Originally Posted by
CarloM
More info/choices for OP is always good. And people's idea of "a little bit more" always varies. My thinking though was that if OP knows of Roam 2, he likely knows of the whole Roam lineup, including the Roam 1 for $1000. If he was comfortable with $1000+ he'd have started this thread with Roam 1. The Pathlite starts above the Roam 1, so that's why it didn't occur to me to recommend that (or any other bike over $1000). I had intuited that if he chose to start at the $700 range, knowing the next step up in that line was $1000, by "staying around the price" he meant capping it at below what the Roam 1 was at.
But it's his call, and Canyon does have a stellar reputation!
I agree. For bike nerds, it might seem like nothing to suggest spending another $300 to get something better, but a lot of folks already considering themselves stretching up to get to $700 retail. And truth be told, at that price point, you should be able to get something decent. The only question is, what is decent?
Giant offers good value in their low to mid price tiers, but they do seem to have made some odd choices in upgrading some models and downgrading others. To my mind, the old Escape 1 was a fantastic value at $650. But the Escape 1 is now discontinued, so if you want that level of quality, you need to go up to the Escape 1 disc at $790. And while disc brakes are a nice feature, IMO, they are not really necessary on a hybrid that is meant for leisure and fitness riding. While they offer better performance in wet weather, they are also more complex which adds to costs down the line.