Looking for Bike Shop Recommendation in Melbourne

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  [Deactivated] on 30/03/2018 - 17:30

  I recommend a hybrid bike as a city workhorse. You can get a high quality hybrid with disc brakes and a carbon fork for around $1.5k. My recommendation is Canonndale, though Merida and Jamis are also very good.

  Buy from a bike shop close to home. That way it’s easy to pop in for an adjustment or service. I’m from north of the Yarra, so don’t know the good bike shops your end of town.

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  singlemalt72 on 30/03/2018 - 17:38

  $2000 ia way high for a non-serious rider
  You will do way better scouting Gumtree in your local area for a used bike that someone like you bought for mega-bucks and gave up on it quick.

  Hills are hills, no matter if you are on an Aldi $200 special or a Cannondale $5000 carbon job, it's the gearing that makes hills easier.

  Find a good used bike, you can easily get the right size by going to a manufacturer site and looking at the height ranges for each frame size - ride it around and if you find the gearing too difficult for you, drop into a bike shop and get your cluster gearing changed to something more hill-friendly.

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  Halo375 on 30/03/2018 - 20:28

  O’Mara cycles - Black Rock.

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  lawyerz on 02/04/2018 - 00:28

  With hills, as singlemail said, hills are hills, unfortunately the rider still makes the biggest difference.

  For a flat bar bike, most bikes > $1000 dont even have a flat bar option from my experience. Also, a road bike will also fit your needs, it does not have to be a hybrid. Personally I like a road bike that run a 25mm tyres (refer to the fatness/width of the tyres) to 28mm - they're a good range for your needs I believe.

  Sizing is personal, get on one and test it out. The general rule is that you should be tip toeing when standing completely upright on the bike, and the "reach", i.e. how far you need to bend to reach the handlebars should be comfortable to you to ride confidently. Upright is fine, don't need to go all bent down like the pros, that's a recipe for backache.

  Gumtree is good if you can find one, but is surprisingly hard to get unless you are lucky. Too many bikes are in terrible conditions, rusty and whatnot, and asking prices are too high for too many considering their condition. Sizing is tricky. If you do get one off gumtree, be sure to send it in for a full service first. I go to
  Bikes Please in Brunswick East https://goo.gl/maps/8aSibcpwDsT2 - great prices.

  I'd recommend (if looking for new)
  iamfree in Fitzroy: http://iamfree.com/bicycles/city-bicycle-with-a-chromoly-fra… $425 Shimano Disc Brakes + Shimano Altus Drivetrain (entry level but does the job), + hybrid tyres (28mm) + puncture-resistant tyres (but I've not tested this yet) that seems to fit your criteria pretty well. I've found no other bikes in the $400 price range that has disc brakes. Added bonus, I actually bought one of this yesterday and have tested this myself, so first hand experience.

  With this shop, the owner Anthony is a friendly and bicycle-passionate will give you 2 weeks trial, full refund if it doesnt work out in the first two weeks. He has three models in the shop you can test ride them in the quiet street behind the shop. He can even change and customize the handlebars to different handlebar types, which is something I have not seem any other bike shop do, definitely not for models below $500.

  Not the lightest bike in the world but if you're not counting seconds off your lap time, you won't really notice.

  Your other options are:
  Reid Cycles https://www.reidcycles.com.au/bikes/flat-bar-road-bikes.html - I have the Reid Osprey as well. Cheap wheels, cheap tyres but otherwise a solid runner. You'd definitely want to replace the tyres at the cost of about $80 for both tyres to something more puncture resistant like Continental Gatorskin Tyres. Haven't had a flat for 2 years from what used to be once every fortnightly.
  Samson Cycles: http://www.samsoncycles.com.au/city-cross-hybrid Never had their bikes, can't say. But I have not had a good experience service-wise in the past.

  Feel free to DM/PM me for more details and/or any questions. I'm an avid cyclist, would just like to help out.

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  Hoofee on 02/04/2018 - 13:10

  Thank you for your replies, very much appreciated. I haven't been able to go out and look at any yet given it's Easter and everything seems to be closed.

  I think if I had more experience with bikes I wouldn't mind buying 2nd hand, but I don't know enough about what to look out for (faults and other things) so I think I'll stick with brand new.

  I'm 167cm/5'6" so not a huge bloke, so would prefer something lighter. I'm guessing it will be easier to handle & more fun to use.
  Puncture resistant tyres sound like a good idea.

