| Re: Advice on "Comfort Bikes" (Gary Fisher Capitola vs. Giant Sedona) "Dave DesRoches" <david_desroches@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:eOGdnb4BPaj5AGXdRVn-jA@comcast.com...
> Looking at comfort bikes and my local bike shops carry these models in the
> $300 range. Any opinions? I checked Consumer Reports, though I'm not sure
> I should regard them as an authority on this subject. Interestingly, the
> shop that carried Giant spoke about them as the premier maker of Comfort
> Bikes, yet they didn't even make the Consumer reports ratings list, nor did
> Gary Fisher (!) Consumer Reports order was:
>
> Jamis Explorer 2.0
> GT Timberline
> Trek Navigator 100
> Schwinn Sierra GS
> Specialized Expedition
> Raleigh SC30
> Diamondback Wildwood
Consumer Reports should be taken with a grain of salt, but they usually aren't
completely off base. I'm sure that any of these bikes would be a decent
entry-level value. Bikes have become a much better deal in recent years, so
$300 does buy something ride-able (ignore people who can't spell yarmulke).
What's probably more important than the actual bike brand or model is the
staff at the shop. The quality of bike assembly/setup is probably a greater
value issue than the differences between any of those bikes. Bear in mind that
you get what you pay for, and diminishing returns don't really start settling
in until $1,000 or so, but those are serviceable bikes with perhaps slightly
different component tradeoffs. |