anniegrmbl

Hi, all. I'm a relatively new bike commuter. Last year I bought the cheapest new bike I could find that a bike shop (not a box store) had: a 279$ Asama Luddite, to see how commuting went, and a year later I find myself riding 6+ times a week, not only to work, but all over town. I need to move up in the world. I'd like to spend less than 800 bucks Canadian, and I want something light and fast, but also something I can ride on some gravel and dirt trails or take on a 40K overnight trip with full panniers. I'm thinking I'd like disc brakes, because it rains here a lot, and I'd like it not to be so painful going up hills as it is on my Luddite - Vancouver is a hilly city and I do big hills every day. After a bit of research, I'm looking at:

Brodie Dynamo
Kona Dew Plus
Gary Fisher KaiTai
Trek Valencia
Norco Roma
Opus Orpheo

Anybody own any of these or otherwise have an opinion of these bikes? Or do you have any other suggestions for other bikes which you like?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Breathegood

I ride a Gary Fisher KaiTai. I love it. I can run 700x28 road tires, or I can put on my knobby 700x42 cross tires and hit the trails. I had to get creative to mount fenders, but they're on there. If you are going to look at the Gary Fisher bikes, my one recommendation would be to step up from the KaiTai to the Utopia or Montare. The upgraded front suspension alone is worth the price difference.

whitecat

I own Kona Dew Plus 2009 model. Bike is light, and very fast. Responsive, and well balanced. It can do everything you need and more. I bought it because it offered best price/performance ratio, it has Deore RD, good mechanical disc brakes, good crankset and allround its well thought out.

About the brakes, you are right, disc brakes in rain work as good as in dry weather and it helps going down hills. Another good thing is, for road, it has a solid front fork, which is a big plus for me. That means the fork wont be an anchor considering weight, it wont bob when climbing hills, and with a solid fork, bike is faster and more responsive on pavement. Light trails also should not pose a problem.

I have mounted full fenders on mine, frame protector for the chain, and a kickstand. It's pretty much all you need, maybe a rack, and you're all set for adventure! I would highly recommend this bike if you can get it. I bought it and I'm glad I did, it works excellent and it is very fun to ride. And it is real fast, I can hold my own with some of the roadies around here

Abneycat

I'd look at the Brodie Cohort, if you're really wanting to do trails. Its a very simple, no nonsense bike.

+ MTB double butted cromoly frame, can handle real trails
+ Simple design, nice plain black bike is good for keeping your bike under the radar in the city
+ Vancouver company
+ Definitely in budget ($699 MSRP)

The only thing i'm not 100% sold on with this bike is the gearing, it is a little tight and the range is a little more restricted than some other offerings. On the other hand, it'd offer smoother gear steps, too.

anniegrmbl

Thanks a ton, guys. I'll go try them out and see what feels good, but I'm such an ignoramus that it does help to get opinions.

Abneycat, I looked at the Cohort, and it's a pretty nice little bike, though 95% of my riding is on asphalt, so I'm leaning more towards the big wheels. Though I'm feeling a bit addicted to bikes lately, and might eventually just get a separate bike for off road.

JeremyZ

Maybe a cyclocross? I just got a Specialized TriCross I'm happy with.

idiotekniQues

much love for 29'ers here

Charbon

My advice as someone who started commuting is to make sure you go with slick tires or tires made for urban commuting. Some hybrids like mine lean more towards the bmx edge of the spectrum and have tires like that.

Seattle Forrest

A couple days ago, I was running some errands on my way home. When I joined the trail, I pulled in next to a lady on a Kona Dew Plus (?), with drop handlebars and disc brakes. We chatted it up for a while, until our ways parted. She told me she adored her bike. I've had two Kona mountain bikes in my time, and they were both wonderful.

I have a Novara Element, which is another drop bar disc brake cyclocross bike, which I bought used at a fair price. I crashed it a few months ago, and bent the frame. It was all hell finding a replacement frame, since they don't make my bike anymore, but, ultimately, they found one in the right size, that had been tucked away at the factory for warranty repairs. I can't use just any road frame because of the disc brakes, and there aren't many fast cross bikes with these. If I'd known about the Kona at the time, I might be riding one now.

So, that's as good a recommendation as I can give, not having used one, but it seems like a great bike. I'll also say that I love my disc brakes, and won't have a rim brakes bike again. Finally, I only went with drop handle bars ( and the different geometry that goes with them ) because my mountain bike had been stolen, I found this bike used, and couldn't afford a new bike. It wound up being for the best, though - I love the bike I have now much more than I could ever have realized.

Standalone 

have you tried lowering the adjustable stem all the way to zero degrees?

I found that made my hybrid get-back-to-riding $300 fuji useful again...





I also took these bars off a dumpster dive bike and put the fuji's risers on it to make a bike for my wife:



and wound up with this:



Now I have the same relatively lightweight 21 speed bike, only now it's aero enough to be worth riding on the road. Zero investment.

Next move might be to invest in a rigid fork, and I'd have an even more useable flat bar tourer/commuter/utility bike.

jsmonet

my opinion? just get a cx bike. if your roads are ok, just get a road bike. if you are portly, have a grouchy huge beard, and think mecca is just a bit east of london, across some water, but not quite to germany, then get something massively heavy with a wicker basket.

if you're an overweight physics professor, save yourself the troublesome decision making and just buy the recumbent now.

