[Papillon]

Hello,

I have put a deposit for a Trek Dual Sport 3 and the bike can arrive anytime now. Cognisant of the fact that a hybrid with suspension is extra weight, I am inclined to go with the FX 3 Disc as a dealer in another city is promising mid-JAN delivery, if I place a booking.

Which of these two bikes will be suited best for riding in Bangalore city?

Kindly help me decide. Thank you.

[Fillmore]

Originally Posted by Papillon

Hello,

I have put a deposit for a Trek Dual Sport 3 and the bike can arrive anytime now. Cognisant of the fact that a hybrid with suspension is extra weight, I am inclined to go with the FX 3 Disc as a dealer in another city is promising mid-JAN delivery, if I place a booking.

Which of these two bikes will be suited best for riding in Bangalore city?

Kindly help me decide. Thank you.

This is just my opinion. The weight of the Trek DS-3 is only 13kgs so for regular city riding you will hardly notice any difference.
If you value performance over ride comfort then go for the FX 3 , if not stick with the Dual Sport. Bangalore does not have great roads. You will come across a fair share of potholes , rough roads etc.. and here a suspension gives you much better ride comfort and handling.

Added to this the DS-3 suspension comes with a Hydraulic lockout, so you can even disable the suspension when need be.

I am saying this based on my experience with a rigid fork bike, the road buzz direct vibrations from the rubble on the road is not something that I enjoy when riding.

However road bike users might have a different opinion.

My suggestion is try a test ride on medium to bad roads on a fixed fork bike followed by one with suspensions back to back and then you can decide for yourself.

[vinukm]

Hello Friends, Have a doubt can we convert a MTB to Roadbike? any references or suggestion please?

[amvj]

Originally Posted by vinukm

Hello Friends, Have a doubt can we convert a MTB to Roadbike? any references or suggestion please?

Not recommended. Except the frame you need to change every component. Also Indian MTB frame weighs in tons. Also the geometry will be different. It will be very expensive also. Instead, just go for the cheapest road bike (if you are on tight budget) - Triban RC100 for 26K.

I had similar ideas about converting my hybrid to road bike, but buying individual components and attaching them is an expensive affair. I dropped that idea and bought RC100.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by vinukm

Hello Friends, Have a doubt can we convert a MTB to Roadbike? any references or suggestion please?

Quite easily. You only need a drop bar and brakes and shifters. The pull ratio of road brifters (integrated brakes and shifters) may be a bit of a problem with V brakes (not so with the older generation cantilevers apparently I believe) but there are workarounds that may not be perfect but do the job. The controls (brakes and shifters) are the main expense really. Once those are sorted, you're in business and the rest is pretty straightforward. Prabuddha here has modified his Hero Thunder so really he would be the perfect guy to advise you on the technicalities and costs involved. I'm still on the fence about my Hercules ACT, even though I have all the parts that i need for the conversion. A straight bar is really so much fun that the thought of losing that permanently (yeah you can switch back, but its not really as simple as putting on and taking off a saddlebag, so once done, its effectively losing you a straight bar in your stable).

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by Papillon

Hello,

I have put a deposit for a Trek Dual Sport 3 and the bike can arrive anytime now. Cognisant of the fact that a hybrid with suspension is extra weight, I am inclined to go with the FX 3 Disc as a dealer in another city is promising mid-JAN delivery, if I place a booking.

Which of these two bikes will be suited best for riding in Bangalore city?

Kindly help me decide. Thank you.

As someone who got a DS2 a few months ago, I will suggest the Dual Sport any day. One can feel the difference when riding on the same road with the suspension lockout on and off. For casual riding, the weight shouldn't matter much.

[vb-san]

Originally Posted by Papillon

I have put a deposit for a Trek Dual Sport 3 and the bike can arrive anytime now. Cognizant of the fact that a hybrid with suspension is extra weight, I am inclined to go with the FX 3 Disc as a dealer in another city is promising mid-JAN delivery, if I place a booking.

Whether it is FX3 and Dual Sport3, check if you are getting the 2022 model. Both comes with 1x Shimano Deore drivetrain (10 speed) instead of the 2x9 Acera/Alivio combination of 2021 models. The 2x9 now is moved into FX2/Dual Sport2 for the 2022 models (instead of the earlier 3x8).

[Papillon]

Originally Posted by vb-san

Whether it is FX3 and Dual Sport3, check if you are getting the 2022 model.

Thank you for pitching in, vb-san.

Yes, both will be 2022 models for sure, but I am confused which one to pick. Yesterday, I have booked the FX 3 Disc as well for a delivery promise latest by the end of January.

Which one do you think is better suited to amble around town casually and swiftly too? I am in Bangalore.

The kind of bashing the Dual Sport receives across the globe for its “cheap” suspension, the extra weight because of it, and its futility in a hybrid makes me really sceptical for the Dual Sport 3.

