What's the Subaru of the bike world then?

[Screaming Beagle]

Someone recently said to me the Trek cycle brand is equivalent to a VW in the car world. As I'm in the market for a new hybrid bike what brand should I look for that shares similar values to my Scoob. I'm driving a Legacy as it happens. Im a newbie cyclist so assume zero knowledge on my part.

[Disco You]

You're asking for advice in such a round-a-bout way.

What sort of cycling do you want to do, and what is your budget?

[Gizmoish]

What Subaru values do you mean? Gets crashed in forests? Modded by Barry and ridden around Sainsburys car park?

[gazza285]

A cyclocross bike. Fast, but not as fast as a proper road bike, handy off road, but not as capable as a proper off road bike, generally modified as bits break, and often found wrapped round trees when enthusiasm outweighs ability.

And inexplicably expensive compared to other bikes.

[S10GTA]

This is a bit daft.

[y2blade]

Do you mean largely Driven badly by chavs?

[Bobley]

y2blade said:

Do you mean largely Driven badly by chavs?

That'll be a stolen BMX then!

[irob]

Iv heard the orange five described as the land rover of bikes.

[G0ldfysh]

If Trek is the VW where does that put Specialized, or Giant? ;-)
As with all these things hear the same comments on few different makes.

[S10GTA]

G0ldfysh said:

If Trek is the VW where does that put Specialized, or Giant? ;-)
As with all these things hear the same comments on few different makes.

Boardman is definitely Skoda

[gangzoom]

Personally I think my Trek looks far nicer than anything VW has ever made



More seriously though it all comes down to how much you want to spend, assuming we're not talking about £100 Argos specials, road bikes at the lower end of the market (<£500) are pretty all the same, they will all have an alum frame made in China/Taiwan, groupsets that work well, and strong (but heavy) wheelsets...

But actually with any bike which is half decent its the rider that makes the difference not the bike...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/bike-blog/vi...

Edited by gangzoom on Wednesday 17th July 13:59

[Accelebrate]

Equivalent hybrid to a Subaru Legacy? Something by Dawes, maybe?

[paranoid airbag]

The analogy doesn't quite work in this case... bear in mind a "bike manufacturer" could be producing as few as one of the components - the frame. And despite what some manufacturers would have you believe, that's not rocket science, especially if you stick with metal instead of CF - the principals of a diamond frame are fairly well known. Certainly most if not all of the moving parts will be produced by other companies (shimano/SRAM/campagnolo, kmc, FSA, mavic).

Don't buy bargain basement (in particular I'd say get the best groupset in budget), and buy from a place and/or manufacturer with a good customer service reputation and you'll likely be fine. There's not really a significant difference in toughness between big manufacturers, they're all producing fairly similar stuff built in similar ways really.

[P-Jay]

irob said:

Iv heard the orange five described as the land rover of bikes.

Slow, agricultural, inexplicably expensive and hasn't been updated in a thousand years?

I wouldn't try to equate bicycles with cars anymore than I would ask myself "what's the Specialized Enduro of the Soup world?".

Edited by P-Jay on Wednesday 17th July 16:29

[Seight_Returns]

P-Jay said:

"what's the Specialized Enduro of the Soup world?"

Gazpacho.

Sounds exotic, alluring and sophisticated - but in reality dissapointing, stodgy and just a bit weird.

[mchammer89]

Just needs a few yellow stickers.

[Screaming Beagle]

Very entertaining and it seems it may even be possible to equate car brands to bike brands but it was a bit tongue in cheek. For those who wanted to take the bike search seriously brief would be hybrid for commute and light trails. c.£500. Comfortable, light and fairly quick. A bit unique/ left field. For those who want to know the relevant Subaru brand values its a bit left field, reliable, capable over different terrain, some different engineering, don't see that many around (legacy wise). But I'll leave out the chav elements.

[Screaming Beagle]

...and thanks for those who made some recommendations; will have a looksie....

[Gizmoish]

We had a whimole thread equating bikes to cars recently

[yellowjack]

Gizmoish said:

We had a whimole thread equating bikes to cars recently

This one?

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

(which might even get a cheeky 'bump' now )