Comparing Entry Level Road Bikes

• 

  o53djz7qTPY4der on 31/01/2023 - 15:20

  +3

  These are both bad bikes. But….

  If I had to choose (and I wouldn't), option 1. Option 2 is 22.5kg with packaging… Holy smokes that is a heavy bike.

  You will likely do better on FB/GT for a little more, as you already know. In this case, new isn't better.

  • 

    Euphemistic on 31/01/2023 - 15:31

    22kg in a big heavy box. Yeah, it’s heavy, but in reality probably no more heavy than any other in it’s class.

• 

  blitz on 31/01/2023 - 15:36

  +2

  OP, in all honesty, I would not buy either of those two. I realise that you don't want to spend much money, so I recommend you revisit GT/FB. Don't worry too much about problems buying second hand - go for something with an aluminum frame and you'll find not much can go wrong that can't be fixed by your local bike shop. And it will be so much more pleasurable to ride.

• 

  Euphemistic on 31/01/2023 - 15:41

  +3

  $300 budget for a new bike isn’t great. You are getting sub-par gear for that price. You really would be better served by buying second hand. Look for a $200-300 bike in good condition with an RRP over $700 (google is your friend while searching). You can often find virtually new, quality bikes in this price range that people have bought and not ridden or upgraded once the cycling bug bit. Look for bike shop brands like Giant, Specialised, Merida etc. another advantage of buying a higher spec second hand bike is that they are easier to service and bike shops won’t hesitate to help you, unlike some low end bikes that they know will cause headaches.

  But if you must buy new of those two it’s a hard pick, maybe keep on looking elsewhere. The Pedal only has 7 gears and a quite narrow range of gears at that. It won’t be good if you live in a hilly area. Otherwise, it’ll be relatively efficient to ride having narrow tyres and no extra weight from suspension. Not a lot to go wrong.
  The Easytry will be a heavier bike to ride and be more sluggish. It’s also got the additional weight of next to useless suspension forks. I’m not a fan of cheap cable disc brakes either, I’d rather have v-brakes in this price range they are easier to adjust and usually work better too. It does however have a much wider range of gears, better suited to varied terrain.

  • 

    wombat81 on 31/01/2023 - 17:06

    Agree with this point. If you're getting disc brakes they need to be hydraulic, otherwise stick with v brakes.

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  ForkSnorter on 31/01/2023 - 15:56

  +1

  A bike is one thing I would not budget too low on. And, I'd never buy a bike online without trying it. A bike that suits your body is so much more enjoyable to ride. Never had a problem buying 2nd hand bikes. You should be able to tell by riding it whether there's something wrong with it. Buy one that's less than 2 years old. I'll be servicing my bike for the first time in 8 years soon. The service (including some minor repairs) is likely to cost more than the price of these 2 bikes you linked to.

  • 

    blitz on 01/02/2023 - 10:50

    I agree with all of this.

• 

  rumblytangara on 31/01/2023 - 16:04

  Would 100% not buy that 'mountain' bike. The forks on a budget bike like that will be heavy, unresponsive, untunable, and probably won't have much usable life in it. Would prefer a rigid fork over that budget suspension fork.

  Echoing others- go secondhand. Preferably get help from a friend who knows their way around bikes.

• 

  frondono on 31/01/2023 - 16:04

  bikesonline.com.au is worth a look. they have some pretty good specials sometimes.

• 

  Drakesy on 31/01/2023 - 16:12

  +1

  spend it on gumtree/marketplace and get a much better bike for the money.

• 

  dtxau on 31/01/2023 - 16:22

  +2

  I've got that exact same Pedal bike. Use it for going to shops/station/ride around the park/neighbourhood. Nothing fancy about it, gets you from A to B no issues. It's also a heavy bike so I use it to burn some major calories, pushing 20km/h over 2 hours is a real workout.

  • 

    shockme79 on 01/02/2023 - 12:37

    Good to know, do you know what the weight of the bike is - I'm guessing around 16kg? And also, did you replace the saddle?

    • 

      Euphemistic on 01/02/2023 - 16:06

      +1

      Based on the components I reckon itd be under 15kg.