  I'm a bit confused about the whole Hybrid vs Road bike to be honest. Just looking at a site like Merida under their "Hybrid/Commuter" section at their "Hybrid" and "Flatbar Road/Fitness" bikes they look much the same. http://www.merida.com.au/en_au/bike/finder?year=2018&sortDir…

  The seat looks lower in the Hybrid (Crossway) than the Road bike (Speeder) but it looks like the Road bike could lower the seat. The other thing that was counter what I thought would happen is that the Stack and Reach of the Crossway is more than the Speeder bike and other road bikes on their website.

  There is also quite a large weight difference between them. The best Crossway is 13.09kg @ $1199, the best Speeder is 9.31kg @ $1999. That's a huge weight difference between the Crossway & Speeder but is not overly clear to me why.

  The Standover height of the Crossway possibly looks more reasonable though, I like my teabags unsqueezed. I think it will be a matter of seeing how this is in reality though.

  Thanks lawyerz for the guidance and offer of DM/PM, although I think my next step needs to be to have a look at different bikes in store so I can have a better starting point and not waste too much more of everyone's time. There is a place not too far from me called Cycle Works which seems to have good ratings so I might pop in there tomorrow and have a sniff around.

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    Euphemistic on 03/04/2018 - 13:54

    There are many different 'categories' of bike now. Mostly to the untrained they look the same but will hand;e differently and be suited to different purposes.

    The Speeder series (flat bar roadie) is designed for speed and efficiency, the Crossway (hybrid) is more designed for comfort. If you enjoy (or used to) riding and want a little more speed then the Speeder is the way to go. If you just want reliable transport, pick the Crossway style. The Crossway will be more comfortable.

    As above, for a 'first' bike I'd recommend picking up a 2nd hand bike in the $2-300 range and then upgrade if you get the bug properly. I wouldn't recommend spending $2k on a first bike, in case your needs change. YOu might find your son wants to ride in the bush more and you'll need an MTB. At your height you'd probably want a medium size bike, but brands can differ in their sizing.

    I have a relatively fast flat bar roadie with disc brakes. It is noticeably better handling/accelerating and faster than hybrid bikes I've ridden, and not just about the weight. A heavier bike only makes a small difference in the overall picture of riding. Sure a heavier bike might accelerate a little slower, but the overall geometry makes a big difference. Riding a mountain bike on the road is not that bad, you find fun in other ways than speed and cornering.

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  Hoofee on 03/04/2018 - 21:41

  Well I went to Cycle Works today and had a ride on one of the hybrid "Specialized" branded bikes. The bike felt pretty good other than the seat was a bit uncomfortable - which they pre-warned me that I might need to get used to it considering I hadn't ridden for a very long time. I would like to have tried some other bike brands but they didn't seem to have a wide selection for what I was after - my guess is most bike shops probably don't from what I have seen.

  I must say it was a funny feeling that first initial push off on the test run… wondering if I was about to make a total fool of myself. It only took me a few seconds to get my bearings though, very surprising after so long. I was only riding for a few mins but loved it.

  In the end it turned out the supplier was out of stock on the bike I selected which was a bummer so I might leave it until after Winter. We probably only have about a month of reasonable weather left. I might pay a visit to some other stores to check out some other bikes to see how they feel - although I didn't really have a problem with the Specialized.

  At least there was one upside, I upgraded my son's bike while we were there and he's a very happy chap.

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  lawyerz on 04/04/2018 - 09:31

  I agree with Euphemistic above, probably worthwhile starting cheaper and upgrading later.

  I prefer road > hybrid, and I've had both in the past. It's a fair bit faster in my opinion.

  To be honest most bikes are very similar these days, just go with one you're comfortable with.

  And with the seat, it's a game of chance. I dont really believe in 'getting used' to a seat, as I've had great seats out of the bike shop, and then there's seat I tried putting up with for a year and it was uncomfortable as heck. 4 seats later, I finally found one that I like. You can always replace later on anyway if you want to change the seat.

  Specialized is quite the premium of brand. Might be paying a little for brand.

  :) Happy to hear you've enjoying your ride!

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    Euphemistic on 05/04/2018 - 06:33

    Specialised isn't really a premium brand. It is however, one of the big, reliable and reasonable value brands. Kinda like Mazda. Giant are the Toyota equivalent, boring but good.