I just visited quite a few bike shops in our area (Performance, REI, Village Cycle, Dicks, etc.) to see what was new for this year (or on sale from 2009) and to review the latest hybrids that they are selling.
I got distracted with the 2009 bikes on sale a little more so than checking into all of the latest 2010 models. As usual, since this is a transition period and bike shops are still trying to move last years models out, so the prices for last years models (brand new of course) are excellent right now.
Of course, I’ve included some of my favorites (and the favorites of some of the more knowledgeable bike shop people that I ran into) on our Hybrid and Comfort Bikes page.
Since Performance Bike is so big, I think that they probably had the best selection of 2009 bikes on sale (like plenty of Fuji bikes) but REIalso had a few 2009 bikes on sale and their 2010 prices were pretty reasonable too. If you really like a bike at REI and can wait, they have good sales pretty often and the bikes will most likely be reduced when they have a sale.
Dicks Sporting Goods mostly had a lot of mid range and lower end bikes but that had a couple of good brands (K2, and Schwinn) too. I also hit a Wal-Mart and Sports Authority too. These stores were all had pretty comparable bike but Dicks and Sports Authority were the best for having a large selection on display and easily available to review. The sales people at these stores are generally not that knowledgeable about bikes and bike brands. I found that the sales people at REI and especially at Performance Bike to be very helpful.
One of our local shops, Village Cycle, deals mostly with Trek bikes (which you can not buy online) but I found that they also had a good selection of Raleigh bikes on display.
It was a slow day at the bike shop and I really had a good opportunity to review a lot of Raleigh bikes and compare them to the other more common bike store brands. I know that you can buy Raleigh bikes online at REI but neither of the 2 REI stores that I visited had any on display. I asked about this and the guy at the second store said that one of the larger stores by us (but further away for me) has them or you can order them online and have them delivered to the store but the do not keep them on display.
I haven’t had a chance to write up my reviews on the Raleigh bikes yet but I can tell you that these are really nice bikes and some are also very stylish. One thing that is very obvious, aside from the quality components, is that Raleigh bikes (especially the hybrids and comfort bikes) have really nice seats!
I believe that the best deals going on right now though are on Fuji Bikes(mostly at Performance Bike). These are excellent bikes with high quality components. I think one of the reasons that they are not perceived as the high end bikes that they are is because they used to sell their bikes through mass market (“Big Box”) stores instead of exclusively at bike shops. They have changed that marketing approach, but one of the best things is that you can still order this bikes online too.
I’m still working on some more bike reviews, but check out my 2009 and 2010 picks at the Hybrid and Comfort Bikes Link above.
Rob Bicycle Sales, Cycling, Equipment
So much for keeping this site legit.