[silverado]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Thought some of you mind find this interesting; As some of you know my home country is the Netherlands.

Most of us will have an old bicycle to ride into town. One of the biggest problems with bicycles is they get stolen.

Most of us will also have a nice bicycle with gears etc.

Hi Jeroen , thanks for the interesting stuff. Singapore also has a healthy bicycle culture. Singapore is a country which has strict laws, very good policing and in spite of that, bicycle theft is a common thing here!

I find this very amusing, bicycles are stolen right under cctv's and never recovered back.

Singapore has many small local bicycle shops which have interesting range of bicycles. My bike shop - that's the name of a famous bicycle shop here.

Even here all the bicycles left unattended on parking racks are old ones

The local police stations have now started giving unique bicycle identity stickers which can be obtained free of cost from police stations, this is to deter bicycle theft.

[gauravdgr8]

For the past year have been riding rented hybrids.

Am now on the verge on owning one. One question that keeps bugging me is whether I should go for the rigid fork or with front suspension?

Thanks!

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by gauravdgr8

For the past year have been riding rented hybrids.

Am now on the verge on owning one. One question that keeps bugging me is whether I should go for the rigid fork or with front suspension?

Thanks!

What does your own experience say? How can we comment on what's suitable for you in the light of your experience , sitting halfway across the country / world. Our experiential pointers may be more useful for someone starting out without context - but you have the right data to take the decision.

[kamal.sn]

Took the plunge finally and went for the Btwin Rockrider 5.2

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by kamal.sn

Took the plunge finally and went for the Btwin Rockrider 5.2

Did you get accessories free with the bike? If not, can you please tell me how much did you pay for the side stand? I want to change my current stand which sits on the axle.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by kamal.sn

Took the plunge finally and went for the Btwin Rockrider 5.2

Nice ride. Congratulations with the purchase. Wishing you many hundreds of miles of healthy biking.

BTW, the bag mounted to the frame looks good. Can you please let me know where you got this bag from?

[alfafan]

Fellow cycling enthusiasts - need suggestion, i am looking for a geared cycle with a budget of around 10 - 15k. I am looking to do some recreational biking especially on uphill terrain such as cycling from pune to mahabaleshwar and then my big dream to do the manali - leh stretch.

I do not have the budget for the trek brand of bicycles which are well known for that type of terrain.

Please do advice if any of our indian brands available can meet my requirements since those seem to fall in the price range i am looking for.

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by alfafan

Fellow cycling enthusiasts - need suggestion, i am looking for a geared cycle with a budget of around 10 - 15k. I am looking to do some recreational biking especially on uphill terrain such as cycling from pune to mahabaleshwar and then my big dream to do the manali - leh stretch.

I do not have the budget for the trek brand of bicycles which are well known for that type of terrain.

Please do advice if any of our indian brands available can meet my requirements since those seem to fall in the price range i am looking for.

I think in your budget you can only get Rockrider 5.0 or 5.1 only. Make sure the one that you buy has eyelets for installing racks since you wish to do tours on that bike.

[graaja]

Also, if you are planning to ride long distances, I would suggest to change to slick tires. I used to do average speeds of 18 to 19 kmph with the stock knobby tires on my Trek 4300. It was very difficult to cover long distances. Later I changed to Bontrager SR1 slick tires and I am able to get 23 to 25 kmph average and I am easily able to do 30k and 50k distances.

Good luck with the biking!

[alfafan]

Thank you shipnil and graaja for your kind reply, will check both these options out. Will update back on my decision on this thread

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by graaja

Later I changed to Bontrager SR1 slick tires and I am able to get 23 to 25 kmph average and I am easily able to do 30k and 50k distances.

Good luck with the biking!

Interesting. How much hit does one take on the wallet for these? And how durable are these on our indian-ised roads? I frequently do office trips on my bike, a better/faster tire(s) would be quite helpful.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by alfafan

...a geared cycle with a budget of around 10 - 15k.
...cycling from pune to mahabaleshwar and ...manali - leh stretch.

I do not have the budget for the trek brand of bicycles which are well known for that type of terrain.

Please do advice if any of our indian brands available can meet my requirements since those seem to fall in the price range i am looking for.

What matters is the weight of the bicycle (irrespective of the brand), and the tyres you use. I would look for weights below 15 kg for an unladen cycle, to start with. Steel is not the material of choice for low weights, obviously, and alloy frames cost a lot more than steel ones. Even Indian alloy frames are not exactly cheap.

For touring in the types of terrain you specify, slicks are perhaps not the best for grip. Also, sturdier tyres (such as those reinforced with Kevlar - e.g. Armadillo) would be a good investment. Add a spare tyre and a couple of spare tubes too.

All in all, your budget appears to be entirely inadequate to equip yourself for the kind of touring you plan to do. Unless, of course, you are supremely fit and do not mind the extra weight of a steel frame, as well as the trouble of changing tyres & tubes / patching tubes ever so frequently. And your average speed would be a lot lower too, with a heavier frame and low-cost tyres.

[bloodred]

After riding for around 15 months on a Schwinn Sportera Sport and covering over 3,500kms, I'm in market for an MTB, primarily for use on trails around Gurgaon.
Don't want to go beyond INR 60k.

Have shortlisted the following:
a) Trek X Caliber 6
b) Giant Talon 27.5 3

While I've ridden the Trek, I'm not sure of Giant / availability of test ride.

Any feedback on above bikes / any others I should check?

Thanks.

[alfafan]

Thank you SS-Traveller sir for your kind reply and putting things in perspective. I wanted to be sure about the kind of preparation and cost which one has to take into consideration while preparing for such trips, yours and posts above have certainly helped.

From physical strength perspective, i ran my first half marathon this year and been a regular 10k runner. However i do realize that, this by itself might not be a good yardstick to measure one's fitness for cycling.

I will take it slow for now and do riding in and around Pune for now once i purchase my first bicycle . Riding in pune should be a challenge in itself and then see how it goes. Thanks again to the forum members for kind replies.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Interesting. How much hit does one take on the wallet for these? And how durable are these on our indian-ised roads? I frequently do office trips on my bike, a better/faster tire(s) would be quite helpful.

The SR1s cost Rs.1380/- apiece. You can get it from the below link.

http://store.bumsonthesaddle.com/pro...-25-26x1-dot-5

Regarding durability, not sure how many kilometers these tires will last. I have ridden these tires for about 750km and have got only one puncture so far, that too on a very rough road with lot of thorny bushes on the side. Regarding grip, I have ridden these on some very rough village roads filled with potholes (some of them may even be considered as off road) and have never faced any lack of grip (the ride is on the rougher side though). You feel the lack of grip only when you are riding in some serious lose gravel. So, if you are looking at office commute, then I would highly recommend these tires.

Edit: I have uploaded some photos of my bike with the slick tires in the below post.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...ml#post3362874