Buying a new Cycle

[PIYUSH SINGH]

Hi ,

After a long hiatus from cycling I am planning to buy a cycle( MTB ). Due to the variety of options available in the market and with my limited knowledge, I am confused.

The budget is around Rs.15000  and I will mostly use it for recreational purpose/occasionally commute to office which is 15 kms away.

I think Firefox Target is a good fit.
What are your thoughts about this and please let me know which better options am I missing.

Thank you for your inputs.

Regards,

Piyush

Note: Please let me know if this post violates any group policy.

[Prashanth Chengi]

Hi Piyush,

I don't think your post violates any known group policy, but people including myself may write to you questioning the merits of putting down a hard budget before choosing a bike!  My suggestion to you is this; list out carefully what you want out of the bike and then look at options available in the market, sorted by price, and then decide how much you'd be willing to spend.  Bikes last several years of use; rather than buy a crappy but cheap product which you cannot even sell, in order to upgrade (you won't get back anything like what you spent on it in the first place), you might as well make a considered choice and buy something nice. 

For a 15k commute, you'll wish you had a bike that was faster than the Firefox Target. Not that it's a bad bike, but you'll probably be happier with a roadbike.  My 0.02 INR.

/Prashanth

--
biking conversations on the world famous "Bangalore Bikers Club" :)
 
are you a part of the bicycle racing scene?
Visit www.bangalorebicyclechampionships.com for more details
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Bangalore Bikers Club" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bangalore-bike...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Deepak Bharadwaj]

Completely agree with you Prashant... A couple of my friends wanted to buy cycles in the 10k range... I took them to a few cycle stores, they saw the quality of the cycles, the build, the feel and budgets were up by 3.5 to 4 times... The longevity of these cycles are something to keep in mind. You will never regret buy a very good quality cycle... It money well invested in your health, hobby and fun

Regards
Deepak

[berkeleydb]

Piyush -- as others said, you should review the landscape (if you haven't already) to get a sense for what sort of bikes are available in various price ranges. Also try to chat up with some shop folks / cyclists to see what they have to say.

But finally you need to go with your sense of things... depending on what sort of riding you think you might be doing in the next year or two atleast. It's always possible you may feel down the line that your purchase was not the best choice for you, & you need to change the bike; but it's also possible that what you buy serves you well for quite some years, no matter what others thought of your decision. Oh, and if someone disagrees strongly, you can let them know they are welcome to buy you the bike they think you should be riding. I'm guessing you are quite accommodating in that regard. :)

At ~rs15K, there are some Urban trail hybrid bikes that I recall seeing, that seem to be nice. There is also Firefox Rapide, but a hybrid again. Upto Rs20K, there are some Montra MTBs as well. And also some Btwin (Decathlon) bikes, but the under ~Rs20K ones in Btwin these days seem to be coming with grip shifters (as opposed to trigger shifters); though I haven't done any riding with grip shifters, my feeling is trigger shifters are the way to go (unless it's a bike for kids).

There are a lot more inputs most folks (including yours truly) can give... easier to chat at a bike store, while looking at some bikes. But the above are some quick bits, for the budget you quoted.

-{db}.

[Prashanth Chengi]

"Oh, and if someone disagrees strongly, you can let them know they are welcome to buy you the bike they think you should be riding. "

:D If this one's likely to work, I'm going to try it myself! 

Trouble is, unfortunately way too many people have unrealistic expectations when it comes to bike prices.  "After all, it's just a bicycle!" is the most common refrain.  

/Prashanth

[Opendro]

You can check out the Montra MTBs too. I remember seeing decent bikes at that price range a couple of years ago.

[berkeleydb]

IMO, there are decent options available starting at Rs5K. It depends on what one's requirements are. A basic bike which fits well, can provide a very nice ride, unless you start bringing in factors like performance.