My heart is going with the FX 3 but still confused…

Kindly help. Thanks again.

[vb-san]

Originally Posted by Papillon

Yes, both will be 2022 models for sure, but I am confused which one to pick. Yesterday, I have booked the FX 3 Disc as well for a delivery promise latest by the end of January.

My heart is going with the FX 3 but still confused…

My recommendation will be always the FX3. The Dual Sport is a good bike and with its beefy tyres can take in some gravel terrain, but that excess weight can be felt when compared with the FX counterpart. I had the 2021 FX3 for a few months (did around 1900 kms) and can vouch for its versatility and comfort. It’s quite light for its class, the carbon fork, comfort grips etc. helps to keep the road buzz to minimum. And the new color (Blue to dark fade or something) looks pretty cool.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by vb-san

My recommendation will be always the FX3. The Dual Sport is a good bike and with its beefy tyres can take in some gravel terrain, but that excess weight can be felt when compared with the FX counterpart. I had the 2021 FX3 for a few months (did around 1900 kms) and can vouch for its versatility and comfort. It’s quite light for its class, the carbon fork, comfort grips etc. helps to keep the road buzz to minimum. And the new color (Blue to dark fade or something) looks pretty cool.

Out of all the big manufacturers, Trek seems to have and still is coming through the pandemic best, in terms of regular supply of new bikes. I wonder wgats their secret. Or what's holding the other big guys back in comparison.

On the question, yeah no suspension for an urban setting man. Complete waste and just robs the bike of performance and handling.

P.S. I never knew your BMC came with an alloy fork. But with the roads you're riding on, it should not be any issue.

[vb-san]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Out of all the big manufacturers, Trek seems to have and still is coming through the pandemic best, in terms of regular supply of new bikes. I wonder what's their secret. Or what's holding the other big guys back in comparison.

True, and here I see Giant coming up with decent stock nowadays, even more than Trek.

Originally Posted by ebonho

I never knew your BMC came with an alloy fork. But with the roads you're riding on, it should not be any issue.

Yes, its alloy fork but the road buzz is quite well-contained with the 35c continentals (or maybe I got used to it). And yes, nowadays I ride more on road than the pavements.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by Papillon

Which one do you think is better suited to amble around town casually and swiftly too? I am in Bangalore.
...
My heart is going with the FX 3 but still confused…

Kindly help. Thanks again.

FX3 all the way, Dual Sport only if you plan to do a lot of offtrail riding (and even those can be done on the FX3 if you have decent tires). The suspension feels nice but is irrelevant, even given the extremely bad roads that Bangalore can throw at you.

But the shift to 1x drivetrain is some crazy cost-cutting by Trek. I'd choose the one that offers a better drivetrain to be honest but I guess you don't have a choice.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

But the shift to 1x drivetrain is some crazy cost-cutting by Trek. I'd choose the one that offers a better drivetrain to be honest but I guess you don't have a choice.

Yet another blatant example of how the industry and it's paid "expert" shills set a trend, and make it look as the second coming since sliced bread, convincing junta that it's the best way to go with ultra stupid buzzwords like simplicity and maintenance and weight saving. While they laugh their way to the bank and keep their margins suitably bloated. A 3x is a 1x if you don't use the left shifter. But then that would mean using one's brain.

[vb-san]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

But the shift to 1x drivetrain is some crazy cost-cutting by Trek. I'd choose the one that offers a better drivetrain to be honest but I guess you don't have a choice.

Originally Posted by ebonho

Yet another blatant example of how the industry and it's paid "expert" shills set a trend, and make it look as the second coming since sliced bread, convincing junta that it's the best way to go with ultra stupid buzzwords like simplicity and maintenance and weight saving. While they laugh their way to the bank and keep their margins suitably bloated. A 3x is a 1x if you don't use the left shifter. But then that would mean using one's brain.

True, a lot of marketing jargon and related nonsense going on.

I checked the new Dual Sport 3 with a friend couple of weeks back, and that Deore system was pretty good to use with smooth shifting. After checking out Dual Sport and FX3 she shifted her preference to the latter, but eventually went home with a FX2 staggered. Reason – for SGD 300 (INR 16,500) less, you get almost the 2021 FX3. It looks like the big mass manufacturers like Trek and Giant have some serious cost cutting going on with their component’s selection in the 2022 models.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by vb-san

True, a lot of marketing jargon and related nonsense going on.

It looks like the big mass manufacturers like Trek and Giant have some serious cost cutting going on with their component’s selection in the 2022 models.

Don't forget sporting goods giant Decathlon.

Every year their offerings in the same price band offer less and less.

And then over their 1-2 year lifecycle, there is distinct price creep a thousand -fifteen hundred bucks at a time till the product effectively creeps into the next price band ... Before it's discontinued and replaced by a lower spec replacement.

A seller's market for sure.

Cheers, Doc