Bike shopping

[Espresso]

I've been looking at bikes and I think I'm ready to do a full day of shopping and test riding at all the local bike shops.

I'm looking for a flat bar road bike/urban bike. The intent is to ride around town a good bit and hopefully eventually do some 60-100 mile events. The last bike I had was a Specialized Hardrock (I believe) without shocks. I think I got it in high school and then used it in college until it got stolen 5+ years ago, and all I've ridden since is the occasional ride on my mom's 20+ year old cruiser and lots and lots of riding on exercise bikes at the gym. I'm excited to get back on a bike that's appropriate for what I want to do, but I don't want to jump into paying too much.

Here are the bikes I'm planning to test out next week. Just wondering if anybody has any opinions. I don't know much about quality of components, etc. Obviously if there is a huge difference in feel or fit, I will take that into account first once I get a chance to try them out, but I'm interested in your opinions about everything else in case two or more feel the same.

Cannondale Quick 4 Women's Petite--$540

Jamis Coda men's & women's--$550

Fuji Absolute 2.0 men's & women's--price was in the $600-700 range, I don't remember exactly

I'm looking at men's bikes too since I have super short legs and a more normal-sized torso. I do know that the smallest men's Quick is too big for me; not sure about the others. Also I need to make sure to pick the bikes up and walk with them, since I'll want to keep it in my apartment which means carrying it down (and later up) a flight of stairs every time I use it. This might rule the Coda out; I don't know yet.

The Fuji women's is a mixte. Any thoughts on this compared to the men's Fuji and the other bikes?

Any thoughts in general on my first bike purchase with my own money? Thanks in advance!

[Crankin]

I have the Jamis Coda Femme. It's my "second" bike, and I use it for around town errands, riding with friends who are just beginning, and the bike path. I have done 25-50 mile rides on it, though, but these rides were very casual, bike path/vacation type rides. That said, I love the way the bike feels. It's smooth, handles well in traffic, and I don't notice much difference in handling when my pannier is stuffed with purchases. Several people here ride the Jamis Coda as their #1 bike and love it. I think for the price, it's great. My only complaint is it does *feel* heavy/like a tank to me. I guess that's because my roadie is so light (14.7 lbs. w/out the bag, etc) and I am pretty much a light weight myself. I live in a hilly area, and I would say my average speed on the Coda is about 3 mph slower than on my road bike. That's fine with me for the purpose I use the bike for. But, I wonder when I read that people here feel like it is a faster bike. I could not ride this bike on club rides, even my club, which is pretty much "social," as I would be left in the dust.
I don't think you can go wrong with a Jamis, though. I might check out the weight of the Trek, compared to the Coda.

[ithacagirl]

For the past couple weeks I've been going around to all the local LBS to try out their road bikes, drop bar and flat bar. I'm 5'0" with a 29" inseam, meaning my legs are short and my torso is too.

I found the Jamis bikes were much too big for me. In general, their frames have a standover height. Although it's always good to try whatever WSD bikes you can find just so you can compare the feel.

I tried out the Giant Dash 3 which seemed a little better in size for me but still kind of uncomfortable. Plus, the Dash 3 started with a steel frame, the Dash 2 retails around $900 for carbon/alum.

The Trek FX series for women is pretty great, very responsive. The tires also come a little wider the 7.2 FX has 35c tires with the higher model 7.3FX comes with 32c tires.

I instantly fell in love with Fuji's Absolute 2.0 from 2010. The 2011 Absolute line only has a WSD for the 3.0 which becomes a steel fork and lower components all around. Very responsive, very light. It also has an adjustable stem! Usually priced decently, I found one for $650.

And THEN they showed me their Terry bicycles. The company that started producing womens' bikes first. I tried out the Terry Symmetry with drop bar for size, I think I'll order it for drop bar. I couldn't believe the feel! The front tires are specially made smaller, it fit me like nothing else. If you're willing to spend a little more, retail for the flat bar is about $1000, find this bike and try it out. Or just try it out to see what it feels like! http://www.terrybicycles.com/Bicycle...metry-Flat-Bar You can see it's geometry is just overall a little smaller than most women's bikes. Terry also changes the sizes for fork rakes and crank arm lengths that other bike companies don't for WSDs.