I bought two old bikes on a US trip some time back -- one for US$400 (Cannondkale CAD <something> frame), & the other for US$150 (Trek 1200 frame). Both were probably from late 1990s or early 2000s. Very nice bikes; classic straight line frames (Made in USA). The components on the Trek 1200 were not that great (it was a basic build that the seller had done, as a hobby), but the ones on the Cannondale were quite good -- it was a bike mechanic's bike, that I bought. I did some very nice rides on the Cannondale. A friend there was very surprised that despite me being a regular cyclist, I was enjoying the rides on a cheap (sub-US$500) old bike. He & his wife joined me on couple of rides; they rode the Trek 1200, & were surprised they enjoyed riding it. They were under the impression that good bikes are upwards of US$1000.

There is generally a lot of hype about the specs of costlier bikes. I would say you really need to see what your requirements are, & what specs will do the job for you. And it's getting fancy specs at a cheap price, that one needs to watch out for. Basic specs at cheap prices isn't necessarily bad.

The bike I bought when I got back to cycling ~5yrs back, was a Trek4300D. Beyond the good feel from a short test ride, I had bought it due to the rugged looks of an MTB, enhanced by the disc brakes. It's a good bike no doubt, but over time, I realised that I don't really need disc brakes, & I could probably do w/o the front shocks too. (Well, my second bike has a rigid/steel fork, so I know I can do w/o front shocks.) Also, on the Trek4300D, I switched to 1.75" & then 1.5" tyres. Plus on the front, I use hybrid chain rings, rather than MTB ones. Oh, & I have mudguards & rear rack on the bike, pretty much since the initial days. So I'm really running it as a city commuter bike. I probably could have picked up a nice hybrid bike back then, for upto ~Rs10K less, & that would have been closer to what I needed.

Since budget had not been a concern for me, I did not mind spending a bit "casually", based more on what looked good. Had budget been an issue, I would have researched more, & might have realised that I could go with a cheaper bike, which would have served me better.

So I would suggest people focus on their requirements. It's tough to say what factors others may be basing their decisions on. (But you can surely discuss with others to get a sense.)

Currently, for under Rs10K, I would say try to stay away from geared bikes. Decathlon/Hero MyBike, MachCity MyBike or Raleigh MyRide seem like fair options in that range.

For bikes upto ~Rs15K, I would suggest avoiding shock absorbers. Also, see if one can get a bike with trigger shifters, rather than grip shifters. Montra Tranche, Firefox Rapide, LA Sovereign Backbone seem like fair options in this range. (Though I think some of them are above Rs15K.)

Beyond ~Rs15K, with bikes like Montra MTBs, some decent options seem to be available with front shocks.

The Decathlon Btwin Rockrider bikes in the Rs10K-20K range seemed to be good options in the past. Now, they seemed to have revamped their bikes & in that range, they only seem to provide grip shifters, which I am not sure about in terms of gear shifting / riding experience. And IIRC, the current frames in that range, seem more basic than in the past. Also, they used to have one or two Riverside bikes in that range, which seemed to be nice, but I think they have discontinued those.

Beyond ~Rs20K, the options really open up. The Bianchi Spillo Rubino at ~Rs24K (slightly older model?) seems like a good option for a more classic riding style. Montra Timba at ~Rs22K seems to be a nice sporty hybrid. I think there are some nice hybrid bikes from Schwinn, Giant & Cannondale too in the Rs25K-30K range; maybe Scott & Fuji too. Plus MTBs again from Montra, at Rs20K+.

All said & done, focus on how many kms of riding is being done on the bike; that's probably the most important spec of the bike.

-{db}.

[Prashanth Chengi]

Very well thought out and expressed. I agree with the whole post, but particularly the lines "And it's getting fancy specs at a cheap price, that one needs to watch out for.  Basic specs at cheap prices isn't necessarily bad." are really spot-on, I felt.  If there's a cheap bike which promises shock absorbers, disc brakes and what not, chances are high that every one of those components are of extremely poor quality. One is simply better off, sticking to the simplest of bikes, without frills and fancies.

/Prashanth

-{db}.

[Alex J V]

berkeleydb - awesome writeup. totally make sense.. 

ᐧ

--

Alex J V

@alexjv89

www.makeystreet.com/maker/alex
Designing a maker revolution @ makeystreet.com

in.linkedin.com/in/alexjv/

+01-646-706-1679(US) +91- 9840 269 275(India)