For the last 25 yeas, she has used department store Made In Usa Huffy $99.99 bike (I have men's model) I have been able to keep both the bikes running for those years but she wanted her to be professionally tuned. I was telling her that she should just get a new bike and get it fitted for her.
Once the LBS lady saw our bikes, she pretty much laughed at the Huffy tune-up suggestion, we settled upon Specialized Vita. I think this is about the lowest the LBS carries but overall seems to be well built. This was also assembled lot better than another pricey one. I made a bet with the LBS lady that the two bikes were made by two different technicians. When she looked at her records, she told me that the guy who assembled the pricey bike no longer worked there! "you must be an engineer!" was her comment to me.
I was hoping that going from 25 year old $99 bike to $550 brand new one would get her a lot lighter bike but that was not the case. The Huffy have steel frame but tubes are thinner than the one on the current alloy frame bikes. I just don't quite understand why the frame is so thick. Going from steel wheels and steel frame to alloy wheels and alloy frame should have resulted in significant weight savings but that is just not the case. I have weighed new and old one if there is a savings, it is not as dramatic as I had imagined.
Am I expecting too much?
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/womens-multi-use/vita/vita-
Once the LBS lady saw our bikes, she pretty much laughed at the Huffy tune-up suggestion, we settled upon Specialized Vita. I think this is about the lowest the LBS carries but overall seems to be well built. This was also assembled lot better than another pricey one. I made a bet with the LBS lady that the two bikes were made by two different technicians. When she looked at her records, she told me that the guy who assembled the pricey bike no longer worked there! "you must be an engineer!" was her comment to me.
I was hoping that going from 25 year old $99 bike to $550 brand new one would get her a lot lighter bike but that was not the case. The Huffy have steel frame but tubes are thinner than the one on the current alloy frame bikes. I just don't quite understand why the frame is so thick. Going from steel wheels and steel frame to alloy wheels and alloy frame should have resulted in significant weight savings but that is just not the case. I have weighed new and old one if there is a savings, it is not as dramatic as I had imagined.
Am I expecting too much?
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bikes/womens-multi-use/vita/vita-