Comfort Bike ????

I will attempt to sum up the Trek Navigator lineup and upgrades as best as
I can in a drunken fashion.
Navigator 50: Heavy steel frame, 21 speeds, quick release wheels, rigid
steel fork, adjustable height stem, seatpost suspension
Navigator 100: Lighter aluminum frame, 21 speeds, front suspension fork,
adjustable height and angle stem
Navigator 200: Same frame as 10, same wheels as 100 and 50, much better
gears/drivetrain, 24 speeds,
Navigator 300: Same aluminum frame, slightly better SRAM drivetrain, kevlar
belted tires for puncture resistance, adjustable front suspension fork, ugly
ultilitarian handlebar, lights built in to saddle
Navigator 400: Huge difference about this bike is the drivetrain, only 8
speeds- the always shifting at anytime internally geared Shimano Nexus,
double walled (stillfer, less likely to bend) rims, and pedals that have
lights built in to them (no batteries, work off of a dyno)
Navigator 500: Better rims yet, back to a traditional derailiur drivetrain
(but a higher end one at that)

I hope I have been some help.

-kurd

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mattearoadie" <[email hidden]>
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2004 9:13 PM
Subject: Comfort Bike ????

Quoted message said:

I am looking for a comfort type bike for riding around campgrounds and

such. I

Quoted message said:

have looked at the Trek Navigator models. I really don't understand all

the

Quoted message said:

components. Can somebody shed some light on these bikes? Or is there

another

Quoted message said:

manufacturer that would be better for my needs?

thanks

rene

"Mattearoadie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I am looking for a comfort type bike for riding around campgrounds and

such. I

Quoted message said:

have looked at the Trek Navigator models. I really don't understand all

the

Quoted message said:

components. Can somebody shed some light on these bikes? Or is there

another

Quoted message said:

manufacturer that would be better for my needs?

thanks

rene

I have a 2001 Trek 300 Navigator that I'll sell; as I've upgraded to a new
road bike. Pictures are available.

Tom

"Mattearoadie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I am looking for a comfort type bike for riding around campgrounds and

such. I

Quoted message said:

have looked at the Trek Navigator models. I really don't understand all

the

Quoted message said:

components. Can somebody shed some light on these bikes? Or is there

another

Quoted message said:

manufacturer that would be better for my needs?

thanks

rene

It doesn't look like anyone replied to you, so I will amuse everyone
with my few seconds worth of not valuable information after having just
dusted off my 12 year old mountain bike. I am no expert, so some of this
may be incorrect.

When I bought my mountain bike in the early 90's I had two choices of
bicycle in the closest bike shops I had access to (two shops). There
were expensive road bikes and not so expensive mountain bikes. Seemed
kind of silly as I lived in flat land country. I asked about a simple
three speed, or a cruiser and they told me they weren't made any more.

I knew that a 'road bike' with the horned handlebars, skinny seat, and
skinnier tires wasn't for me, so I looked at the mountain bikes. The
mountain bikes were heavier, but looked like they were almost made for a
regular human rather than a human racing machine. I didn't really like
the mountain bikes though. The frame seemed too small and turning was
real fast and 'twitchy', no not paying attention to where I pointed the
front wheels, it just went. I could set it up to sit more upright and
wouldn't suffer from a stiff neck so I did. I could also climb the side
of a building if I could find a way to keep attached to the walls and
perhaps jump off the roof when I got bored of the view and ride away, or
at least my bicycle could.

I tried to like it, but never really did, so it went to the corner of
the garage and wasted away until this spring when I went out looking at
new bicycles.

In my opinion the 'comfort' type bicycles are for riders who don't
envision themselves charging across moutain trails or entering the Tour
De France. The gearing is probably not as speed oriented as you would
find on a street bike, and not as low in the low end gears as you would
find on a mountain bike. There are probably other differnces too.

The comfort frames seem to bigger than a mountain bike's, and heavier
than a street bicycle frame.

The tires of a comfort bike are also in between what a street bike would
have (usually very thin) and those of a mountain bike (thick and fat).
Since I just replaced tires they are not a big deal, less than $20.00 a
piece for good tires if you want to change them out. Comfort tires will
not have the slowness on pavement of a mountain bike tire, but they are
much slower than a street bikes tires because they do have a tread
pattern of some type and probably make some noise moving fast.

I see some also have shock absobing front forks, which I understand on
pavement do not change the ride that much, you appreciate them more on
rougher terrain.

Also a shock built into the seat post, of questionable benifit for most
of us. Everyone starts with out with sore butt from what I have read,
and we all usually get over it. A good fitting saddle makes a big
difference here. I also read most of this here.

I can't speak to the brakes, but I would guess they are somewhere in
between too. Now to why I mentioned my old mountain bike....

Some people by a bicycle thinking they want to do whatever it was built
for. After some amount of time they discover that they are doing more of
some type of riding that they had not planned on. Say having a mountain
bike and spening 99.5 of every hundred miles on pavement. Or having a
street bicycle and finding the shortest distance to somewhere means a
few miles of unpaved road or trail every trip out. Or they just have
problems being comfortable on their bicycle.

As I said I really didn't like my mountain bike. But when I went out
this year looking at new bicycles, the type of bicycles I was interested
in, were about what I had. Lucky for me a local bike shop suggested
changing out what I didn't like to something I did like. So I bought a
new saddle, handlebars, and finally new tires - slicks that have no real
tread, just some hollowing out in them on the sides. So now my bicycle
is also a hybrid, like a comfort bike is. It won't be best at anything
but can do most of what I think I will expect of it.

It isn't nearly as fast as a street bike would be with me on it, nor
would it do well on a mountain trail, either would I for that matter.
But for me just riding around mostly on pavement, I _now_ think it is
great!

If you purchase a comfort bike, and find out a few months in the future
that there is a real nice ride from the campground to someplace and
back, but it is a little farther than your 'comfort' setup is
comfortable, changing out handlebars, saddle, and tires is not that
expensive or hard to do. On the other hand, if you find you enjoy the
little trails that most campgrounds have and your 'comfort' setup
doesn't do as well as you would like, handlebars, saddle, and tires take
care of that too. It is also probable that your 'comfort' bike is
exactly what you wanted and does all that you ask of it as it is.

With a comfort bike or any modified street or mountain bicycle you won't
ever be the fastest, or ride the roughest trails, but you can modify
your bicycle cheaply to tailor it to what you want it to do most of the
time and make it more fun to ride in the process. If it were me I would
be more concerned with how the bike fits me that the type of bike it is.

For toodling around, no matter what bicycle you end up with you will
like it better if it fits you well. I would really like to try one of
those $9K custom made jobs, although I doubt I could tell the difference
between it and an 'average' bicycle. Hope some of this helps. Have fun!

I've got a Giant Simple-7 that I toole around on and it's a great bike. It's
really comfortable, has gears if you need them, and big fat tires. Not too
expensive either. If I remember right, about two and a half bills. Peace -

Mattearoadie <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I am looking for a comfort type bike for riding around campgrounds and

such. I

Quoted message said:

have looked at the Trek Navigator models. I really don't understand all

the

Quoted message said:

components. Can somebody shed some light on these bikes? Or is there

another

Quoted message said:

manufacturer that would be better for my needs?

thanks

rene