Looking for bike recommendations

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

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I'm about ready to buy a new bike and I'm looking for
recommendations. I feel like I'm in kind of a hurry
because the shop out here is having a sale until the 12th
so I'd like to make a decision by then and take advantage
of the savings.

I'm looking for a bike with a triple chainring that can
have fat tires, racks, fenders, etc for commuting, road
use and maybe some light off-roading. Mostly I've been
looking at cyclocross bikes but I should also consider
other types like touring bikes.

I like the LeMond Poprad but the cost of putting the third
chainring on brings it out of my price range. I looked at
the Jamis Aurora but it seems kind of heavy. Light weight
and performance is nice but I'm more concerced about how
sore I am after a few hours in the saddle.

Check out Rivendell Romulus, Rambo, and Atlantis. One of
them should fit your needs:

Romulus: rivbike.combikes romulusframes.htmlOpen ↗

Rambo (which comes as both a frame and complete bike):
rivbike.combikes rambouilletframes.htmlOpen ↗

Atlantis: rivbike.combikes atlantisframes.htmlOpen ↗

In article
<[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I'm about ready to buy a new bike and I'm looking for
recommendations. I feel like I'm in kind of a hurry
because the shop out here is having a sale until the 12th
so I'd like to make a decision by then and take advantage
of the savings.

I'm looking for a bike with a triple chainring that can
have fat tires, racks, fenders, etc for commuting, road
use and maybe some light off-roading. Mostly I've been
looking at cyclocross bikes but I should also consider
other types like touring bikes.

That would be the ones to look at. You don't mention your
price range, but a Fuji Touring comes with a rack, 27 speeds
with wide range gearing (30x32 granny and 52x11 top), and
32mm tires, and has room for even bigger tires and room for
fenders if you want to add them later (as I do for winter
riding). The list price is about $840, but you can easily
find them for $800, or even less if you dig around a bit.

I didn't care for the factory saddle (a little too narrow
for my sit bones), but some people do, and a saddle's easy
to change.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in
the newsgroups if possible).

"David Kerber" <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article
<[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I'm about ready to buy a new bike and I'm looking for
recommendations. I feel like I'm in kind of a hurry
because the shop out here is having a sale until the
12th so I'd like to make a decision by then and take
advantage of the savings.

I'm looking for a bike with a triple chainring that can
have fat tires, racks, fenders, etc for commuting, road
use and maybe some light off-roading. Mostly I've been
looking at cyclocross bikes but I should also consider
other types like touring bikes.

That would be the ones to look at. You don't mention your
price range, but a Fuji Touring comes with a rack, 27
speeds with wide range gearing (30x32 granny and 52x11
top), and 32mm tires, and has room for even bigger tires
and room for fenders if you want to add them later (as I
do for winter riding). The list price is about $840, but
you can easily find them for $800, or even less if you dig
around a bit.

I didn't care for the factory saddle (a little too narrow
for my sit bones), but some people do, and a saddle's easy
to change.

Yep, I was going to suggest the Fuji Touring, also. Let's
not forget the venerable Trek 520, or the REI Novara
Randonee. Of course, if he wants to spend some bucks, Co-
Motion makes excellent touring bikes, with equally
excellent prices!

Quoted message said:

Check out Rivendell Romulus, Rambo, and Atlantis. One of them should fit
your needs:

They look nice, especially the Atlantis but they're a little
out of my price range.

I should have mentioned that I'm trying to keep it
around $1000.00

Chris Hansen said:

I should have mentioned that I'm trying to keep it around
$1000.00

Maybe the Trek 520 would work for you. Lots of tire
clearance, it comes with a triple, and it's in your
price range:

trekbikes.com520.jspOpen ↗
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA bike.terrymorse.combike.terrymorse.comOpen ↗

I found a bike.

I went to the first place and they offered a much better
deal on a poprad with a triple chainring. I guess it helps
to act doubtful but like you might buy something. I was
sorely tempted by the trek 520 but the poprad felt sportier
and I like the shifters better. It will take about 10 days
for them to get the parts in and get it ready, I can't wait!

Thanks for all the advice.

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

Quoted message said:

I found a bike.

I went to the first place and they offered a much better
deal on a poprad with a triple chainring. I guess it helps
to act doubtful but like you might buy something. I was
sorely tempted by the trek 520 but the poprad felt
sportier and I like the shifters better. It will take
about 10 days for them to get the parts in and get it
ready, I can't wait!

Thanks for all the advice.

The Poprad is a good choice for a road bike, but is it
really suitable for commuting?

As you noted, one issue with it is the lack of a triple, but
if the shop is willing to upgrade to a triple for a good
price, then this solves this problem. You may want to add a
headset extender or a SpeedLifter, for a more upright
position for commuting.

The Poprad is one of the recommended road bike models at the
Bicycle Recommendation Short List web site at:
nordicgroup.usbikerecOpen ↗, with the caveats on the
triple crankset and the headset extender.

