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2006 Schwinn Voyageur Sport ? |
If anyone owns this bike, what are your thoughts on it? Good quality? How much did you pay for it? A worthy investment? I will be riding mostly in the city or on light trails. I'm not a hardcore mountain biker and do not need a $500+ bike. Well that's certainly a very good starting place to start your test drives. Worthy investment. That is most likely, considering the brand and their typical price-performance bang. Also shop Diamondback, the U.S. name for Raleigh for a further selection of very similar bikes. Schwinn is known for reasonable to high quality with extraordinarily effective results and an unusually pleasurable ride at every price point. As far as application goes, you got it right on. Higher ergonomic efficiency plus faster road speeds and more comfort makes for greater enjoyment in most cases where technical "jumping" tricks are not needed. There are several questions as to the specific bike and those need to be answered. First, are there any friends, etc. . . that belong to a bicycle club. What other people will you ride with? And what types of bikes do they use? Schwinn has Super Sport for a low priced, yet quick, comfortable entry to road cycling. Your voyager will do for leisure riding and a fast trip to work, and there are some very comfortable Diamondback for mountain bike trails, not to mention their Edgwood, competition to the Schwinn. Some of the hybrid bikes, formerly called cyclocross, have a road centric nature and some have a mountain nature. All are comfortable. Some are terribly slow and some will seriously challenge racing bikes regardless of the often-awesome price difference. This is because of the advanced ergonomics only possible on the hybrid bike lending a boost in basic efficiency. Really? Well, the shorter top tube increases basic leverage while preserving stamina through comfort. Or, at least this is my excuse for getting nearly blown off the road while flat out on my racing bike, and this breeze was a Schwinn Super Sport being chased by two blurry Diamondback somethings--hybrids all. The slower one of the two Diamondback had suspension forks, and I just don't know what the other one was because it was going too fast. Quite embarrassing, and most astonishing as I was already loafing (ha!) along at 23 mph before I decided to give chase and failed at somewhere near 28 mph (on flat ground). I don't know where they came from or where they went. The bikes weren't attractive at all, they weren't expensive, but they made the impossible and improbable look like simple everyday fun. I was so mad. After I could breathe again, I was intrigued to know that comfortable can be fast. Such a rude way to learn this! Faster than a modern, five times more expensive, breakway style ride doing its job well and flat out? This is a new thing!!! Previous paradigms and assumptions about lowly hybrids and speed are no longer true. Obviously, hybrids are available in every performance range and that price does not have much merit. ;) The matter of speed and whether it will bring you pleasure or not involves using a bike that is at least somewhat centric to what your friends use or at least a bike that is designed around where you use it most. And, it must, absolutely must fit. Test drive. The very most important aspect is whether the bike fits. Between Schwinn and Diamondback, there is enough variety of comfort hybrids, mountain hybrids, and road hybrids to find one that fits in a speedy, pleasurable way. You know it is comfortable and have selected a bike that won't get lost when you ride with your friends, but what else does it need to do? Of course, the one that fits does two things different. 1) It makes you smile when you test ride it and you don't want to give it back to the store. 2) It seems very zippy and easy to make it go fast (ergo power is optimal for your body). Also, don't overlook the flexability of the hybrid bikes that have 700c "29er" wheels. While these are usually slower to sprint than XC wheels, a few of them have road bike wheels. This allows fitting Kenda Kross for gravel trails and it also allows fitting 700c x 25mm Michelin road training tires to experience the joy of road touring--which is more comfortable on a light weight hybrid than anything else. Lastly, when it comes down to choosing between two contenders, choose the faster bike, because the faster one is a better fit to your body (when comparing similar bikes). If two are equally speedy, then choose the lighter weight bike because those are much easier to get up hills. If you're wanting to zoom around town and trail, and have great comfortable fun, of course the Schwinn Voyager Sport is up to the job and of course it is a good value, but find out about cycling opportunities in your area and do some test drives of your various options/selection before you buy so that you know you made the right selection. Detail: Test drives are at the bike store. Tire, Kenda Kross Plus Yellow Label much better than the non "plus" version. The 26" wheel bikes are a bit slower on pavement, but more graceful on gravel. Narrower width wheels go faster than fat wheels. This is XC 26" or 700c Road. |
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