Illiniwek66

Good evening,

My wife and I (both 53) plan on buying bikes in the near future. Because of the pandemic it’s going to be difficult to find one in stock so I’m looking for advice on what kind of bike I should get. I do have a few models in mind. Is one of the forums better than others for a bike virgin?

Thanks to all!

Mista Sparkle

Welcome to the Forum! The people here are great so we hope you stick around.

I suppose it depends on your location as to what is around, but I think recommendations for average individuals in average shape would probably be looking at a hybrid. Not that comfort bikes aren't an option, but they tend to be heavier and slow. If you feel like you want to get out and explore, you will have a much larger range on an average hybrid.

I'm a big fan of the trek FX series (though I don't have one) I have used my buddies a few times and my wife has one. They give you a reasonably upright riding position, are reasonably light and generally fairly fast. Ride is good and as long as you are staying on roads and rail trail type paths, plenty capable. Things like suspensions tend to suck energy and make a casual ride more work than it should be. Pretty much any major manufacturer will have something similar. I would recommend staying away from the bottom of the line, at least move up to the FX2 or equivalent if the budget allows. Though the lowest tier are still decent bikes, I feel like you get a lot more for your money by stepping up a tier. All the stuff above that tends to be great as well. It looks like anything FX2 or up has disks and disks are great, but not really necessary if it means you get an otherwise better bike.

I will also note that my wife got stagger edition of the FX and that was a mistake. The extra routing of the cables makes things squishy and she never uses the step through feature anyway. Maybe your wife would but mine doesn't and the bike feels cheaper for it. The squishy brakes seem to be remedied by a disk in the FX2+ so maybe the brake situation is a toss up. Take them for a test ride if you can. There is also only room for 1 water bottle so on warm days my wife steals my water.

Cushy seats end up being painful for longer rides for most people, it might take a little while to get used to the smaller saddle that comes on the bike, but it shouldn't be painful. That being said, if it hurts, it is worth looking having your fit checked and/or looking into something else.

You could also get a tandem, that might be fun, or possibly relationship destroying. There is a sub-forum for that too.

Rage

Welcome aboard and good luck in your search!

Illiniwek66

Sparkle, good info. I was looking at a Verve 2 or a Dual Sport 2. My wife thinks she wants to be more upright which would be the Verve, but it has no suspension. Our main source of riding will be rail trails and the neighborhood (just down the road from you in McHenry County) but we also have goals of the C and O Canal trail and the GAP trail out east. Both are gravel with gentle inclines.

My biggest concern with the Verve is the lack of suspension and only 8 gears. Big deal or not?

Mista Sparkle

Since the Verve 2 comes with a Triple front chainring,Its not a big deal with an 8 speed cassette. You get an extra lower gear on the cassette when you move to the 9 speed, but generally you will find you ride in the middle of the cassette and at the fringes its time to change chainrings anyway.

I would say lack of suspension for stuff around here could almost be a positive. Suspensions are heavy, and rob power. If you do get a bike with a suspension, make sure it has a lockout. I have a marlin I use mostly as a kid hauler, and the suspension is always locked out. I should have bought something lighter, but I wanted something further away in functionality from my road bike.

Both the Verve and DS should be excellent for the forest preserve trails up around you, I've ridden a few with some friends up in Mundelein, they are generally well maintained, lots of crushed limestone. The slightly larger tires on both bike seem an appropriate match for your conditions. I imagine C&O and GAP trails are fairly well maintained so you should be ok with either bike there as well.

Try them out if you get a chance, you could always get an N+1 later if you don't want to compromise.

Illiniwek66

Great stuff-thank you!!

VegasTriker

If you want to make true comparisons between bikes use either of these gear calculators to find out the gear range for your choices. It's nice to have a decent gear range and since you are flatlanders (Illinois residents) the low gears are less important than they would be if you lived in some place like San Francisco,.
Mike Sherman's Bicycle Gear Calculator or https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gear-calc.html
I'd also pay attention to the bike weight. It's obvious that pedaling a lighter bike is more fun than one that weighs a ton. As to suspension, most entry level bike suspensions are there as a selling point rather than as a useful product. You can get the same effect using slightly wider tires with lower pressure. If you were riding technical MTB trails in a place like Utah, having a good suspension system ($$$) would be an advantage but if you are riding roads and trails, take the lighter bike with a rigid fork over the one with suspension.

MRT2

Lack of a suspension is a good thing, as entry level front suspension on bikes are more bad than good. It is a heavy part that can suck up energy a novice rider needs to propel him or herself forward. For the most part, the tires can provide the cushion you need on bumpy or rough surfaces, and beyond that, just learn how to ride around, or over obstacles. So, I would say stay away from front suspensions on bikes under $1,000 retail.

As for 8 speed, that is generally more than enough gear selection for the novice. To give you a sense of the history of gearing, Through the mid to even late 90s, 7 speed was the standard for consumer grade bikes, and 8 speed was only available on higher end bikes. Then through the early 2000s, 8 speed became the standard for most consumer grade bikes, with 7 speed being downgraded to standard equipment on entry level bikes, with 9 speed available on higher end bikes. 9 speed only started to become available on consumer grade bikes after 2010, with 8 speed becoming more or less the standard on entry level bikes.

I would not go below 8 speed these days as 7 speed is if not out of date, at least a sign of a bike at the bottom rung of the ladder as far as bike shop bikes go. And 9 or 10 speed might be good if you are looking to future proof, if you are planning to keep your bikes for 10 years or more. The reason I say this is, it often is more trouble than it is worth to try upgrading an old bike from 7 to 8 speed, or from 8 speed to 9 or 10 speed.

The good news is, for most people, it really doesn't matter because as long as you have a range of gear options to get you around, the difference between 7, 8, or 9 speeds is pretty small. It is just the jump between gears is larger.

MRT2

Not to mention a good suspension fork will often cost as much as many folks are willing to pay for an entire entry level bike.