Scott Loveless wrote: > Doug Brewer wrote: >> I can shave off 30lbs by getting rid of my mustache. >> >> Do I get a new bike? >> > Of course. Just rifle through your wife's purse until you come up with > the cash. <g> >> Oh, and Adam? Low end roadie: >> >> http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3663046 >> > Ugh. The last department store bike I bought was back in '98. I ended up > giving it away a few years ago. Feeling as if you're fighting with the bike > just to get it to go is frustrating at best. > > It had loads of "Shimano" hardware all over it, the indexed shifters were > anything but, and the brakes required constant adjustment. I rode very > little. > > My recently acquired "Krystal Mark IV", a cheapie from the 80s, is loads > better, even with the clunky hardware. So far I've invested about $85 in the > bike. That includes purchase ($2), tune-up ($50), and lights ($30 something). >
The trick with Shimano is to buy named parts. If there's a name on it (Sora, Tiagra, Alivio, Acera-X, etc) it's got decent or better quality. The exceptions are 105 (base-level road racing kit) and Tourney (cheap junk). Shimano has dominated the bike market for 20 years by making really cheap crap (and I do mean crap), decent stuff, and really high end part which all have a level of compatibility between them (in a pinch you can slap the cheapest $20 Shimano derailleur on your $8000 carbon dura-ace-kitted bike to get home. It will work, and even index correctly). Older 'clunky' stuff of decent quality will work just fine until it wears out completely if maintained. There's nothing wrong with downtube friction shifters and 5 speed freewheels. -Adam -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
