Hi haven't had a bike in 20years nr 40 now so out off the loop on bikes!
Live in Perth outer suburbs,budget $1000 absolute total max.
Looking something to help with general fitness ,go cruises with the wife / activity we can do together ,will only be used on city bike paths /city park rides.
Any models or good bike shop recommendations would be greatly appreciated ,cheers many thanks.
Trek FX
S works venge
Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree for the best deals right now.
Bike shops are still playing catch-up with stock levels.
Get a Merida, Giant or Trek Hybrid, any will do the job well.
Perth's got great cycle paths, relative to Sydney & Melbourne, good hobby to get into
Second hand bikes are selling well so prices are up. However, you can still get a good bike if you know what to look for and get lucky.
Still better than paying full retail
Flat bar road bike, any of the major brands will have something to suit your budget - assuming they have stock.
Where about in Perth are you?
Guilford area
For Giant, I would recommend "Buy Cycles Carine", they are more geared towards Mountain bikes but they do have a small selection of road and city bikes as well. I picked up a bike there last year at 40% off the RRP, gotta be close to or below cost. Services there aren't warm and fuzzy but the guys know what they are talking about. All bikes bought from their shop come with 3 complimentary services in the first year, which is more than what any other Giant authorised sellers in Perth would offer. For Giant bikes, "Cyclemania" in North Perth is another one to check out.
For Merida, you can try "Bicycle Centre Midland", I haven't been to the one in Midland but the one in Cannington is quite well stocked and their staff are pretty knowledgeable.
"99 Bikes" in Belmont is also a good place to go if you are buying a Merida. They do price match, 30 days satisfaction guarantee, special price available if you join their membership, and they accept the ultimate gift card for him that was available at Coles at 15% off the face value a few weeks back.
For Trek, I would recommend "The Bike Place" in Baldivis, good selection, friendly staff, nice coffee and a good cyclists community.
Most people who started out with a flat bar road bike either lose interest or want to upgrade to a high-end drop bar very soon. Unless you are certain that won't happen to you, otherwise, it is fine to get one with the lowest or second lowest groupsets. For your budget, I recommend the Merida speeder 100/200, Giant Cross City 1/2 (if you can find heavily discounted Fastroad SL that would fit within the budget then you should grab it right away, much better bike than the Cross City) and the Trek Fx series.
It is perfectly fine to go for last year models, those are the ones you are more likely to get a big discount on and in most cases, their specs are almost identical to the latest models. Don't buy a bike without going for a test ride, you won't know what works or doesn't work for you until you ride it.
The absolute bare minimum you will need besides the bike itself is a helmet, a pair of padded gloves, lube for the chains, pump for the tyres and a sturdy D lock if you are ever going to leave your bike to go for a quick coffee etc.
Giant Cross City, 3 models from $799 to $1099 looks to be right in your range. Aluminum frames, disc brakes.
I have one of the earlier versions, CRX 1. Perfect for your intended use. If you decide you don't want it after a while, good resale value.
Cheers guys for the fantastic feedback ,will be bike hinting this weekend 👌🙌
Have had a look in person at the trek 2021 fx2 $875 and Merida speeder 100 2021 $727 , haven't seen the Merida speeder 200 2021 but I can get it for $892.
Fx2 looks a really nice bike ,more so than the Merida 100 ,but I think the specs on meridas are better
Haven't been to giant yet…
Reality is that one step up in apex doesn’t make a massive difference to the running gear. More important that it looks good (to you) and fits well. You have to want to ride it.
Yea a ride on the Merida 200speeder and crossway 100 found the Cross way more to my liking and same with the giant roam 3 v the cross city 3 seemed more suitable to me too,, hopefully try the trek dual sport v fx 2 today
so which one did you buy in the end?
@Francis82: Will def look at upgrading the saddle if that's easy enough to do,but seems spot on for what I need
@Francis82: A Hex or Allen key to undo the screw attaching the railings of the saddle to the seat post is all you need for saddle replacement. Get some cycling pants if butt pain is what's bothering you. Glad you manage to snatch some discounted GCs.
@deliriouss: Haha yea had a sore butt actually Riding the 20km home ,longest I've ever cycled for too! So by the end ,was like it must be the saddles fault😊
@Francis82: I am a cheapskate and an OzBer so I just buy whichever one on sale at pushys / chainreactioncycles / wiggle. Just make sure they are padded and not just some regular compression tights.
@Francis82: Changing to a more cushy saddle may not be the best solution. Somewhat counter intuitively hard saddles aren’t always bad for you if they fit.
Make sure it’s adjusted properly, get some padded shorts if you need, but you may get away with just getting your butt used to the saddle. I’ve ridden heaps of different saddles and normally it takes a few rides to get used to them. Occasionally, one just doesn’t work so I’ll switch it out.
I recommend visiting a bike shop and trying a few different styles of bikes out. Explain to the staff the riding you intend to do; they should steer you away from road bikes and mountain bikes.