During the summer I loved hiking and running outdoors. However, after having my two big toenails removed (due to bruising the nail bed while hiking a mountain) I'm not going to be able to do too much of that while they heal. So, I'm wanting to switch my activities to biking, since that seems like the only outdoor activity I'll be able to do without putting too much pressure on the toes. Since I'm new to all this, I was hoping some people could give me advice/direction on what type and brand of bike to get. I'll be doing road/path biking, but it would also be nice to be able to use it on some easy mountain bike paths. Is there a type of hybrid bike that would be able to do both types of riding? My price range is going to be under 1K - I love getting the best value for the price (but would rather spend more to get quality, then paying less to get something cheap). Any and all help appreciated. Thank you so much!
Well, just about everybody enjoys getting value for the price, that's kind of a subjective thing; but I know what you mean by that. Look at Giant bikes and Jamis bikes; right now, they are showing strong in the quality/value balance. Trek will show you quality, too, but with a bump in price that has little to do with the bump in quality. I don't recommend Specialized anymore, as too much of their stuff is 'proprietary' -- have to deal with them and only them, and premium price.
You couldn't do much better than the Redline Conquest Classic. Retail is $1149.00 and it comes with an nice mix of FSA, Shimano, and Avid road disc brakes. Besides it is one fine looking ride in classic steel:
+1 for Giant... and Trek. If you're going after a name brand, those two seem to have decent bikes for the price range. My advice is to make sure you do a lot of research on what you want to ride. Do a lot of shopping around, and then make a decision off of what you find.
Thank you all soooo much! This weekend when I enter the bike stores, I'll now have an idea of what I'm looking for . It's very much appreciated!!
I believe Trek is kicking off a sale, 7-11 Apr--not sure what the discounts are, but might be worth checking out. There also maybe some good deals still around on leftover '09 bikes--with the recession, the major manufacturers had quite a bit of inventory on hand at the year's model change. Bill
