jwitt

hello all - new to both this forum and biking after several years. I am a casual rider (3-10 miles) per week looking to enhance to upwards of 20-40 miles per week. Currently riding a 15 year old Raleigh Comfort bike but I am upgrading in the next couple of weeks.

1. Felt Verza Speed 50 - Rode nice, smooth, fast after minor tweaks to the bike. pedals will take getting used to or swap out, gearing is 3x7
2. Trek FX2 - smooth ride, fast, liked the gearing 3x8. body position was too upright even after some adjustments.
3. Giant Escape 2 - did not test ride as it was not in stock, did try the Escape 1 and it was a beauty, just too small and out of my price range.

Any assistance would be appreciated. If the remaining riding season goes well and I continue to ride into the next season, I will be looking up upgrade again. The thought is if I show consistency on a low end bike, that will justify the upgrade in 1.5 years.

Again, any assistance would be appreciated.

MRT2

Buy a bike you will enjoy riding for at least 5 years. 1.5 years is barely enough time to break a new bike in. I would suggest hold off a little and buy the best bike you can afford, when you can afford it. Something like the Escape 1, the FX3, or the Verza Speed 30.

cynergy

I have a Trek FX2 disc and enjoy it. It shifts smoothly, is comfortable and durable. The disc brakes stop well in wet weather and for me the riding position is comfortable.

i use the fx2 on gravel/sandy trails and on paved roads. it does well on both and is comfortable, even when the road is bumpy/cratered. i am probably most impressed with the derailleurs/shifters. i guess they are not high end components, but they really do shift reliably, even when i put a fair amount of load on the cranks. my other bicycle does not do this as well (trek 520).

i use the FX2 as my general commuting bike and foul weather bike.

i started riding more frequently this summer (bike commuting) and put about 65 to 80 miles per week on it and it seems to handle the job well.

livedarklions

I'm an FX guy, but if you don't like a position, everything else is somewhat irrelevant--you'll never enjoy the bike. Pedals are easy to swap out. If you're looking for platforms, the Raceface Chesters are a terrific bargain, really high quality for the price.
I actually rode a couple of solo centuries on a 15 year old Raleigh comfort bike. It's doable, but I wouldn't recommend it! If you feel like it's holding you back, then go ahead and replace it. A year and a half sounds like a reasonable timeline to me because you really don't know how well you're going to take to increased riding, you might be doing a lot more or less than you expect in a year. I was totally surprised how easy getting back into it was just over a year ago, and now I'm doing 200k plus rides, but some people have the opposite experience.

jwitt