Myself and my partner want to buy good quality reliable bikes for use mainly on roads. We want to take our small dogs in baskets on them so the bikes need to be rugged with the extra weight. I don't think Kmart bikes are much good and don't want to spend over $1000 on a bike. Comfort is important so a racing bike is out. I suspect that a Mountain Bike is the way to go but what about hybrids?
Can anyone advise with brand names? Any help on baskets for our dogs would be great too. I am in South Australia.
Hi everyone, Myself and my partner want to buy good quality reliable bikes for use mainly on roads. We want to take our small dogs in baskets on them so the bikes need to be rugged with the extra weight. I don't think Kmart bikes are much good and don't want to spend over $1000 on a bike. Comfort is important so a racing bike is out. I suspect that a Mountain Bike is the way to go but what about hybrids? Can anyone advise with brand names? Any help on baskets for our dogs would be great too. I am in South Australia. Thanks heaps, Roma
Roma:
There have been numerous threads and discussions on this topic before All you need to do is some search, and you will find tonnes of comment from different perspectives. If you intend to carry the basket in front you need to make sure that the bike's front fork has provisions fo adding a rack
Can't help with the basket, but maybe the bike shop would be a startin point to find out. At least there must be a way to securely attach basket to a rack
Today I have have been looking at the Navigator 100 by Trek. It looks ok to me but what do I know? :-)
Roma
amirm said:
Roma said:
Hi everyone, Myself and my partner want to buy good quality reliable bikes for use mainly on roads. We want to take our small dogs in baskets on them so the bikes need to be rugged with the extra weight. I don't think Kmart bikes are much good and don't want to spend over $1000 on a bike. Comfort is important so a racing bike is out. I suspect that a Mountain Bike is the way to go but what about hybrids? Can anyone advise with brand names? Any help on baskets for our dogs would be great too. I am in South Australia. Thanks heaps, Roma
Roma:
There have been numerous threads and discussions on this topic before. All you need to do is some search, and you will find tonnes of comments from different perspectives. If you intend to carry the basket in front, you need to make sure that the bike's front fork has provisions for adding a rack.
Can't help with the basket, but maybe the bike shop would be a starting point to find out. At least there must be a way to securely attach a basket to a rack.
I did a bunch of research on getting the best dual suspension mountain bike that I could for $1000. What I bought, and still feel is the best in terms of components for the money, lowest weight, and most comfort, was a Jamis. I was able to find a Jamis Dakar XC Comp on sale in October for $1189. None of the parts on my bike are "house" parts. The shifters are the worst of it; they're Shimano Deore. Not bad, if that's the worst. The ride is extremely comfortable and climbing is easier. I also went shopping last month with a friend who wanted a $3000 bike. I know this will sound crazy, but after test riding Santa Cruz, Trek, Titus, Ellsworth, and Kona, she actually considered checking out Jamis because my bike is so comfortable. She ended up getting the Kona Dawg Delux (which is really incredible) for $2500. I'm even happier, however, about my Jamis after testing out all those bikes that were double the price. Here's the link for their full suspension http://www.jamisbikes.com/full_suspension.html
Today I have have been looking at the Navigator 100 by Trek. It looks ok to me but what do I know? :-)
If you want to carry your dog on a basket attached to the front, then a rigid fork might be better than a suspension fork. However, I think that for hand and arm comfort (even on roads), a suspension fork is quite good to have, so a rear rack with a basket might be your best option. It seems that the Navigator 100 has eyelets at the rear dropout and the seatstays, which you can mount your rack on. The adjustable stem will be good for you, until you find the stem angle you're comfortable with.
You need to test-ride a mountain bike and a hybrid to be able to determine which one will be suited to your riding style.
Today I have have been looking at the Navigator 100 by Trek. It looks ok to me but what do I know? :-)
If you want to carry your dog on a basket attached to the front, then a rigid fork might be better than a suspension fork. However, I think that for hand and arm comfort (even on roads), a suspension fork is quite good to have, so a rear rack with a basket might be your best option. It seems that the Navigator 100 has eyelets at the rear dropout and the seatstays, which you can mount your rack on. The adjustable stem will be good for you, until you find the stem angle you're comfortable with. You need to test-ride a mountain bike and a hybrid to be able to determine which one will be suited to your riding style.
Might be worth looking at the Specialized range as I have one of ther upper range bikes and they seem to be very good
Might be worth looking at the Specialized range as I have one of there upper range bikes and they seem to be very good.
I'm sure these are good quality, but my biggest (probably only) beef with Specialized bikes is the way the cables are routed under the downtube. Even if you use a mudguard, [censored] can still be thrown on the cables by the front wheel and for offroad trails, this can be damaging to the cables.