IMVAIO, the Romulus would have been a better choice, but as
you stated, it was out of your price range.

Steve Bicycle Recommendation Short List
nordicgroup.usbikerecOpen ↗

Steven M. Scharf said:

The Poprad is a good choice for a road bike, but is it
really suitable for commuting?

eh? there are no special requirements for commuting. i've
commuted for years on a fixed gear track bike. the guy next
to me a mountain bike, another guy a tri bike, my old boss a
trek 5200. i've seen every kind of bike used. & i'm not sure
there is an ideal kind of bike for commuting but i'd have to
believe if there were a cyclocross bike would come pretty
damn close.

Quoted message said:

IMVAIO, the Romulus would have been a better choice, but
as you stated, it was out of your price range.

if you can't park it inside most people would say one of the
single largest factors is *PRICE*. that is, *CHEAP*. that
ain't cheap.
--
david reuteler [email hidden]

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

Quoted message said:

Steven M. Scharf <[email hidden]

url=''/url said:

Quoted message said:

The Poprad is a good choice for a road bike, but is it
really suitable

for

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

commuting?

eh? there are no special requirements for commuting. i've
commuted for years on a fixed gear track bike. the guy
next to me a mountain bike, another guy a tri bike, my old
boss a trek 5200. i've seen every kind of bike used. & i'm
not sure there is an ideal kind of bike for commuting but
i'd have to believe if there were a cyclocross bike would
come pretty damn close.

I wonder if you can easily add fenders and racks to the
Poprad. Many road bikes lack the necessary clearance. Can
you fit tires that are more suitable for commuting? AFAIK,
the Romulus is the closest thing to a combination
touring/road/commute bike.

The ultimate commute bike is something like the Fuji
Hokkaido (not sold in the U.S. of course). <www.-www.-Open ↗
fujibikes.com/comfort/bike.asp?category_short_name=lifestyle
&myArray=139,140,141,142,143,144,145,146,147,148,149,150,15-
1,152,153,154,155 ,156,157,158,159,160,161,162,163,164,165,-
166,167,169,168,170,172,171,174,173 &myArrayID=14&yr=2004>

If the goal is to get more people bike-commuting, then the
solution is bikes that you can hop onto, in your work
clothes, without special shoes, trouser-bands, etc, and that
have built in dynamo lights just in case you have to ride at
night (while dynamo lights aren't as good as high power
lights, in a pinch they're better than nothing). These bikes
are common in Europe and Japan, but not in the U.S. see
commutebike.comcommutebike.comOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

IMVAIO, the Romulus would have been a better choice, but
as you stated,

it

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

was out of your price range.

if you can't park it inside most people would say one of
the single

largest

Quoted message said:

factors is *PRICE*. that is, *CHEAP*. that ain't cheap.

$900 for a Poprad or $1450 for a Romulus, it's not that big
of a difference to make it okay to leave one outside versus
the other.

Steve commutebike.comcommutebike.comOpen ↗ nordicgroup.usbikerecOpen ↗

Steven M. Scharf said:

If the goal is to get more people bike-commuting, then the
solution is bikes that you can hop onto, in your work
clothes, without special shoes, trouser-bands, etc, and
that have built in dynamo lights just in case you have to
ride at night (while dynamo lights aren't as good as high
power lights, in a pinch they're better than nothing).

I disagree. There have been bikes like this at times on the
U.S. market off and on since the 1960s and they eventually
die for lack of sales. Few people look at a particular bike
and have a light go off in their head and they start
commuting. Most start with A bike, any bike, and eventually
decide to make the effort to commute.

If they started putting in the city codes that modern style
bike racks are required for all new shopping malls and
office parks and if cities started retrofitting newer racks
into current building areas, so that a bike commuter had a
reasonable expectation of secure short and mid-term parking,
then there might be more commuters.

As it is, there are some groceries (Food Lion and Safeway
come to mind around here) that I will not shop at, due to
their apparent conscious decision to deter cyclists from
usig their stores. They could not build unless they
guaranteed X number of parking spaces for automobiles - the
same should be true for bicycles.

Curtis L. Russell Odenton, MD (USA) Just someone on
two wheels...

"Curtis L. Russell" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

As it is, there are some groceries (Food Lion and Safeway
come to mind around here) that I will not shop at, due to
their apparent conscious decision to deter cyclists from
usig their stores. They could not build unless they
guaranteed X number of parking spaces for automobiles -
the same should be true for bicycles.

Perhaps they figure that if everyone went to their store by
bike, they'd sell less stuff.

Steven M. Scharf <[email hidden]> wrote in
message [email hidden]

Quoted message said:

"Curtis L. Russell" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

As it is, there are some groceries (Food Lion and Safeway
come to mind around here) that I will not shop at, due to
their apparent conscious decision to deter cyclists from
usig their stores. They could not build unless they
guaranteed X number of parking spaces for automobiles -
the same should be true for bicycles.