      A couple of kilos heavier doesnt make a massive difference to energy expenditure when riding a bike, especially over about 20km/h when aerodynamics play a much bigger energy cost. You’d probably lose more energy from having the wrong tyre pressure. The exception to this is that dragging extra weight up a steep hill does cost more energy, but you’ll pick up a bit of that on the way back down anyway. It will be a little slower to accelerate to speed, but once you are at speed, heavier wheels may actually be easier to keep at speed that lighter ones because they have more momentum.

      For all the weight weenie bike riders out there trying to save 500g with big $, they’d most likely be better off dropping the kids off at the pool before going riding for the same net benefit. Sure, a really light bike will be faster, but it’s often due to aero design, better bearing surfaces and top notch tyres.

      I’ve ridden dozens of bikes over the years and would not be concerned at the weight of the pedal bike for pootling around with the kids. Still got a couple of heavier bikes for that task.

• 

  wombat81 on 31/01/2023 - 17:04

  You'd probably be better off waiting for a half price Anaconda bike sale, which happens pretty often.

  But I agree with others. 2nd hand is the go. Just set up FB marketplace and Gumtree search alerts for Trek, Giant, Specialized, Polygon, Marin, Scott mountain bikes in your price range in your area. One will come up soon enough.

  I bought a 2022 Trek Marlin 5 for $370 recently in really good condition from Gumtree. In terms of what to look for, as long as it looks in decent condition, ride it around and make sure the gears change properly and the brakes work and you're good.

• 

  shaybisc on 31/01/2023 - 18:06

  +1

  The first one is much better for your needs. It won't brake quickly in the rain though. 7 speeds are plenty.

  Why do people buy heavy mountain bikes with stupid suspension forks if they never get off fairly smooth sealed roads?

  • 

    Euphemistic on 31/01/2023 - 18:59

    7 speeds are plenty.

    7 is enough on lightly undulating terrain but not great for hilly areas. I have a 7speed bike. It is geared a little low, but still not great for steep climbs. Because it’s generally geared a bit low it’s also easy to get into top gear and still want to go faster.

  • 

    wombat81 on 31/01/2023 - 19:03

    7 speeds is nowhere near enough for any sort of hilly terrain.

• 

  AndyC1 on 31/01/2023 - 19:01

  Second hand gumtree bikes for $300 will get you a bike worth $600 or more and you may even get a 5 or 6 year old $1K bike that blows the new bikes away.

  For $150 at the end of 2019 I got a $150 gumtree bike that had a RRP of $579 in 2014 and all I had to do was general service (oil and adjuist breaks and gears) along with replacing the disc break pads (which added an extra $20 to the effective price).

  Forgot to mention get an alloy frame and make sure the size suites you before you check the bike out. Google how to do this.

• 

  fossilfuel on 31/01/2023 - 19:28

  +1

  My entry level Reid bike is over 10 years old and it still works great with regular maintenance. If you're riding leisurely in streets and bike tracks, I'd buy something similar.

  I would only get a mountain bike for trails. A good suspension makes a massive difference.

• 

  shockme79 on 31/01/2023 - 20:53

  Thanks everyone for your input, much appreciated

• 

  mahdoo on 05/02/2023 - 01:40

  Got to disagree with the crowd here. I swear by $50 secondhand bikes - the beauty at that price is you don't need to carry a lock around or care about where you leave the bike. If it gets stolen, the thief is the one who should be worried.

  It's fine to go cheap as long as you never ride the bike on a busy road at high speed.

  • 

    Euphemistic on 05/02/2023 - 10:23

    While I agree that a $50 bike can be perfectly rideable:

    It's fine to go cheap as long as you never ride the bike on a busy road at high speed.

    I’d argue it’s not fine to ride at all if you think it shouldn’t be ridden on busy roads. You can usually service a bike cheaply if you DIY to make it perfectly safe to ride. Have done so plenty of times. I rode a $70 bike to work for a couple of years (on roads, high speed) after putting new tyres on it, a couple of new cables and lubricating the shifters.