[abhjain]

Can someone please recommend a good bike for me. I am 6.3" in height. First hand experience would be helpful.

[275BHP]

Guys, really need some help . I'm looking to buy a cycle to travel to/from office which is 7km from my house. Not planning to do any hardcore biking trips and this will be the maximum distance I would travel in a day. My budget currently is 5-6k. Have decided to buy a cycle at this range and if I'm really enjoying it, I plan to buy a good bike. Based on advice from my friends, I have shortlisted these 2 bikes for now:
1. Btwin Mybike (gearless), comes upto 5.5k with mud guards, bottle holder etc.
2. A second hand October 2012 manufactured, Rock Machine Manhattan XC fun series Raleigh 30 bike. This bike has been used by my friend (the only reason I'm considering it).

I have ridden the Mybike and it seems all right, the only downside to it is, it has no gears.

I have no clue about the second option. Would be extremely grateful if someone could shed some light on the Rock Machine bike. What do you guys think I should buy? Thanks in advance.
Cheers!

[abirnale]

^^^ what is the cost of second option? If its in the budget range, it great. Go for it.

If not in budget, first options is still good. Gears help on ascends mostly and it depends if your 7km commute is too much of up and down road or plain. Gears are good to have but nothing that will make huge difference in your 7km commute if its not too much up and down!

End of the day, your budget is going to decide choice. If I were you, I could have gone for something like rock rider 5.0 with <10K budget

[gsurya]

Bike gurus,

I am 5' 10" & looking for a recreational road bike. Mainly to boost fitness & bike to work occasionally 8 kms away. Will be mainly on Mumbai roads & sometimes take it on holidays.

Would like it to be comfortable, upright, 'tourer' style. Geared, quality finish, reliable.. budget about 10k. Can anyone recommend a good one?

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by gsurya

Bike gurus,

I am 5' 10" & looking for a recreational road bike. Mainly to boost fitness & bike to work occasionally 8 kms away. Will be mainly on Mumbai roads & sometimes take it on holidays.

Would like it to be comfortable, upright, 'tourer' style. Geared, quality finish, reliable.. budget about 10k. Can anyone recommend a good one?

Originally Posted by 275BHP

Guys, really need some help . I'm looking to buy a cycle to travel to/from office which is 7km from my house. Not planning to do any hardcore biking trips and this will be the maximum distance I would travel in a day. My budget currently is 5-6k. Have decided to buy a cycle at this range and if I'm really enjoying it, I plan to buy a good bike....

For pretty much both of you, RockRider 5.0 should be ideal fit. If you prefer slightly overweight cycles, firefox and Hercules has got few options in that range. I have personally used 5.0 and 5.1 and can vouch for its quality and ride-ability. I have fitted Handle bars to increase cruising convenience on my 5.1. I even took that on Bangalore cycle marathon for passion ride (40 km category) and clocked 72 mins to finish. A damn good cycle if you are ok to spend slightly more.

[275BHP]

Originally Posted by abirnale

^^^ what is the cost of second option? If its in the budget range, it great. Go for it.

If not in budget, first options is still good. Gears help on ascends mostly and it depends if your 7km commute is too much of up and down road or plain. Gears are good to have but nothing that will make huge difference in your 7km commute if its not too much up and down!

End of the day, your budget is going to decide choice. If I were you, I could have gone for something like rock rider 5.0 with <10K budget

Originally Posted by abirnale

For pretty much both of you, RockRider 5.0 should be ideal fit.

The second option costs around 9k. However, I was informed today that it has a broken derailleur. Have no clue how serious this is but its kind of making me re-consider the whole idea of buying a second hand cycle.

Also, just found out that the Rockrider 5.0 is in stock at the Decathlon store near my house. They are selling it for 9k. After speaking to some more people who have recommend this cycle I'm seriously thinking of extending my budget and purchasing this.

Thanks for your help!

