way2far

Good morning all, great community you have here. This is a long intro, but I wanted to give you some background.

I joined a couple days ago as my wife and I are looking into getting bikes so we can ride along with our son (my dad bought him a Schwinn Piston - cool looking bike!) around the neighborhood.

I feel so ignorant as I was not aware of just how large the biking/cycling community was AND how much there was to read and learn about bikes.

The last time I rode regularly was probably 20-25 years ago. Had a Western Flyer 10-speed that was handed down by my Dad after I graduated from my Huffy Disc bike (remember those?).

Needless to say, the bike technology has come a long, long way. Much research was needed on my end as to what my short term and long term plans were for our bikes. Call me shallow, but even though I knew my rides would consist of providing a shield to my kids on our suburban roadways, I didn't want a cruiser. However I didn't need a pure road/cycling bike either. Therefore I started researching these new things called "Hybrids". What a cool concept in that you have a little bit of everything if you want it.

So I joined here and starting reading about Hybrids and had a good idea of the brand/models that I'd be in the market for budget-wise (which was around $400-$600). The most given point of advisement on this forum is for newbies to visit an actual bike store, so I did. I was looking at the Trek Verve. Little did I know (again, more ignorance) is that since we are in this little pandemic thing, everyone and their brother is out buying bikes. It makes sense, right? Stuck in the house, working from home, can't go anywhere...why not get a bike and just enjoy outdoor life as much as you can? This unfortunately meant that inventory was scarce. I'm 6'2" so of course I was in need of at least a L frame. The store rep searched all over his database of stores, but apparently no new bikes were to arrive until June or July AND it's not for certain which bikes the store would receive. You all know this.

My next step was to visit the good ol' facebook marketplace and offer-up. Lots of people buying bikes would mean lots of folks are selling theirs and upgrading or looking for some quick moolah. Very true that there were a lot of bikes for sale, but as your "ebay/craigslist" meme thread shows, there's a lot of junk out there too. Ads that looked like great deals, really weren't. I tried my best to compare the ads to the bike bluebook site (don't know how legit it is, but it was something to use). Some ads had bikes I was interested in however the size was too small or they were 15-20 years old. One I found was a 2000 Giant Cypress with new chains, tires, shifter for $220. You all may say that was a great deal, but I was just hesitant because of the bike's age even though I knew I wouldn't be taxing it all that much.

While I was waiting on a few answers to ads I saved, I visited Dick's Sporting Goods. I know some eyes are rolling here, but my thought was that if I get a bike here, it will be brand new and I can have it serviced/tuned up whenever needed. To my delight, a couple hybrids I had tabbed as possibilities were in stock...Nishiki Anasazi and Schwinn GTX 3. Both had my size available as well. After getting fitted on both by the very knowledgeable Dick's rep, I really started going back and forth on which bike I wanted. Luckily my wife was there and asked the right question, "which one can carry the baby seat?". That's right friends, I'm going to be that dad with the kid seat. We have a one-year old as well that loves being outside. Here's a factoid that all dads on here probably know...you can't put a rear baby seat on a bike with disc brakes! I was seriously 10 seconds from selecting the Nishiki when my wife thought to ask that question. With that answer and the fact that the Schwinn happened to be on sale th

is month, I chose the GTX 3.

Now I know that the GTX 3 is not a Verve, Escape, or Sirrus, but I am thrilled to have it knowing that it will be perfect for what my life is now and will be in the future. I just picked it up yesterday so I'm getting ready to head off to ride a couple miles. Later this weekend, my wife will be looking at getting hers so it'll be exciting to see what she chooses.

Looking forward to reading more from each of you on the forum. I'm sure I'll also be picking your brains on certain things here and there. Thanks for providing a forum like this for all facets of biking!

Rage

Welcome aboard!
I like Dick’s Sporting Goods too. Some good deals.