Perhaps they figure that if everyone went to their store
by bike, they'd sell less stuff.

It could be that. But I was thinking that since I don't have
a rack I always go shopping with a backpack, and every so
often the checkout person remembers that it's store policy
to check bags, so I'm wondering if stores don't see cyclists
as potential thieves.

--

A: Top-posters.
B: What is the most annoying thing on Usenet?

On Fri, 16 Apr 2004 02:26:33 +1000, "DRS" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

It could be that. But I was thinking that since I don't
have a rack I always go shopping with a backpack, and every
so often the checkout person remembers that it's store
policy to check bags, so I'm wondering if stores don't see
cyclists as potential thieves.

Well, I did walk into my local branch bank in winter with
a ski mask on and managed to freeze everyone for a
second. Think if I said loud enough that I was there to
make a withdrawal, the guard might have had the weapon
out of the holster.

I make a point of having the panniers wide open when I carry
them around and at the register in groceries. When I self-
check, I leave them open at the end of the belt, if anyone
wants to inspect. OTOH, there are more than a few people
with their own shopping bags walking around.

In any event, if they make it plain that they don't want
cyclists, I'll let them know that this person and his $
5,000 of grocery shopping each year will be glad to
accomodate them.

Curtis L. Russell Odenton, MD (USA) Just someone on
two wheels...

Quoted message said:

In any event, if they make it plain that they don't want
cyclists, I'll let them know that this person and his $
5,000 of grocery shopping each year will be glad to
accomodate them.

Curtis L. Russell Odenton, MD (USA) Just someone on two
wheels...

Where do you live and what do you eat that you spend $100 a
week. I live in NY and don't spend more than $250 a month,
for 2 of us. I thought we had a high cost of living!

"Curtis L. Russell" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Well, I did walk into my local branch bank in winter with
a ski mask on and managed to freeze everyone for a second.
Think if I said loud enough that I was there to make a
withdrawal, the guard might have had the weapon out of the
holster.

I was in Taiwan, and the banks have signs on the doors to
remove your face masks prior to entering (the masks for
SARS). The shortage of masks was so severe that people were
improvising, see: politicalhumor.about.comblpicOpen ↗
sarsmask.htm

tk said:

Where do you live and what do you eat that you spend $100 a
week. I live in NY and don't spend more than $250 a month,
for 2 of us. I thought we had a high cost of living!

Whatever. My wife and I average $ 5,000 per year on
groceries. This includes everything from day-to-day to
parties to tailgate parties. We don't economy shop; we'll
pay extra at the health food store or for items that are
measured as better, even when appearing similar. There are
choices that my wife makes as an oncology nurse working from
a dietitians list that I would probably not bother with
myself, but we can afford it, so why not (other than I have
to admit to being a touch tired of some soy products)?

Curtis L. Russell Odenton, MD (USA) Just someone on
two wheels...

tk said:

I like the soy milk...that is about it, for soy. I will
admit...I would rather eat what I enjoy and die 10 years
sooner, than live a long, bland life.

Well, I don't find it all that boring. Our health food store
includes baked range whole chickens that will match anything
for taste. Its the soy bars for lunch - the first time they
taste a bit like Rice Krispie bars, but after a while, you
can't remember why you thought that.

Still, its the once a day sacrifice. And I don't include the
bourbon or rye in that grocery bill either. Guinness and
Bass OTOH should probably be included: black and tans are
their own food group.

Curtis L. Russell Odenton, MD (USA) Just someone on
two wheels...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Where do you live and what do you eat that you spend $100
a week. I thought we had a high cost of living!

Whatever. My wife and I average $ 5,000 per year on
groceries. This includes everything from day-to-day to
parties to tailgate parties. We don't economy shop; we'll
pay extra at the health food store or for items that are
measured as better, even when appearing similar. There are
choices that my wife makes as an oncology nurse working
from a dietitians list that I would probably not bother
with myself, but we can afford it, so why not (other than
I have to admit to being a touch tired of some soy
products)?

Curtis L. Russell Odenton, MD (USA) Just someone on two
wheels...

God bless ya, I dont usually consider the weekend pizzas as
part of the food budget, that comes under 'entertainment'. I
will be rather happy when I am not paying NYC pricces. I
like the soy milk...that is about it, for soy. I will
admit...I would rather eat what I enjoy and die 10 years
sooner, than live a long, bland life.

Steven M. Scharf said:

"Curtis L. Russell" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

As it is, there are some groceries (Food Lion and Safeway
come to mind around here) that I will not shop at, due to
their apparent conscious decision to deter cyclists from
usig their stores. They could not build unless they
guaranteed X number of parking spaces for automobiles -
the same should be true for bicycles.

Perhaps they figure that if everyone went to their store by
bike, they'd sell less stuff.

If everyone went to their store by bike it would be a
miracle.