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by 275BHP

The second option costs around 9k. However, I was informed today that it has a broken derailleur. Have no clue how serious this is but its kind of making me re-consider the whole idea of buying a second hand cycle.

Also, just found out that the Rockrider 5.0 is in stock at the Decathlon store near my house. They are selling it for 9k. After speaking to some more people who have recommend this cycle I'm seriously thinking of extending my budget and purchasing this.

Thanks for your help!

Broken derailleur means you cannot change gears. Replacing the derailleur is an expensive option. This bike as good as a fixie.

Even if you increase budget, I'd recommend to take a ride of Rockrider 5.0 to see if the seating suits you.

[Jeroen]

Thought some of you mind find this interesting; As some of you know my home country is the Netherlands. A country that is, amongst others, famous for its amount of bicycles. Just about everybody in the Netherlands has a bicycle and most people will actually have more than one bicycle. In fact, the number of bicycles in the Netherlands outnumber the population by a large margin.

Most of us will have an old bicycle to ride into town. One of the biggest problems with bicycles is they get stolen. So, if there is a likely hood of it getting stolen, you had better get some old jalopy. Always bring a huge bicycle lock. Not because the bicycle is worth much, but it is your mode of transportation. The Netherlands has a lot of dedicated bicycle infrastructure. Dedicated bicycle lanes/path, parking place etc.

Most of us will also have a nice bicycle with gears etc. Not necessarily a real racing bicycle although those are popular as well. Most people do enjoy going for a ride every now and then and you want a proper bicycle for that.

A lot of people tend to use a bicycle for just any short distance, say up to 10-15 kilometer is considered just a little ride on your bicycle. And everybody rides one. Our kids went to school on their bicycles from 7-8 years onwards all by themselves. All the way up to university. My mum up until she was in her late seventies used to do the shopping on her bicycle.

Here is an interesting link. Written by an American visiting Amsterdam, the Netherlands and this is what he saw in some 73 minutes sitting at a little terrace. It gives you a good impression of how diverse bicycles are and how they get used as a everyday means of transportation.

http://www.ski-epic.com/amsterdam_bicycles/

I happened to be in the Netherlands last weekend, just for two days as part of a business trip traipsing all over Europe. Of course, I went of on my bicycle and came past what I believe is the largest bicycle shop in the Netherlands, possibly Europe: http://www.hansstruijkfietsen.nl/win...g--the-globe-/

The site is all in Dutch but if you click around you will get a good idea about what sort of bicycles and accessories are part of the Dutch biking scene.

I have bought my own and several of my kids bicycles from them and they did not mind me taking some pictures.

Just a couple of things; note the bike with the belt drive instead of the chain. One of my kids had the earlier version. I talked to the sales guys and they were actually not that impressed. Other than low maintenance, its not that good. It's a lot stiffer then any chain drive. Notice the huge bright red centre axle on the front wheel too. That is just about the best bicycle dynamo money can buy. It's mandatory to have front and rear lights on your bicycle if you drive in the dark.

Lots of accessories, check out the locks, the seats, the clothes etc.

[Jeroen]

Jus some more "dutch biking stuff". So after I visited the bicycle store I went into the Hague. The guy who owns the bicycle store is also the sponsor of various bicycle parkings all around town. They have been around for many years, you pay Euro 0,50 and you park your bicycle in a fenced of area in proper bicycle racks and there is an attendant/guard.

This time they've done away with the Euro 0,50. The first day parking is free of charge, and it still an attended parking! They had also upgraded the parking racks. Here you see my bicycle going up on the upper layer. Very easy to do.

Lastly, a first for me, had not seen these before; somewhere in the Hague a wooden bicycle. It was parked in front of a place called coffee and bikes. you guessed it you can buy coffee and or a bicycle: http://www.lolabikesandcoffee.nl/fietsen-bij-lola

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

In fact, the number of bicycles in the Netherlands outnumber the population by a large margin.


