I am looking into possibly getting a new bike for myself so I can enjoy exploring the many trails around the Madison, WI area and have a nice workout as well. My current bike is a 2008 GT Outpost All Terra which gets me outside, but I was thinking getting a newer bike might allow me to ride farther and longer more comfortably. From my understanding, a gravel bike sounds most appropriate for my use because I will be on mostly paved bike trails, but plan to go farther out of town where the trails become gravel paths. I was at a local shop to schedule a tuning for the GT (it’s been in storage so there’s some shifter issues and rear brake basically does nothing) and ended up testing a Jamis Renegade S3. On the ride home I was passing another shop that sold Giant, and ended up testing a Giant Revolt. Of course I had to browse Marketplace and found a listing that appears to be and older bike in a shop a town over. It looks to be the correct size, I’m guessing it just never was sold and they want it out of the shop. I’ve attached the image of the marketplace posting. I’m wondering how good is the Norco bike compared to the Jamis S3 which is like $1900 or the Giant at like $1400? Like is the Jamis worth the extra money? I don’t really understand the quality of the components that makes up bikes as these. Are there any other suitable bikes you think I should look at?
by _Surly_