How do I know when it's time for a different bike?

[Livin the Dream]

After reading through several threads on this forum, checking out bike mfg web sites and thinking through the conversations I've had with friends and at the LBS on Saturday, my plan this week is to ride several bikes by Giant & Trek. Wed night, the Giants then Saturday for the Treks. The Trek shop I'm going to on Saturday also carries Fuji, so I may look at those. Those seem to be the major brands bike shops around here carry.

Am I keeping my options too narrow? I've seen that many people are partial to other brands like Specialized and Jamis, but I don't think any shops in a reasonable distance from me carry those brands.

Oh -- I have to share -- as I mentioned in my original post, I wasn't sure how DH would react to my thoughts of a new bike. I mentioned that I stopped at a couple of bike shops on Saturday, but left it that I was "just browsing". Well, my birthday is Tuesday. Tonight, he said he had no idea what I wanted and asked me for suggestions..... I'll bet you don't have to guess what my answer was.... Yep, I said "a new bike" and he said.... "fine, when do you want to go look"!! Perfect

[Tuckervill]

Good husband. Sit. Stay.

Karen

[Livin the Dream]

Karen,

Sometimes that obedience training pays off, doesn't it!

Twinkie,

Are you happy with your Trek Pilot? The LBS I'm going to on Saturday has several Pilot 1.0's on sale, at least according to their web site. I've got it on my list of bikes I want to try. Is there a big difference in riding position from the Trek 1000 to the Pilot?

If anyone else has any thoughts about the Trek Pilot, I'd appreciate it if you would share!


It's a beautiful day here in Ohio and I'm looking forward to riding a couple of Giants tonight after work! I'm expecting that they are all going to feel much different than what I've got. Do you think I'll feel comfortable enough on a test ride to know the right bike for me?

[rij73]

Hi, Just catching up on this thread now. Good for you for getting in shape and loving the exercise! Enjoy those Giants tonight...

You may know right away which bike is right for you. I rode an Ibex flat-bar road bike (like the fitness bikes you mentioned) for a few months and got so into it that I went to a shop and tried road bikes. It was really obvious to me which ones had too far of a reach to the levers, and which ones not enough. Make sure the shop person sets up the saddle position as perfectly as possible so that you can judge the fit of the bike.

[northstar]

Karen,


Are you happy with your Trek Pilot? The LBS I'm going to on Saturday has several Pilot 1.0's on sale, at least according to their web site. I've got it on my list of bikes I want to try. Is there a big difference in riding position from the Trek 1000 to the Pilot?

If anyone else has any thoughts about the Trek Pilot, I'd appreciate it if you would share!

By no means am I an expert on this stuff, but I thought I'd chime in as I just bought a Trek in April (a 5000). What the guy at my LBS said is that he could tweak the stem, etc. on the 1000/1200/5000 (whatever one you're looking at) so that the rider would sit more upright like on the Pilot. So, ride the 1000, ride the Pilot, have the salesperson swap out stems to get the right bike to feel just right. You might be surprised which bike ends up feeling right (or maybe neither will...and you'll need to go to a different brand).

Good luck, and have fun! I'm excited to see what you end up choosing!

[twinkie]

Are you happy with your Trek Pilot? The LBS I'm going to on Saturday has several Pilot 1.0's on sale, at least according to their web site. I've got it on my list of bikes I want to try. Is there a big difference in riding position from the Trek 1000 to the Pilot?

Hi Livin',

For me, a short test ride doesn't do a whole lot except tell me when a bike is definitely uncomfortable. I'm pretty new to riding, so it takes a little while (20 miles or so) for me to realize stuff feels weird or that it could be better (and then, half the time, I'm not sure if it's just me getting used to something new or is something is actually wrong).

Both the 1000 and Pilot 2.1 felt great when I first hopped on them and did test rides. It was only after doing a longer ride on the 1000 that I wanted to do some extra tweaking. Like Northstar mentioned, one of the things my LBS did was swap out the stem to see if that would help (which it did...some).

I didn't realize a huge difference in the riding position between the two, but I was definitely more comfortable on the Pilot for a 75 mile ride than a similar ride on the 1000. Plus, the sloping top tube is nice for a little extra clearance since I'm so short. They switched out the stem on the Pilot to the longer size to match the 1000, but it actually fit better with the stock stem on the Pilot.

Sorry for being so long winded, but I hope that helped some!

[Livin the Dream]

Thanks for the input, Twinkie, your post was very helpful.

I rode a Giant OCR 1 (they didn't have the OCR 3 in a medium frame) and the Giant FCR 3 tonight. Both of them shifted sweet and I could tell they were much faster than my heavy, clunky hybrid. I definitely felt more comfortable on the FCR 3. It was an adjustment in position, but I think I would get used to it fairly quickly. I liked the shifting and the hand position with the flat handlebars. The saddle wasn't very comfortable.

The OCR 1 was very different. My back hurt, the girly parts hurt and the hand position felt very strange. It would definitely be a challenge to adjust to riding that bike. I felt like I was stretching my arms out to an unusual position. I didn't have any trouble reaching the brakes -- the LBS owner assured me that bike size was right for me. It just felt strange. He also told me that I was trying to sit upright too much. that I needed to position myself so my spine was in alignment more. Which put even more pressure on the girly parts.

He asked about the riding I was doing/intended to do. He said that I was stretching the limits of the FCR 3. He told me I should consider the OCR 1

So, I definitely haven't fallen in love with one of the Giants. I could sure get used to the FCR 3 pretty quickly, I'm just not sure it's what I want. The OCR with the drop handlebars would be much more of an adjustment. But, what I don't want to do is to get a bike just because it is closer to my comfort zone, then decide a road bike is the one I should have chosen. I also don't want to get a bike that puts me in pain every time I ride. Or, maybe I'd be better off going with the middle of the road bike, then planning to move up to a road bike again in a couple of years???

I'm hoping that one of the bikes I try out on Saturday will speak to me!

[Torrilin]

The stock saddle may not be suitable (meaning "get this freaking torture instrument off the bike so I can see if it fits"). Ask him if there are other saddles you can try on the OCR1 to see if that helps.

[DrBee]

Be prepared when you test ride the Trek roadbikes, too - the saddles are veritable torture devices. I have a Pilot 2.1 (WSD) and I love it! I test rode a few brands of bikes and found that they all felt really different in terms of stability, smoothness of the ride, etc.

I made it about 9 months on a Trek hybrid (7200FX) before I started drooling over roadbikes. For me, Trek bikes fit better and felt better, but that will be different for each rider. The pilot didn't feel much more upright to me than the other models, but was a much much much smoother ride. After my crash, the LBS owner testrode my bike after the repairs and was even commenting on how smooth a ride it gave. You'll know the right bike when you sit on it. If you feel too stretched out, it may be that the bike was too big, too.

Just remember that when figuring your cost - you will most likely need to replace the saddle.

Good luck!