Buying a commuter!

[Kendog]

Hi guys,

New member! Looking to buy within the week. Have been reading a lot of threads and been researching bikes. I want to buy my frist adult bike for a 5km each way commute. The roads are fairly flat (around sydney olympic park) and there is a bike lane pretty much from home to work. Ive narrowed a few bikes down in the $600 range. Your opinion on theae would be appreciated.

Giant cross city 2
Trek 7.1
Specialized sirrus
Canondale quick
Merida speeder 10
Or a single speed (not fixie i like to coast)

Am i looking in the right area? Im not sure of any reputable single speed brands.

Cheers

[Mububban]

Hi guys,

New member! Looking to buy within the week. Have been reading a lot of threads and been researching bikes. I want to buy my frist adult bike for a 5km each way commute. The roads are fairly flat (around sydney olympic park) and there is a bike lane pretty much from home to work. Ive narrowed a few bikes down in the $600 range. Your opinion on theae would be appreciated.

Giant cross city 2
Trek 7.1
Specialized sirrus
Canondale quick
Merida speeder 10
Or a single speed (not fixie i like to coast)

Am i looking in the right area? Im not sure of any reputable single speed brands.

Cheers

For 5kms, any of those will easily covers your needs. If you can, test ride a few then pick your favourite based on how it feels, and whatever best fits your budget. Also, a good bike store is to be treasured, as you'll go back for servicing, odds and ends and repairs.

This time of year is sale time as they try and clear out 2015/16 stock to make room for 2016/17 models. So you might find some bargains out there.

A workmate just bought a Giant Cross City 0 with disc brakes, normally $1300 I think, he got it for $900. Very nice bike.

Do you ever plan to take the bike for rides away from your commute route where the landscape might change? Or you encounter headwinds? If so the straining against a single gear could kill your knees. But I'm a skinny bugger, gears are my friend!

[Kendog]

Cheers mubabban ive ridden a malvern sprint for 15km was fairly easy and pretty much stayed in the middle gears (most of the way).

I also went on a ride on my mates bmx for a few kms. Some slight but long inclines got a bit tiring but was ok and a few short sharp inclines i had to stand but doable.
Im leaning towards the cross city $539 at giant store cbd seems like the best price from that list. But dont know if they would offer the same lbs relationship

[jasonc]

agree that for 5kms any of those would work. buy they one that makes you want to ride more (and fits)

[bychosis]

buy they one that makes you want to ride more (and fits)

plus one. Ensuring fit is important, but so is the style/look of the bike. The more you like your bike the more you will ride. The unfortunate downside to loving to ride your bike is that you'll quite likely catch an upgrade bug. So considering this is your first bike don't spend an absolute fortune either, after a short while you may decide you want to ride faster (road bike), carry more stuff (cargo bike) or go adventuring (touring, gravel bike or MTB)

[Zippy7]

Im leaning towards the cross city $539 at giant store cbd seems like the best price from that list. But dont know if they would offer the same lbs relationship

I've been there a few times to look at bikes. I've bought accessories there, and got quoted up on some sale bikes (but did not end up buying). I'm not going to disagree with the LBS relationship comment...

[Kendog]

Thanks guys

Ended up getting the cross city 2. Overall a pretty solid bike. Saddle could be better though. Also the part of the frame that connects from the back wheel disc to the bottom of the pedals wing out wider than usual. So i end up hitting the frame with my shoes on the way back up through the pedaling motion. Pretty happy so far though

[DavidS]

Sounds good, I've had both a Giant and a Cannondale. Prefer the Cannondale but it is a more expensive higher spec bike so not surprising.

The Cross City's look nice. You will now you really like it when you extend your ride just to get more KMs.

DS

[MattyK]

Don't change your saddle til your arse has a few more miles on it. If you're newly returned to cycling, you'll likely need to harden up a bit, a different saddle won't change that, and a softer saddle may just make the problem worse.

Enjoy!

[Defy The Odds]

Enjoy the bike!

When I was looking for my first bike, I didn't know what I wanted, hadn't ridden in years. I was tossing up between a Giant City Cross and a Giant Roam. My cousin was the one who got me back into riding and he had a MTB so I went the Giant Roam... Ended up getting a Defy Comp 2 because I mainly rode on the road

[koshari]

those cross citys are pretty flexable/adaptable pieces of kit Ken, i have a couple of old CRXs which are the earler versions of these current models
-those mini-v brakes pull up on a dime.
-stock they make a very capable commuter, nice upright geometry,
-with nice generous wheel clearances there is scope to have a spare pair of wheels with some 24mm tires to go a little faster on the hard surfaces while throwing the 35s back on for the trails and softer terrains,
-whack some drops an them and move the seat forward and they make excellent gravel grinders.

one of mine is now a full time grinder with drops and brifters on it,
the other lives at our beach house fitted with a pannier for allrounder duties.