Most of us will also have a nice bicycle with gears etc. Not necessarily a real racing bicycle although those are popular as well. Most people do enjoy going for a ride every now and then and you want a proper bicycle for that.

Notice the huge bright red centre axle on the front wheel too. That is just about the best bicycle dynamo money can buy. It's mandatory to have front and rear lights on your bicycle if you drive in the dark.

Quite interesting. Thanks Jeroen. By the looks of it, some of these bicycles will be as expensive as a small car ?
Besides they appear as if they are made with high-tech material - Carbon fiber or some exotic Al alloy.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Quite interesting. Thanks Jeroen. By the looks of it, some of these bicycles will be as expensive as a small car ?
Besides they appear as if they are made with high-tech material - Carbon fiber or some exotic Al alloy.

Bicycles in this shop are between Euro 450 up to around Euro 2000 for the high end ones and there are a few that are more expensive then that.

Most of the bikes are pretty standard materials, although quite a few are made of aluminum. They sell a lot of different brands, but one of their and my favorite is Koga. You might not think so going by the name, but it is an actual Dutch brand. Here the English site: http://www.koga.com/koga_uk/

Most of these bikes are hand built, beautifully welded (you won't see the welds on the frame) and finished with high quality parts.

My bike is a Koga too and I bought it from this shop about six years ago for around Euro 1500. That is INR 130.000. About the same I paid about a year ago here in Delhi for my Royal Enfield 350cc Bullet! But it is more than I paid for the second hand 2000 Ford Focus we have in the Netherlands as our runaround for when we are visiting.

Very different price points from India I guess.

Bicycles aren't cheap, although for many a bicycle up to Euro 1000 is very affordable. The one thing is, they last for ever. Most people will insure their bicycle as well for theft. I've had quite a few of my bicycles stolen over the years. One of my bicycles was even stolen from our garage. The garage was locked, the bicycle was locked with a chain to a fixture on the wall, but they managed to cut through all of it. Luckily it was insured. I hate it when they do that, but it is nice to be able to go and buy a new bicycle.

So called E-bikes, have also become a big hit in the Netherlands during the last few years. In essence a regular bicycle, but it has a very small, very powerful electric motor and battery. See http://www.koga.com/koga/?bike=true&r=96179#1

The electric motor supports/assists you, rather than take over completely, so you don't need to peddle that hard. I'm fine peddling, but for instance my wife could really do with a bit of a push. Although there are no mountains and hardly any hills in the Netherlands we do get a lot of wind. Having to peddle against the wind can be pretty hard work and that's where these E-bikes come into their own.

Jeroen

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Bicycles in this shop are between Euro 450 up to around Euro 2000 for the high end ones and there are a few that are more expensive then that.

Most of these bikes are hand built, beautifully welded (you won't see the welds on the frame) and finished with high quality parts.

Jeroen

Thanks again for such a detailed informative post. So some of these bikes are like Rolls Royce in bikes.

[sunny1974]

I recently bought a Btwin folding hoptown 3 which is a folding bike from ambience mall vasant kunj for 16k. they have a nice sports section and you can actually test drive in the landmark store.
The small size is a boon for folding it in the car boot. I plan to take it up in some mountains or something for some fun biking.
it has 6 gears and really folds down very small. I am not a fan of riding on the roads and took it in the huge park behind panchsheel park which has gravel trails of many kms.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by sunny1974

I recently bought a Btwin folding hoptown 3 which is a folding bike from ambience mall vasant kunj for 16k.

That is really a great deal seems to me. Can you please post some pics - folded, in action and how it fits in the boot. Thanks for pics in advance!

[sunny1974]

Originally Posted by abirnale

That is really a great deal seems to me. Can you please post some pics - folded, in action and how it fits in the boot. Thanks for pics in advance!

absolutely. will do it soon. you can google it though. hoptown 3 red and white.