Could someone give me their opinion on these two bikes? The Raleigh Rush Hour vs the Specialized Langster New York www.specialized.com www.raleighusa.com I'm trying to figure which frame is better. Steel vs aluminum. Which one has the better equipment. The top tubes are different. One is horizontal vs slanted. Is that just a personal preference or is one more enjoyable to ride. Which one has the better "cool" factor. Both bikes are the same price. Any help would be appreciated
can you summarize or list the equipment specs? I don't want to search the vendor websites to find your bike choices and pick your bike based on your riding style and needs that we have no idea of. "cool" is a weak criteria for picking a tool - which one fits your needs the best? Are you riding it to coffee joints to hang out, do the grocery shopping, riding up mountains, training for the Tour of California? In general, the frame selection is a lower priority than fit, wheels, and tires. Any decent bike shop can fit you to your requirements.
TJ The more I thought about it I'm concerned about the frame materials and the geometry of the top tube. The equipment can always be changed. Both bikes are a fixed/single gear track style bike. All I'm going to do is the ride the bike to Starbucks 5 miles away. I've attached two pictures. The one negative of the black Raleigh is that the bike does not have any braze ons for a water bottle. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
as an old computer geek, trust me, when I say the black Raleigh with toe clips is uber cool! love the bars, very retro. I think you have to wear 1970's track gear to ride it on the street though, surely some legal precedence somewhere. I'll let a bike geek comment on the pro's and con's of frame geometry. I've got three bikes: my old black road bike is steel, supposedly more 'character'. My silver hard-tail is aluminum, it's solid and strong. My racing bike is red and carbon - light and stiff in the right places. Apparently you don't have the same hill between you and Starbucks that I do, anywhere from 6-14% grade here
The Raleigh has a more classic feel for sure. When you are looking at what is now considered a glorified messenger/cafe cruiser bike the retro feel is nice. I also like, on a bike like that, the fact that the Raleigh has a regular headset as opposed to an integrated one. I think the ride of the steel will be remarkably more comfortable. I have a couple buddies that have Langster fixies that they ride for winter training. They say that they cannot do more than an hour or so without being in pain. Too stiff. That said, I really do like Specialized bikes.
As for the braze ons, you are only going to Starbucks five miles away. Do you need them? Trip is too short. Unless you are putting the frapachino in a bidon...
Thanks Chris for the input. I've had more than one person mention that steel would be more comfortable. It looks like I will be ordering the Raleigh.
From what I understand steel will be more comfortable. Personally I'm not a big fan of the fixies, but to each his own.