Can't wait to hear what's good for you!

[ithacagirl]

So I just went to try the Absolute 2.0 and Terry Symmetry again. A correction- both of the Terry Symmetry's tires are smaller not just the front (oops!), they're 650c x 28.

The 2011 Absolute 2.0 by the way is a wonderful ride. My LBS provided me only the 2010 a couple days ago because of my size, I fit the 15". The 2010 has a step-through model for the 2.0 and only a step-over model for 2011. I found this wasn't much of a problem however. The up-right position was very comfortable for this flat-bar bike, no straining.

I did however go with the Terry because I found it came with more components I would probably would've upgraded on the Fuji such as its tires, saddle, and clipless pedals.

Hope you have as much testing them out as I did!

[ithacagirl]

I just noticed my first reply was never posted. So to summarize I'm 5'0" tall with a 27" inseam, meaning I'm pretty short in the legs and torso. I had good luck getting comfortable with Trek's WSD lines Lexa and 7.2, Fuji's WSD Finest and Absolute were also great. Since you're worried about the weight going up the stairs, these two are wonderfully light.

Jamis is a great, durable brand, but most of their lower level bikes are made with steel forks so they are considerably heavier. They also tend to make the stand-over heights taller- I couldn't clear the bar on most of their models!

Which did you find fit you best?

[Velocivixen]

"I'm looking for a flat bar road bike/urban bike. The intent is to ride around town a good bit and hopefully eventually do some 60-100 mile events"

My only thought would be that with a flat bar bike & going these distance you don't have any other hand positions if your hands/neck/shoulders get tired. With drop bars you have options. I have a flat bar bike (Trek FX 7.3 2011) and that is one reason why I'm looking for a dropped bar road bike. Just my .02 cents worth.

Good luck and have a bunch of fun.

[Espresso]

Thanks for the responses!

I'm planning on getting some Ergon grips that will hopefully give me enough hand position options.

I tried out all the bikes today and none of the women's bikes really fit me right. For both the Coda and the Absolute it was very noticeable that the men's version fit better.

I think I'm going to go with either the Jamis Coda (men's) or the Raleigh Cadent FT1 (men's). The second was not on my original list, but was another I tried today and liked.

The fit of both is very comfortable, so I think it comes down to a decision between steel and aluminum. I carried both up and down some stairs, and that aspect's not going to be a problem. I also rode both on a bumpy road and the difference is very noticeable, but I have no experience of how this will translate over a long period of time on a less bumpy road. I also don't know exactly how much a heavier bike will slow me down. So for me, it's a tough decision to make at this point.

[moderncyclista]

I second the person who said go with "drop bars" for longer distances.

Trust me. You'll need em'. Good lord, you'll need em'. If you're just riding around town, you might not care but - longer distances, "Whoa, lordy!"

For that same reason, I'd go with Steel over Aluminum anyday. Road buzz over long distances will kill your fricking hands with Aluminum. Steel is like butter. Trust me on this one. It's worth it if you're going to be riding for any distance to go steel, in my opinion.

[Espresso]

A friend of mine talked me out of a road bike by saying it won't be comfortable or practical to ride around town here in Atlanta. That said, I should have thought to try one today and I definitely will give one a shot before I make a purchase.

I do think he's right to be concerned about the posture and the wheels for riding in town here, but I also know that wrists are not meant to be in the position of a flat bar for nearly that long.

[Crankin]

And that is why I have 2 bikes. A light carbon road bike for long rides and my Jamis for around town errands. I do love the feel of steel, but I would not want to ride my Coda with the flat bars for very long rides on a regular basis, although I have done a few 25+mile rides on it.
Perhaps you can find a steel road bike, and put thicker tires on it for city riding?