"thomas_delaney" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
My wife and I are moving to Auckland, NZ next year and I'm hoping to commute to work by bike. For
those of you who aren't familiar with it, Auckland is pretty hilly. Also, the surrounding areas
are supposed to have some excellent offroad trails.
I'm interested in hearing anyone's recommendations as to what type of bike you think I should get,
and if you have any specific model recommendations all the better. Realistically, I will do most
of my riding in the city, but I would like to be able to go off-road (nothing too serious-I'm not
a hard-core mountain bike person) without fear of the bike getting trashed.
Oh, and of course I don't want to spend any more than I have to. I'm hoping to spend US$400 or
less😕
If you aren't going to be biking until you get to NZ, you might want to wait until you get there.
Based on what you say above, it would be hard to go wrong with a mountain bike. These are within the
price range you quote. They generally have some nice, low gears which are good for hills.
You will be mostly on the roads, so there's no point to getting full suspension; it's hard to buy
something without front suspension and seatpost suspension this year, so you will probably end up
with it whether you need it or not.
For road riding, you may want to get slick tires (higher pressure, no tread,
i.e. "bald"😉. These will be considerably faster for commuting. You can swap tires -- or eventually
get a second wheel set -- to use knobby tires on dirt trails.
As for specific brands, nearly every manufacturer will have bikes like this, and you may want to
choose basis the bike shop -- even though you will be leaving in a few months, it's important for
things to be set up right. You might also want to get an idea what brands are common in NZ.
