First real bike purchase? Help!

[Sonja Mae]

I am wanting to buy a new bike that I can do short tours in and commute everyday with. All these bikes are making me crazy! I am 28 and 5'1" and can only spend about $800. What could I get? Jamis Aurora? Fuji Old School Touring? Galaxy Mercier? Specialized something something elite? I would like something like a cyclocross bike that I can tour with ( I will be loading up with front and back paniers ) Can anyone help me?

[alimey]

At your height (which is the same as mine) a bike with 700c wheels will give you a lot of bad toeclip overlap as well as looking a bit out of proportion. I would suggest finding a bike which takes 650 wheels - or even better if you want to tour, one with 26" wheels. If you can pick up a good non-suspension fork hybrid frame in aluminium which takes 26" wheels then you could convert it to drop bars all for well under 800 bucks. It depends how much messing around you are prepared to do. For this route either you need to want to delve into the mechanicing side of it - or have a really knowledgable friend.

If that route doesn't interest you then I would look for a 650 wheeled road bike on ebay. I don't think you will find a crosser as I don't know any which were made in this size - but you should be able to find something pretty good as they don't tend to command high prices.

There are all sorts of other things to think about if you are as small as me - feel free to email me offline if you want to discuss.

Best of luck

[KnottedYet]

A touring cyclocrosser.... sounds like the Jamis Aurora or the Surly Cross Check. (I like steel) Both are under $1,000. But I think both are a smidge over $800.

What about a Kona Jake? Or a Kona Jake 2-4 (which has 24 inch wheels). These are aluminum cyclocross bikes. I had a Kona Dew with the same frame as the Jakes, great bike. www.konaworld.com

Edit: oops, you specified front and back panniers. That puts you on a Surly Long Haul Trucker. The Surly Cross Check only has rear pannier fittings. It might take you off the Kona Jake, too. (But the Kona Sutra would have front pannier fittings.)

[RoadRaven]

We are just shopping around for my 19yr old daughter who wants a commuting bike.

We have short-listed two bikes;

Specialised's 2007 model - Globe (not Globe Comp, or Globe Women's). We have ben quoted $480

Avanti 2007 Blade - $580

They may be useful to look at for you Sonja...

And other TE-ers, any opinions on these bikes for a teen's first road bike to commute on??

[Caecilia]

Delurking to say that I've been riding a 2007 Globe Sport (the unisex model) for about a month now and love it - it's leagues better than the 1980s Schwinn that I commuted on during college. It's my first new bike in 20 years so I don't have much to compare it to (my LBS is mainly a Specialized shop, so that's all I test rode), but I think it would be a great choice for a college bike.

[RoadRaven]

Haven't heard of Globe, Caecilia... Gonna go check them out on the net... and btw - glad you can "delurk"...

Sonja, I meant to say those prices I quoted us being quoted are NZ dollars...