The 4yo is starting to outrace me on his bike (i generally jog along), and I'm looking at buying a bike to ride along with him. Also with my change of career, I can now ride to work (and sit on my backside all day, so I NEED to ride to work), whereas before I needed to cart too many tools with me....

Question is.....what sort/brand of bike would suit me? I know that riding and windsurfing are a good combination, also I need to get/keep fit, as well as enjoy time riding with the littlies!

Stats; 6'3", 110kgs, 35yo, light pockets!

Requirements; to enjoy a ride with the family, go for the odd workout ride (road), go offroad (good walking/riding scenic tracks around this area), and ride to/from work on a semi-daily basis.

Any advice would be appreciated......here's what I've learned:
Bikes from $70.00 at Kmart (don't reckon it'd last) - to - $6,000.00 for good carbon road bikes (not a chance! would rather spend 6K on w/surfing gear!).
Hybrid is a word that was tossed around by a mate?!?
Prefer pre-loved and quality than new crap if price came into it!
Whatever I spend.......will have to be taken from my w/surfing purchases annual fund!

I bought a hybrid (Avanti Discovery) for exactly the reasons you mentioned above, but found it wasn't particularly good at either onroad or offroad. So now I've got a Giant OCR3 for the road ($500 second hand) and a giant thermo1 for the tracks (about $800 new).

If I had to settle for just one bike I think I would go for the giant thermo1 (or Yukon if you want a more conventional frame) with those tyres that are slicks in the middle and knobblies on the sides. They have lock off shocks so you can set them for rigid for on road or soft for off road.

Just be carefull, I only got into it for a bit of exercise, but found I quickly became addicted after I found hills that almost killed me when I first got a bike are now really easy. Its gotta be good for you!!

If you want to ride on dirt tracks or take short cuts on your commute to work then you want to stick to the good old mountain bike.

Front suspension is good, avoid reas suspension for your type of riding.

Buy a pair of semi-slick tyres to make commuting/road/path riding easier and keep the grooved tyres that come on it for your trail riding.

Giant is a good brand. Well built and good value for money. I can also highly recommend the Thermo1 but they stopped making them last year (you may get a bargain on a run-out model)

You should spend $600 - $800 to get a bike that will last. Most bikes in this range will come with Shimano parts so check out shimano.com.au and get a feel for the different levels of components so you know what you are looking at when you go shopping.

Melbourne has some of the best bike shops in the country and the most competive pricing so shop around and don't be afraid to barter!

Thanks for all the advice....I just got back from a 'browse' in the local shops, I have seen the 'Giant' bikes advertised, apart from that all the other names you guys mentioned are alien to me. The local shops stock - Diamondback - Harrow - Shogun - Malvern Star - GT.....(and a couple of others I promised I wouldn't forget?!?)

The advice given by one of the guys in the shop was pretty spot-on going by the reponses above, go 'Mountain' but select tyres based on some road comfort, (centre continuous tread with nobbys on the sides for dirt). I went in thinking $400+.......now after looking at disc brakes and hydrolic(?) suspension/brakes might be $650+ but to spend more would be a waste, as 'hills' said about "getting addicted", I might as well not spend too much (not knowing much about it), and if I do get hooked, I can trade it in on a suitable bike.

The heavy-duty downhill bikes were a little too extreme (I'm pretty keen on self-preservation) pricewise, and build. I'll take on all advice and keep looking.......going on an old mate's motto - "never be in a hurry to buy"

Cheers Guys!

Leech said...

If you want to ride on dirt tracks or take short cuts on your commute to work then you want to stick to the good old mountain bike.

Front suspension is good, avoid reas suspension for your type of riding.

Buy a pair of semi-slick tyres to make commuting/road/path riding easier and keep the grooved tyres that come on it for your trail riding.

Giant is a good brand. Well built and good value for money. I can also highly recommend the Thermo1 but they stopped making them last year (you may get a bargain on a run-out model)

You should spend $600 - $800 to get a bike that will last. Most bikes in this range will come with Shimano parts so check out shimano.com.au and get a feel for the different levels of components so you know what you are looking at when you go shopping.

Melbourne has some of the best bike shops in the country and the most competive pricing so shop around and don't be afraid to barter!

Leech is spot on here with everything.
As a mountain bike rider of many years, ( I got one as soon as they were invented) and having bought a few different sorts, my final bike which I still have is a Giant Yukon SE with Rock Shocks on the front and NO REAR SUSPENSION! Don't get rear suspension as I bought another bike with it and it's crap. Every bit of movement in the rear suspension is just energy wasted, and YOU have to supply it.

It's all aluminium, don't even look at anything that is iron.
It's good for just cruising the cycleways, really smooth gears and handles bush tracks and walkways easily.

My only dislike is that it doesn't have disc brakes, but this is just a personal fettish as I think disc brakes look cool and they work better than clamp brakes in the wet. The brakes that it has work good except for when wet. But then I don't ride it in the wet much so no problem.

It cost $800 new about 7 years ago so second hand in good nick should cost about 300 to 400 $ tops.

If you see a secondhand one of these then buy it.

Strong advice, dont buy a cheap Kmart steel bike for 150 to 200 $ cos they are heavy as lead, and nowhere near as nice to ride.
You want something that is going to make you want to ride it and a good bike does just that.

I bough mine when going in with a friend to buy one.
I just tried it out to see what it was like. She didn't buy it.
All that night I was thinking, "Geez that bike was nice!"
I went back the next day and bought it even though I already had another bike.

my bike is really good, i got the gaint thermo 1, big front shocks, hydrolic disk breaks, 21gears, great for offroad and on the road, really strong frame and looks cool too,

jord070 said...

my bike is really good, i got the gaint thermo 1, big front shocks, hydrolic disk breaks, 21gears, great for offroad and on the road, really strong frame and looks cool too,

Did you upgrade the brakes to hydraulic? Cos they came with cable disc brakes.

Leech said...

jord070 said...

my bike is really good, i got the gaint thermo 1, big front shocks, hydrolic disk breaks, 21gears, great for offroad and on the road, really strong frame and looks cool too,

Did you upgrade the brakes to hydraulic? Cos they came with cable disc brakes.

i think its only the thermo 2 that came with non hydrolics, but yea i did upgrade them still, my mate gave me some off his stp

go for a fixed gear DIY - and pimp it up...



always unique and much more cooler than roady or MTB.

no need for brakes, gears, suspension, levers, derailers, servicing costs etc etc







go straight bars and hack em down real short, like this one....perfect for squeezing between 2 passing trams down the middle of collins street.


not very good off road and up steep hills though

Windy, that second one looks like my first bike......dad found the frame at the tip, painted it 'duck-egg blue' and got hold of some rusty wheels (spokes missing), gal tube for handle-bars with rubber hose grips....viola!!! Happy 8th birthday Sailhack!

Great for the image when riding to school with other kids on their brand-new BMX thingys (I remember when the BMX trend took over from dragsters...with the gears on the cross-bar!) Nicole Kidman came later!

..........mmmmmmmm, dragsters..........footy-cards/pegs..........them's the days!

http://forums.farkin.net/forumdisplay.php?f=33
thats a good forum site
i used to use it when i was really into riding.
i have a full suspension kona bike but i dont recommend for riding to work as for it is very tiring.
head for either a road bike or a hardtail
gears arnt everything but can really help

hope this helps

-----> Scotty