Hybrid bike for newbie Merida 500-D or Giant Roam XR1

[uggs4u]

Hi im looking to buy one of the above bikes for daily commuting to work and back and some weekend riding with kids at local park, The Merida is about £799 and the Giant is £949. they both have a similar spec to each other and both are available from 2 different local dealers to me so maintenance shouldnt be a problem.

Ive spoken to both dealers extensively about their bikes but i still cant make up my mind as i need an unbiased opinion from someone who understands the technical specs of each bike...

Can anyone here help me decide please?

Regards Ozzy

[anonymous-user]

Both seem quite expensive for hybrids, there are unnecessarily high end parts like XT mechs on them which are pretty much superfluous on a hybrid to be honest. that sort of performance is nice when you are charging through the gears on the hills and reliability is a must but on a commute or with the kids in the park its not really necessary.

they are just really oddly configured spec wise, cheap own brand wheels and an XT mech? personally, a set of nice wheels and a Deore mech makes far more sense to everyone except the salesmen who knows that you know that XT is really good, and deore is a bit meh. the salesmen (and the marketing dept) are banking on you assuming that all silvery looking wheels are the same....

personally the giant Rapid range looks better, yes it doesnt have a suspension fork but what good is 63mm on the Roam when you will really only get 40mm of travel from it and even then, rebound and compression wont be that dynamic.

[uggs4u]

Is there any other bike with similar or better spec which will give me more bang for my buck, ie Boardman or Cannondale...

[TheFungle]

I can't help but feel the Merida would be missing the point of being a hybrid, the suspension fork won't offer you much of anything, it's undergeared and over-braked! Saying that, I do have a Merida road bike and the quality is fantastic, support from dealers is also very good IME.

May I suggest a Giant Rapid. Road bike frame with MTB style flat bars, my wife has one and I'm very impressed, very good value for money as well.

http://www.pitsfordcycles.co.uk/acatalog/Giant_Rap...