New Bike Advice

For a flat bar road bike the Fuji Silhouette or Royale will do. Otherwise, the Giant OCR aluminum or composite bikes are a nice comfortable ride. I ride 3 road bikes and the Giant OCR 1 is my most comfortable bike.

I will take a look at the Giant OCR. I was in my Giant LBS yesterday and they didn't show that one to me. They pointed me toward the FCR, but then explained that they didn't have any in stock yet!

Try getting last years 2004.5 OCR 1 alumnium bike. It could be $150 cheaper than the 05 model. The only difference is in the seatpost, seat, and stem. I prefer the 2004 model over the 2005 model. Otherwise the 2005 OCR 3 Composite would be a sweet ride simply because it's composite. If I have to get my first entry level bike this would be it. But the advantage of the aluminum OCRs is that you can put a rack and panniers on them.

Do you like Ti or steel bikes? It's light and strong. Something different than carbon. Good money for a custom bike, I think.

http://ifbikes.com/

Good luck finding your bike!

Soo-re

MarcInNJ said:

I am shopping for a new bike and it is pretty overwhelming.
I think that I may buy a Trek 7300 with Disc brakes, but my mind changes every time that I see a nice new bike.
I already own a Giant Sedonna comfort bike and now that I have gotten more fit, I am looking for a flat-bar road bike. I want to go faster on narrower tires, but I will never be in a race and my 40 year old back doesn't like the hunched over position of a genuine road bike.
I ride on roads, mostly hills in this part of the world.
Any ideas would be welcome.---Marc

I was in a similar situation last summer. I started out with a Trek 7100 and after 2 months I was looking for something lighter and faster but wasn't ready for the road bike position. I traded the Trek in for an '04 Specialized Sirrus Elite and after 1300 miles, I have no regrets. I did add bar ends to gain more hand positions for longer rides. You might want to check them out, good luck!

rockitj said:

I was in a similar situation last summer. I started out with a Trek 7100 and after 2 months I was looking for something lighter and faster but wasn't ready for the road bike position. I traded the Trek in for an '04 Specialized Sirrus Elite and after 1300 miles, I have no regrets. I did add bar ends to gain more hand positions for longer rides. You might want to check them out, good luck!

I second the Specialized Sirrus Elite, comfy, quick, light good spec and good value. Lots of fun, no back pain. Flat bar position is comfy, and versatile with bar ends, if you are not competing, why worry about aero?

wayfastwhitey said:

if you are not competing, why worry about aero?

Agree 100%.

MarcInNJ said:

I will take a look at the Giant OCR. I was in my Giant LBS yesterday and they didn't show that one to me.

Marc, although the Giant OCR1 has a much higher MSRP than the Trek 7300*, it does offer quite a bit of bang for the buck. The '05 model has an MSRP of $1000 which isn't bad considering the components you get. The '04 models had the adjustable stem, but that's an easy swap out should you want one. Nashbar currently has Zoom adjustable stems for $13. Just bought one. http://www.nashbar.com/profile_moreimages.cfm?category=&subcategory=&sku=3501&brand=

I have an '04 Specialized Sequoia Elite, which is a very comfortable road styled bike for non-racers, but if I were going to buy a new bike today I would look very closely at the OCR1 over the Sequoia Elite. It has a $300 lower MSRP and Ultegra components vs. the Elite's 105.

* We here at CyclingForums.com just love to spend other people's money! 😄

wayfastwhitey said:

I second the Specialized Sirrus Elite, comfy, quick, light good spec and good value. Lots of fun, no back pain. Flat bar position is comfy, and versatile with bar ends, if you are not competing, why worry about aero?

The '05 has compact crank chainrings vs. the triple of the '04 if that makes a difference to any potential buyers...

rockitj said:

The '05 has compact crank chainrings vs. the triple of the '04 if that makes a difference to any potential buyers...

It does. I was at an LBS today and the best bike for me seemed to be the Sirrus or Sirrus Elite. But I was put off by the double chainring and smaller cassette. I think the largest gear on the Sirrus only had 26 teeth. I do most of my riding on hills and I really like the lower ratio gearing for superior climbing. Of course, I do all of my riding on big 1.95" tires right now, so it is possible that I will be able to climb well with the smaller gears on the Sirrus.

MarcInNJ said:

It does. I was at an LBS today and the best bike for me seemed to be the Sirrus or Sirrus Elite. But I was put off by the double chainring and smaller cassette. I think the largest gear on the Sirrus only had 26 teeth. I do most of my riding on hills and I really like the lower ratio gearing for superior climbing. Of course, I do all of my riding on big 1.95" tires right now, so it is possible that I will be able to climb well with the smaller gears on the Sirrus.

I'd say it's worth a test ride at least. The 04 has smaller chainring, but smaller low gear on the cassette than the 05, 34x26 low gear on the 05 vs. 30x25 on the 04. The 04 would have a small advantage on the hills, but the 05 is mechanically simpler.

I rode the Sirrus and I found the gearing lacking on steep hills.
I took the Trek 7300FX for a nice long test ride yesterday and I really like the bike and the seating position.
But, the LBS really wants to sell me the disc brake version (for an extra $100). They are even willing to put on wheels and tires that are narrower in order get me to take the bike for about $575.

Is a hybrid with mechanical disc brakes a good idea or should I just get the componentry upgrade of the 7500FX with the standard v-brakes?