(no subject)

[inahandbasket]

Need bike advice.
Tommy? others?

I want to get a city bike.
I'm a big guy, over 200lbs, so I need a bike with tires that can take me hopping curbs at speed, and other shenanigans.
I'm thinking either a hybrid, or a mountain bike with slickrock style tires, as a straight roadbike would probably have more blowouts than I'm willing to deal with.
Don't need shocks, although really stiff front shocks on a hardtail might be ok. I've riden suspension bikes on roads before, and those shocks suck a sizable about of your pedal power when you're my size and really pumping.
For god's sake, no grip shifters.

and cheap.
$500 absolute maximum, and I'd prefer to pay less than half of that.
Should I hit up my numerous local bike shops with my list of demands?
Mail-order?
I've heard fleabay has some great deals on bikes if you know what you're looking at...?


In other news, yes, I'm alive.
I've been on somewhat of a hiatus from the intarweb, and haven't really been reading LJ, so if you've tried do solicit my input on anything, I apologize.
feel free to ream me out in the comments.

Now to go call my mother, who also thinks I'm dead in a gutter somewhere.

Comments

[inahandbasket]

Thanks tommy, knew you'd come through. ^_^

There're at least 4 bike stores within walking distance of our house, yes. ;o)
Thanks for all the recomendations. I really like the kona Dew Deluxe, but price... yeah.
I like the Giants too, the Yukon looks like plenty of bike for me. It's a city bike after all, it'll get less abuse than it would on trails, so entry-level is probably fine. the components are all good enough to last me awhile if I went with that?

I used to be really smooth with curb jumps, but it's been quite a while now, so a new bike would get some abuse before I got used to it again.

When I get my next paycheck, I'll hit some of the local shops and see what they have for me.
Can you give me a quick cheatlist of what to look for? good/bad component sets, frame material, etc. I used to be a bike geek, but that was 10 years ago. heh.

[axessdenyd.livejournal.com]

Well, there's also the regular Dew, which retails for about $399 if I remember correctly...check www.konaworld.com.

Might also look into the Smoke series from them. Ugly bikes, but very functional from a city/commuting point of view.

Frame material will pretty much be aluminum at that price. There might be some companies making steel bikes in that range, but I coudln't tell you who they are.

As far as components, none of these are really great, but without the stresses of being in the trail, I would expect them to hold up pretty well. Alivio and Tiagra are what I had on my first mountainous bicycle, and while they don't shift as well as LX or XT (the next steps up), they still do a good enough job for commuting.

...there are so many companies and models available it's hard to give many specific recommendations. I'm sure a shop will steer you right. Good to have a nice relationship with the shop people.

[inahandbasket]

sounds good.
I looked at the regular dew, but I'd really like discs which it doesn't have.
I'll hit up ye olde bike shoppe.

[axessdenyd.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, discs are sweet. The new-style V Brakes are hella strong compared to the older style rim brakes though. Hmmm......but since it's got road wheels, I don't know if they'll be V brakes or not. Road bikes don't use those.

...bike shops are fun.