*whistle*

Fizzaly

ive tried just about every type of bike for commuting and i always end up back on my raliegh m-60 i can go mountain bike wheels and tires, in the summer i run 700c wheels on it, its got tabs for racks, and its cheap, every once in a while i throw on my drops its just so damn versatile. But then again its all about the rider i dont own a car so my bike is it and a hybrid bike just isnt adaptable enough for me, plus i had a trek 7.somthing i cant remember hybrid that after about 2000 miles i had broken a chain stay weld and had to the one of the brake tabs rewelded so i kinda lost my faith in em

g00se

Another here with the Kona Dew Plus. I love the bike - great fun to ride. Any downsides? A couple-ish. It's not as light as some hybrids (Specialized Sirrus etc) though it's not that noticeable when riding. Also, the aluminium frame (no typo, I'm a Brit) is a little bit harsh but nothing that taking the weight on the pedals wont fix when bumping over the potholes.

The pros? Well built, it'll crash through curbs and potholes - the mountain biking heritage I suppose. For the price range, the spec is decent and its really is fun to ride - you can really throw it around which makes it great for commuting.

That will be the Kona Dew Drop - not the Dew Plus.

anniegrmbl

very helpful, gang. thanks. the dew plus and the dew deluxe both look really nice. the dew plus is quite cheap for the disc brakes, so it makes me wonder what's getting skimped on, if anything. i'll try finding them in my size and doing a test ride tomorrow. Dew drop looks nice too, but it's about 100 bucks too much for me, plus i think right now i feel more comfortable with the upright posture. i went from zero bike riding for ten years plus to daily commuter over the course of this past year, so I'm easing into things, but in five years, i might be someone with six bikes in the garage.

JeremyZ

It may be nice, but 'Kona Dew'? That is as gay as a french horn. I couldn't buy one no matter how good it is. I'm normally pretty secure in my manhood, but this is a little much.

I guess you could electrical-tape over the name, so as to protect it from bike rack rash...

whitecat

Yes, it is quite cheap for what it has to offer, that's why I said it offers the most for least money. In my experience, nothing gets really skimped on, everything is pretty good, and thats the beauty of it. Yes, you can always exchange resin brake pads for sintered, or better tires (factory equiped conti's are not too sticky when it's wet outside), but overall - all important bits 'n pieces are of proper quality, and frame is nice and strong.

I also punched a couple of bad potholes while riding at night, going about 22 mph, and I am at about 270 now, and nothing broke, even wheels didn't go out of true. Mine also has full fenders, kickstand, frame guard for chain (not to scratch the frame when chain starts to bang around), water bottle cage, slime tubes, new tires. All that you can go without, but it's something I consider the minimum equip for every bike. Nothing worse then getting sprayed all over with grime and road dirt in city riding, or having the new bike fall over when it's leaned against something.

About that upright posture, it is pretty upright, when riding Dew, you have to remember to lean in order to turn, not to try steering it too much while staying pretty upright - that's a quick recipe to flip over. Only problem with that, is that you have to have good sticky tires not to slide out when leaning into the curve, one more reason why I replaced mine. Ofc, if you ride slowly, you wont have to think about that too much. It took me some time to get accustomed to the character of the bike, but now it's flying along almost effortlessly

voldemort

Uh, did you run over your little boy on the tricycle? In that picture it looks like he has a huge gash across his forehead and blood streaming down his face.

anniegrmbl

Got the Trek FX 7.3 after all that. Thanks for all the replies, guys. Never did get around to trying the Kona Dew, mostly because of the lousy customer service at the local dealership. But the FX felt fantastic on the test ride, so no regrets, even without the disc brakes.

JeremyZ

Looks like a great bike, anniegrmbl. Enjoy, and take a couple of real pix for us. Maybe one with you riding it, if you have a cooperative hubby or something.

Whenever I ask and study the hell out of all the options, I go to my local dealers and end up buying something there. Treks are really easy to buy because they are so widely supported. They're also good bikes.

waynesworld

Great choice. I have a 7.3 FX too. It's a great bike. I'm sure you won't regret it.

coffeecake

I have a Rocky Mountain Sherpa, and I'm a little worried that my bike is too masculine for me. I find that I like to drink beer and watch UFC, and I've even stopped shaving my legs. It must be all the associations conjured up by the name of conquering large, hard objects. It's also black and silver. Perhaps I should trade it in for a Dew to get in touch with my feminine side. I wonder if it comes in misty lilac?

Psycle chic

Secure in your manhood? Contradictory considering how a bike's name will dictate what you ride. By the way, nice rainbow iApple avatar you have. Has a nice big bite out of it.

ottawa_adam

For your info, the Dew was named after its designer.

Sounds like you have some issues with your own sexuality.

jsmonet

how is Dew a hit to manhood? did someone sharpie the word onto a shoe and kick some guy in the junk?

much as I dislike hybrids, that's a silly reason to not like a bike haha

kona seems like a real standup company, too

DataJunkie

This has nothing to do with anything but I returned from Vancouver last Thursday after spending three weeks riding a Luddite.
Visited a certain shop a few times for parts just up from mec.
Very fun riding in your area.