Not sure if this is the right place to post. But reading in this sub was super helpful this past week, so thought I’d share.
Last Friday I was having lunch with a gf that’s into biking. Got a wild hair, hit a Trek shop, and came away with an FX1. Didn’t know jack about bikes. Took it for a 6 mile ride that night. Had a blast, and immediately knew an upgrade was in order.
After hours of online research, I figured I wanted something that would be good on paved roads/trails, but capable of tackling offroad and bikepacking. I enjoy traveling and camping on my Triumph Tiger 800, and can see myself doing the same on a bike.
I was looking in the $1500-2g range, narrowed down my choices to bikes like the All City Space Ghost, Salsa Fargo, etc.
Hit a couple of shops today. One was REI. Left there with the intention of doing more studying on their COOP bikes and Cannondale Topstones, which they had in stock and seemed to fit what I was looking for.
Next shop had Salsa, All City, Cervelo and quite a few other bikes out of my price range. Woohoo! I was hoping to find a Space Horse when I saw some All City bikes. No dice. But! They had a Gorilla Monsoon Apex in my size. Wasn’t really on my radar, a bit out of my price range, but I had to take it for a spin. Loved it. It’s more offroad than what I was looking at, but ticked a lot of boxes. Told the shop I’d think about it. Then they hit me with a deal that was too good to pass up, 40% off what you’ll find online. I knew I’d kicked myself in the ass if I came back Thursday and it was gone. So, I grabbed it! As soon as I got home, rode it to the corner store to grab a celebratory cervesa. Im super stoked. Dig it so much. Can’t wait to to fit it with racks, bags, lights…
I can see myself enjoying many miles with this bike. I wish I could offer some good advice to folks looking for which bike to grab. Hopefully something in my story is helpful. Cheers!🍻
by Keep_It_Rockin