Need to shop for good bikes in the GTA! Experts advice?

[petey123]

I admittedly know rather little about bicycles and have shopped almost exclusively at McTire since I was a kid. However I'm starting to realize that I've basically been shelling out $100 on a new bike every summer....They're all ruined by the end of winter/ or the tires suck/ brakes are scewed/ messed/chains rusty that I jus go out and buy a new cheap one.

Well I think I'm going to spend a little more this time, preferably at a different place...maybe $300 on a basic but durable "city/commuter" bike (do I need to go higher?)

I'm going to be using the bike a lot, mostly to get to campus, and everyday in the morning for fasted cardio. Does it cost extra to get a basket installed on the back/front for my gymbag as well? (How manly are these?)

I don't need any fancy fixings, but one issue of interest is what is ergonomically the better position for riding- the old school bikes with the lower seat, recumbent-ish bikes? Or the now-common upright bikes, which I suppose help you go faster, but I've read that posture may not be good for your bent-over back.

Anyway yeah I've always shopped at McTire and Wal-Bike because I thought the stores downtown have this stigma of being cheap, seedy, and suspicious, but from what I'e gathered it's aparently the opposite ^^

Anybody in the area have some names to toss that are reputable for my needs? There are like a billion of the stores down there...

[Oni-kun]

If you quickly look around there are several threads already on the same topic but I'll answer anyways.

First, you are right that its probrably better to pay for a better bike instead of having to buy a new one every year. First of all I'm not really sure what you mean by city/commuter bike. Do you want a road bike? mountain bike? some sort of hybrid? a comfort bike?

I personally think that if you're gonna commute with but may go over potentially rough terrain such as gravel, grass, pebbles road, dirt, etc.. that you shouldn't get a road bike because the tires wouldn't really be suited for that.

You could get a "hybrid" but theres no set standard for what is really considered a hybrid they just mix and match some road and mountain bike parts.

I personally bought a hard tail mountain bike (the Trek 3700) I ride mainly on paved paths but a little bit of dirt and grass it can definitely handle. Sometimes near the edge of the road near the gutter there are pebbles and other things and I just think mountain bike tires handle it better. The only bad thing is mountain bike tires are slightly slower on paved road but its not a big deal.

About getting a basket installed, I think most local bike stores if you buy it from them together with the bike they will install it for you but a basket is definitely not very manly at all. What I see a lot of people do is install a rack in the back and use bungie cords with a box of some sort to secure items.

I find the mainly upright posture of a mountain bike pretty comfortable but you'd have to go try some bikes out to know for sure what you want.

I bought my Trek 3700 for 369.99 + tax (only 1 tax btw on bikes less than 1000 dollars) at Trek Toronto. Eglington and Yonge. They offer 2 year free tune ups. They were pretty helpful but I think some of their accessories are overpriced.

Bikes you might want to look into that are close to your price range include:

Trek 820 (Is the same as 3700 but is Steel frame instead and no disc brake drop outs)

Trek 3700 - very entry level mountain bike

Giant Boulder - similiar entry level bike as the 3700 but I think its cheaper

Giant Boulder SE - slightly better parts than the boulder

There is also an entry level Norco bike but I forget the model name.

I think Sporting life Toronto carries Giant brand bikes but I've never bought anything from them. Also Silent Sports up in North York sells Giant as well.

If you're looking for a place to get cheap accessories that are actually built pretty well you should buy from Mountain Equipment Co-op.

Here is a list of a lot of bicycle stores in the GTA area.

http://www.tbn.ca/retailer/rtdb/at.htm

I don't really like cycle path myself because I have 2 friends who have had bad experiences. One friend had his wheels bent up by one store. Another friend was at another location and he just said they weren't very helpful.

[IronMac]

Oni-kun has some really good info there but it would help if the OP was a bit more specific as to distances envisioned, terrain, etc.

As an aside, there are now hybrid-specific groupos rather than in the old days when I bought my hybrid where they threw a road/touring frame together with mountain bike parts. That was a good match in my opinion since the stuff has really held up well over the past 18 years and close to 40k kms. :)

[ekibyougami]

del

[CSR]

http://www.tbn.ca/retailer/rtdb/at.htm

[foam]

If your out that way, The Bike zone is a great, friendly shop. Very good inventory and sell anything from kids bikes to $7,000.00 carbon fibre race bikes.

www.thebikezone.com

Everytime I'm in there, I get treated very well by the staff, and have never spent more than $100.00 at a time in there.

[Oni-kun]

http://www.blogto.com/toronto/the_best_bike_stores_in_toronto/

this has some reviews of some too.

[petey123]

Sorry guys I've been away from comp for awhile, thanks very much for the review link! It's what I was looking for, I didn't know anything about bike stores and since I have to drive pretty far to get downtown (I'm actually in Scarb) I wanted to make the trip worthwhile by knowing some good shops before venturing out thus looking at reviews and word of mouth here.

@^The terrain is mostly just sidewalks (is it illegal to bike on the sidewalk? My friend got "pulled over" by an officer or so he told me. I bike to UTSC and I imagine I'd just hold up traffic if I biked on the road...)

Sometimes friends also bike to the beach which is about an hour and a half away, but even still it's mostly sidewalks, with gravel here and there. But distance wise on school days, we're looking at about total 15km each day I have classes.

But holy cow most of those bikes on the high rated sites are pricey, some are almost the price of a used car :p I think the most I can spend is 400 after tax. Do you think those Giant boulders/mountain bikes are overkill for how I'm biking.

[Sephora]

I bought my gf a Giant Suede cruiser from the Cycle Shoppe at Queen and Bathurst for about $400.

It is a ridiculously comfortable ride, especially in comparison to my 20-year old Supercycle road bike; mostly due to the easy-going upright posture that it allows. We took it out to Toronto Island, and she had no trouble on some different terrain, boardwalk, etc.

I didn't thoroughly read what you're looking for, but a Giant cruiser for about $400 will likely be my next purchase as well, primarily for commutes to St. George campus and biking around T.O.

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-CA/bikes/lifestyle/1774/30778/

check out that link. she loves her damn bike.