Looking for some advice on buying a new bike...
Last summer, I used a buddy's full suspension, downhill mountain bike that weighed about 50 pounds. I used it as a long distance (for me) road bike. Fell in love with cycling, but don't want to drag that clunker around again this summer, so I'm in the market.
With a budget of about $800+/-, what's a great brand to be looking at?
If I can sidebar for a sec, and compare bikes to watches...
I'm a watch nut. Used to fix them for quite a few years and think I have an above average knowledge base than most people about them. If you ask me about Rolex, I would say, for the money, they are garbage. For half that price, a Tag Heuer or Omega is a superior watch, that you are paying more for whats on the inside than the name of the outside. For a under $1000 watch there is almost no beating a Seiko. They are solid timepieces with decent movements. No hype about the name and they last ages.
So, although I would LOVE the Omega of road bikes, I think I'm looking for more of a Seiko bike. Any advice on what brands to look at?
Is that Diamond Back that's posted above really a great deal?
What about buying second hand? What's the cons to that? And last but not least...where's the best places locally/online to buy, other than Bow Cycle and JensonUSA, which I can also see posted here?
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