Point me in right direction

Kurtosis

I'm sure everyone is probably tired of the "Recommend me a bike" threads, but this one is a slight bit different so stick with me. I should warn you ahead of time I'm rather bike illiterate so excuse my ignorance.

I started in college in October 2006 and managed to get a bike stolen by the time November came around. So I went around to the local bike shop and got a Giant Rock mountain bike to replace it. It was grand for about a year but then last October it started causing trouble. Since then I've had it back to the bike shop 3 times since November and had a whole rake of things fixed/replaced (axle on the pedals, gear cables, fixing the back dropout, then replacing the whole brake on the front and brake pads and cables on the back and lastly replacing the back wheel and straightening the back dropout again) costing about €160 total. Anyway in the last week, I've had more problems with it and have gotten a quote of €60 to replace brake cables and get a new cog and chain.

I'm starting to think it might be time to change bike. It's not that I've been punishing this one or doing anything crazy to it: I'm cycling it from templeogue into Dublin city centre and back every weekday, it's locked outside during the day for maybe 6-8 hours and then inside overnight. When I look back at my previous bike, only trouble I ever had was a few punctures and replacing pads and cables.

Anyway, in a very roundabout way, I'm looking for some general recommendations. As I said (and have exhibited above), I'm not very proficient when it comes to bikes, so I'm wondering what people would suggest in terms of a type of bike to get. I'm looking to spend up tomaybe about €400. All it has to do is get my in and out of town (7-8 miles round trip) daily. I don't going for something more basic (less gears and the like) as I'm really looking for something that's going to be reliable, low maintenance and practical.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

kona

penguin88 wrote: »

I'm sure everyone is probably tired of the "Recommend me a bike" threads, but this one is a slight bit different so stick with me. I should warn you ahead of time I'm rather bike illiterate so excuse my ignorance.

I started in college in October 2006 and managed to get a bike stolen by the time November came around. So I went around to the local bike shop and got a Giant Rock mountain bike to replace it. It was grand for about a year but then last October it started causing trouble. Since then I've had it back to the bike shop 3 times since November and had a whole rake of things fixed/replaced (axle on the pedals, gear cables, fixing the back dropout, then replacing the whole brake on the front and brake pads and cables on the back and lastly replacing the back wheel and straightening the back dropout again) costing about €160 total. Anyway in the last week, I've had more problems with it and have gotten a quote of €60 to replace brake cables and get a new cog and chain.

I'm starting to think it might be time to change bike. It's not that I've been punishing this one or doing anything crazy to it: I'm cycling it from templeogue into Dublin city centre and back every weekday, it's locked outside during the day for maybe 6-8 hours and then inside overnight. When I look back at my previous bike, only trouble I ever had was a few punctures and replacing pads and cables.

Anyway, in a very roundabout way, I'm looking for some general recommendations. As I said (and have exhibited above), I'm not very proficient when it comes to bikes, so I'm wondering what people would suggest in terms of a type of bike to get. I'm looking to spend up tomaybe about €400. All it has to do is get my in and out of town (7-8 miles round trip) daily. I don't going for something more basic (less gears and the like) as I'm really looking for something that's going to be reliable, low maintenance and practical.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

try www.chainreationcycles.com they have some nice solid stuff for your budget;)

TinyExplosions

penguin88 wrote: »

Anyway, in a very roundabout way, I'm looking for some general recommendations. As I said (and have exhibited above), I'm not very proficient when it comes to bikes, so I'm wondering what people would suggest in terms of a type of bike to get. I'm looking to spend up tomaybe about €400. All it has to do is get my in and out of town (7-8 miles round trip) daily. I don't going for something more basic (less gears and the like) as I'm really looking for something that's going to be reliable, low maintenance and practical.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

If you're only doing Templeogue to town, I'd certainly suggest going for a single speed -there's no major hills between you and town, and less parts means they tend to be pretty bombproof. I'm sure someone will come along and suggest a fixie, but I'm not gonna

You could look at converting yours, which may be in budget, or consider a Charge Stove, or for a few quid more, look at the Kona Paddy Wagon.

erizo

hey tiny, do you have any link in advices how to convert to single speed?

Thanks

TinyExplosions

erizo wrote: »

hey tiny, do you have any link in advices how to convert to single speed?

Thanks

Sheldon Brown is once again the man for anything bike related

Or see here...