Originally Posted by
CircularReason
Hey friends,
First post, and looking for advice. I'm trying to get into biking, partly for fun with my family, partly for exercise and adventure. I'm looking for something that will allow me to do a little bit of everything. In reality, probably 70% of my riding will be on back country roads, but I like the idea of going on trails and such (though admittedly, I've never actually done that). I have an LBS that's 15 minutes down the road, and they sell mainly Giant bikes. The owner there pointed me towards the Giant Roam 2 (2019). I tired it, and I like it, though again I have very little experience in this whole serious biking thing. So....
Is this a good bike to get for a do it all kind of bike? Is there other bikes I should be looking at? trek? Specialized (some other LBS near me have these?) I'm looking to stay around the price of the Roam 2, but if I need to go a little more for something that's the right bike, I'm willing to do that.
Thanks in advance.
We have all been there. You want to get back to cycling, but the choices are confusing. Way back in the 80s, there were two basic types of bikes. Road bikes, with drop bars, and mountain bikes. Then around the early 90s, the hybrid was born. Flat bars and mountain bike frame, and tires somewhere between the thin tires on road bikes and the thick knobby tires on mountain bikes.
Today, there are drop bar bikes with wide tires for gravel adventures, and hybrids that are basically road bikes with flat bars.
Then there are hybrids with suspension forks, which is what you are considering.
I am not a fan of the suspension fork hybrid. Mountain bikes have them because of the need to navigate over rough terrain and maintain speed. But you pay a weight penalty and additionally, it really isn't suitable for single track anyway. And you pay a weight penalty, and on the cheaper forks, the fork sucks energy because of the tendency to act as a pogo stick, unless the bike has a suspension lockout, in which case, why have a suspension at all. For those reasons, I would say to stay away from any entry level or even mid priced bike with a suspension fork.