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Figured I would throw this out there to get some ideas:
My current bike, a hybrid is a little too heavy for my taste (Hardtail, heavy suspension up front). I thought about purchasing a new bike to commute and ride for fun across the 5 boroughs.
Anyway:
•Fast, my regular commute will be soon be about 11 miles.
•Can climb, my commute is pretty flat with the exception of some steep inclines on bridges. Light but not carbon fiber.
•Durable, I cross some ROUGH roads. NYC streets are pretty beat up, especially a few patches I need to cross. I don't think a road bike can hang. Cyclocross?
•Traffic/joggers/other bikes, drops or flat? Thinking flat?
•Theft, I would like to keep it under $500 (Can maybe go higher if it's worth it), and no carbon fiber or disk brakes to encourage theft.
I also thought about some sort of flat resistant tires. Thoughts about that?
Any suggestions or advice welcome.
Last edited by nykiddo718718; 04-25-2013 at 04:08 AM..
Figured I would throw this out there to get some ideas:
My current bike, a hybrid is a little too heavy for my taste (Hardtail, heavy suspension up front). I thought about purchasing a new bike to commute and ride for fun across the 5 boroughs.
Anyway:
•Fast, my regular commute will be soon be about 11 miles.
•Can climb, my commute is pretty flat with the exception of some steep inclines on bridges. Light but not carbon fiber.
•Durable, I cross some ROUGH roads. NYC streets are pretty beat up, especially a few patches I need to cross. I don't think a road bike can hang. Cyclocross?
•Traffic/joggers/other bikes, drops or flat? Thinking flat?
•Theft, I would like to keep it under $500 (Can maybe go higher if it's worth it), and no carbon fiber or disk brakes to encourage theft.
I also thought about some sort of flat resistant tires. Thoughts about that?
Any suggestions or advice welcome.
The best place, the only place really, to find the info you need is the bike shops where you live. Visit a few and toss your question around.
Difficult to find for $500 though. Jamis Nova Sport and Redline Metro Sport (both $850) would probably be my choices. Disc brakes, eyelets from rear rack, reasonably priced. Both are disk brakes, however. I guess my bike looked ugly enough it wasn't a theft magnet despite having discs.
Hey everyone. I did a lot of research and ended up with an entry level performance hybrid with flat resistant tires. CX bikes are very expensive and after some comparisons, I couldn't justify the price difference.
I found a number of performance hybrids to be fast and light enough. Trek FX series, Specialized Sirrus, Cannondale Quick. These are very well made bicycles.
I'm gonna ride with flat bars for now, may upgrade to drop bars in the future. I do like the upright position while biking down the street though.
I picked up a Diamondback Insight Two for my commute. Road bike wheels (700C X 32), flat handle bar, and aluminum frame. I am digging the bike a lot and you should be able to find it for under 500. They also have the Trace which has slightly wider tires ..... 40 I think and a more off road frame and gearing and disc brakes.
^I have 700x28 flat resistant tires and they feel good despite the rough streets. Might drop to 700x26 armadillos in the future. I see a lot of guys out here running thinner tires then me with little trouble.
Speed is important here too so you can merge along with the traffic. In think 25 is the thinnest I would go though.
^I have 700x28 flat resistant tires and they feel good despite the rough streets. Might drop to 700x26 armadillos in the future. I see a lot of guys out here running thinner tires then me with little trouble.
Speed is important here too so you can merge along with the traffic. In think 25 is the thinnest I would go though.
And having 29" wheel over a 26" mountain bike tire helps too! I ride my bike through about a half mile of gravel on the way to work and it does fine. I have even spent a few miles on gravel and it does well.
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