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V V. I just went thru this. Please read.+1 on Craigslist, but it can be a long wait to find what you want. I just bought a mountain bike but I'm now tweaking it to suit my needs on local paved trails to the tune of more dollars. I shit canned the knobby tires, and bought some new slicks so it would roll better on blacktop trails until I get better/stronger at riding, then I'll look at road bikes. I didn't really like the hi-brid bikes and I'm not ready for a road bike so my suggestion is to test ride several bikes and get a feel for them. After you ride a few you'll know what you like. Try it for a year, tweak as needed, upgrade after you have a better understanding of where you are going to ride and how often.Don't get hooked up on what component/bike is better then the other. Test ride several, then you'll know what you like.Frame size is important. Find out what frame size fits you good (back to test riding several bikes). Don't go to big or to small.After you ride a few you'll know when you have found the right one. Even if your a newbie like me, don't be afraid to go to alocal dealer. My dealer has helped me so much. I'm glad I bite the bullet and talked to him. After I got passed being intimidatedin the biking world i realize now that he is the man I need to see. Very knowledgeable local owner in the biking world.
Yeah, I'd go used only. Even used you'll just barely be getting something decent.You could buy a Walmart bike, but then you'll hate it. I'd avoid hybrids because if you ever want to pedal up a hill they are miserable. My fixed gear bike now would cost me close to $2k to make. I only bought the level of quality I needed to maintain a bike that I can use for many years (and have). Just to give you some perspective on what a truly low maintenance, nice bike costs. Even with that my bottom bracket has a minor pit in it from coming loose once ($180 BB now, but now someone else makes one for $113 I'd use, mine was only $100 when I got it). The pedal endcaps have come out so the pedal life is limited, but the bearings remain good (unlike every other pedal I've ever owned besides more expensive clipless) on them and they were $110 I think. Nothing remains perfect, but I settled for what I could afford to build (over time mind you, the crankset was on another bike prior). Still replace a chain every year $25 (I buy ones that last a long time, otherwise replace every 6 months to save your gears life and maybe yours).A decent bicycle to me is probably going to run you at least $800 new. That would be on sale too. Given that they have more parts than on mine. Even then if the shop doesn't re-tune the wheels then you'll need too at some point. Factory wheels go bad not because of parts but who put it together. I build my own or pay someone that is good at it. The big saver is newer bikes that use certain components that fail, but fail in a tolerable way. For example external bottom bracket bearing setups go bad but you can still pedal around. The internal design if they go bad everything gets wonky and destroys your frame eventually. The good news is these bicycles in this range sell relatively cheap used. That Mongoose is a nice example.You don't even want to know what fancy constitutes.
Actually your this post has made me think of "Wait a minute" of buying any new bike.....better go to some local store and get or talk to guy and see which one you want....i think i will go to some local store and get the right direction first...btw where r u locatedV
