happy riding!

[Morton]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm having a bit of trouble finding Nishiki bikes. I might be wrong but the Nishiki company is no longer exists and that another (non-Japanese) company has taken over its name. A company called Kawamura used to make bikes under the Nishiki name but I had a look at their homepage and the company seem to now be making wheelchairs. I couldn't find anything about bikes.

I was hoping for a bargain.

Thanks again.