Due to an ongoing discussion in the rec.bikes.* chain somewhere last year(?), I took a Giant LaFree for a test ride a while ago. Short answer: It was “OK”. Personally…*I* wouldn’t splash out $1000 for one, but some people might. Like my 80 yr old dad. Built for smooth paved trails and the like. Good for rentals at the beach. Long answer: Its one heavy beast. 80lbs (incl battery)You HAVE to pedal it to make it go. The motor only assists you. VERY hard to get it over about 19 mph or so on the flat. The motor stop helping, and its too heavy to pedal yourself any faster.

It handles OK (for an 80 lb hybrid). Nothing too strenuous, tho. 20 mile(?) range. God help you if you run out of battery far from home. Bottom line: It’s NOT a MTB, but rather a beefed up hybrid with a motor on it. More or less a lite moped. Unless you have specific circumstances and distances that would preclude a regular bike, I wouldn’t buy one.

I don’t know of any power assisted mountain bikes, only road/hybrid things and they are mega expensive (and they look like girls bikes). There are a few products available that you can fit to an ordinary bike, an auxiliary motor to drive a wheel, if I can find any details I’ll post them for you. Many thanks for the assistance and advise offered. I have decided to leave mountain bikes alone, until I am fitter (No, I am not Fat, just bigger than I should be). I have obtained (as a present) one Powabyke Road Classic bike, which holds a better second hand value. Here’s looking forward to Mountain Biking in the future.

I saw on the History Channel that mountain bikes were used by the engineers to travel to and from the work site. I know this is a shot in the dark but does anyone have a picture of this? I write a newsletter for a local mountain bike group and have written a article about their use. It would be nice to include a pic too. I custom build Mountain Bikes. High end components, Shipped anywhere in the world. FOB Laguna Beach, California. Call if you are interested. Any make, any component.

I have, in stock, the new GT limited edition Mountain bikes. Also high end Trek and Klein models. I am investigating the possibility of importing good quality used mountain bikes to South Africa. New brand name bicycles are becoming increasingly expensive due to a poor exchange rate between the ZAR and US$. In my opinion there is a good market for good quality used mountain bikes in SOuth Africa. Please e-mail me if you think of selling your bike. Give full details of frame and components and, of course, the price

I would have to agree. but in defense, most shops are scraping by. the pay, therefore, is not great. once you move from a non-living wage your sample gets narrowed really quickly. >bike shop can only carry so many bike lines. In part because exactly. how much can you carry? should you carry just because someone might want to shop. some shops aren’t allowed to carry stuff for a variety of reasons. and a lot of companies screw shops. huge minimum stocks and whatnot… dealers in certain areas).

Clothes I completely agree with you, but I suspect your real gripe is with bikes, and I also suspect most LOBs will order clothing for customers. clothes are really expensive to stock. most shops sit on those longer than bikes. and you have to stock 3 of each size of each color. it gets pretty expensive. what i wish is that places would or would not stock clothes. either do a good job or don’t bother. than mail order and web-based places.Fewer employees (and partly. say, “well, if the LOB was within 10% of the mail order place”. ask your LBS.

some will try and match. you have to keep in mind also that i see stuff sold below _our_ cost in mail-order. what do you want us to do then? why not ask pearl izumi or specialized why they do it… not a critism of what has been said. even as a shop employee i share these gripes about our store and other stores. but working in a shop gives a totally different perspective on all this…The cost structure is even more expensive when you look at it on a “cost per customer” or a “cost per prospect” basis. So what would be a “reasonable” difference in prices (or in your words, “competitive, price-wise”)?

I have seen people say, “well, if the LOB was within 10% of the mail order place”. And I suspect when the different cost structures are taken in acount, you see why so many LOBs are shutting their doors. Just one illustration… when I lived in Milpitas, CA (the next city up from San Jose, in the midst of the Silicon Valley, where lots of well-paid computer people work and live, and where lots of MTBers live and ride) there were five places you could buy a bike. The three bike-only places (what I call LOBs) all are gone, so the only place you can buy a bike *in Milpitas* is the local Target and Oshman’s SuperSports (gee, expect great service and selection at either of these places?). Sad to say, this is the future, unless we support the LOBs

Followups set to poster, as I do not read this group — but of course you are welcome to crosspost replies, too. I am looking to buy a basic mountain bike. I don’t require anything terribly fancy, and the main criterion is that the bike be durable (i.e., not shoddily made). I would anticipate spending about $250-$300. The problem is that I don’t know a lot about mountain bikes, and therefore I am looking for advice as to which brand to buy so that I don’t appear completely clueless when I go to the bicycle shop. I’d appreciate it if someone out there could drop me a note as to what kind of mountain bike might be appropriate.

Hi there, whatever you do – please avoid Huffy. You should probably have a look at Specialized, Trek, KHS or bikes like them. The first things you should make sure of is the brand of the tubes. Make sure that they are Tange, True Temper, or Columbus and that they are of a reasonable quality (at least chrome-molybdenum alloys). Also check the components.

The higher prize, the better quality. The better quality are of cause also the easiest to work with and adjust. Shimano STX is probably the cheepest you can liva with for a longer period. Try evt. to find a last years bike on sale. You often gets a good bargain on an older model and you don’t compromize the quality as much as by buing a brandnew with cheeper components.I’m shopping for some friends who are looking to get some mountain bikes. I’m the resident expert around here, so I’ll be the one making the purchasing decision — in other words, please reply directly to me. One of my friends is looking for a medium sized (18 to 20) inch mountain bike with Deore componants (something like a RockHopper Comp or a StumpJumper Comp).