Sports & Recreation

Best Hybrid Bike under $500?

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  • Jul 2nd, 2017 9:50 am
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Apr 5, 2016
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warpdrive wrote: There's no way to pin down a discount...it depends on the store.

Some may give a paltry 10%, but some more like 20%. My LBS does a straight 20% off. MEC might have some at 30% off.

At the Toronto bike show, discounts vary too, you might not see many $1000 bikes, but you may see a $3000 bike for $1700.
Oh yeah. None of the stores were willing to give discounts. Said specialized will not let then discount which I did read about. The giant dealer also said the same thing. Where they can do something would be accessories and tune ups. You're probably in the east coast but any tips on getting discounts?
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Mar 6, 2003
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bomber17 wrote: Oh yeah. None of the stores were willing to give discounts. Said specialized will not let then discount which I did read about. The giant dealer also said the same thing. Where they can do something would be accessories and tune ups. You're probably in the east coast but any tips on getting discounts?
I’m in Ottawa so I can only speak for prices I’ve seen in Ontario and Montreal.

Unfortunately this time of year (still mid season), it’s quite normal for stores NOT to have a discount. Getting accessories discounted is quite the norm.

Specialized: it’s quite possible there are no discount right now, but both our local Ottawa Specialized dealers will discount Specialized. SportingLife did no HST on all bikes in mid fall and the other LBS one offered me a good deal on a current year Roubaix (about 20%) that was in stock. There may be factory discounts on some slow selling models.

Giant: definitely possible to get a discount, one LBS offered me 10% in summer months when I asked politely, and had 20% off road bikes in the fall. That’s why I mentioned before that I almost bought a women’s Comax for less than $1500. Even the official Giant company stores had no HST one weekend (normally doesn’t discount at all). Lots of RFD’ers in Toronto get great prices on Giant through RFD’er r1lee (the RFD Cycling thread is full of people posting their new Giants)

If you have to order the bike, don’t expect any discount because they have to have it shipped in.

Apparently bike stores actually don’t make a lot of money on bikes, they will sell at full price at the beginning and then discount a bit to get rid of inventory. If you average it out, they aren’t going to make a big profit because of overhead (shipping, labour, space, inventory costs). At least that’s what I’ve read many times. I’ve seen some of the cost prices of bikes when I was peering over the shoulder of a sales guy on his computer and the markup was probably less than 50%, not including the cost to have it shipped to the store and assembled.
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Oct 22, 2012
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warpdrive wrote: The standard bearer hybrid under $500 is still Giant's Escape.
This is under $500 https://www.sportchek.ca/product/332215 ... =332215443

ok, slightly above $500, but here are some options for hybrids:
Orbeas: (https://www.sportchek.ca/brands//orbea/urban-bikes.html) at Sportchek
GT Grade: https://www.sportchek.ca/categories/sho ... 15451.html


$1 to 1.5 K will get you a nice hybrid. It won't get you carbon unless you find a deal. Two years ago, I almost bought a Giant Comax for less than $1500 https://www.giant-bicycles.com/ca/bikes-fastroad-comax at end of year sale.

The normal hybrid you might want is a Cannondale Quick (example: http://www.cannondale.com/en/Canada/Bik ... =undefined) or Giant Rapid https://www.giant-bicycles.com/ca/rapid-1

here are a couple that use belt drive:
Scott 10 - https://www.scott-sports.com/ca/en/prod ... 0-Men-Bike This one has belt drive and internal hub (probably around $1500)
Trek Zektor i3 (3 speed with also a belt drive) https://www.trekbikes.com/ca/en_CA/bike ... grey_black
GT = Giant?
The standard bearer hybrid under $500 is still Giant's Escape.
This is under $500 https://www.sportchek.ca/product/332215 ... =332215443
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Mar 6, 2003
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FlukeSkywalker wrote: GT = Giant?
The standard bearer hybrid under $500 is still Giant's Escape.
This is under $500 https://www.sportchek.ca/product/332215 ... =332215443
No, giant and gt are two different companies.
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Oct 24, 2004
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I'm happy with my Trek FX for my daily Toronto commute.
I'd get anything from a 7.3+ model (used or new).
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newt_101 wrote: I'm happy with my Trek FX for my daily Toronto commute.
I'd get anything from a 7.3+ model (used or new).
We've had a few Treks and they served us well. I do find them a little pricier but they are solid buys IMO. We have a 7.4 hybrid
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warpdrive wrote: We've had a few Treks and they served us well. I do find them a little pricier but they are solid buys IMO. We have a 7.4 hybrid
Agreed.
On the used market they are a better buy.
From what I recall I believe that Giant is the same company as Trek, but priced more aggressively.
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newt_101 wrote: From what I recall I believe that Giant is the same company as Trek, but priced more aggressively.
No.

Giant makes some carbon frames for Trek but that's it.
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newt_101 wrote: From what I recall I believe that Giant is the same company as Trek, but priced more aggressively.
Giant builds a lot of bikes for a lot of companies including Trek, but they aren't the same company as Trek. Trek is originally a US company and hasn't been sold to anybody, I had a made in USA Trek when they were actually making most of their bikes in USA

Trek is somewhat poo-pooed among bike snobs I find. Probably a combination of previous association with Lance and just the fact Trek brand is quite mainstream....not enough snoot factor even when they churn out high end $15K road bikes.
Some thing applies to Giant. No bike snob goes "ooooh" when they see a Giant.
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warpdrive wrote: I’m in Ottawa so I can only speak for prices I’ve seen in Ontario and Montreal.

Unfortunately this time of year (still mid season), it’s quite normal for stores NOT to have a discount. Getting accessories discounted is quite the norm.

Specialized: it’s quite possible there are no discount right now, but both our local Ottawa Specialized dealers will discount Specialized. SportingLife did no HST on all bikes in mid fall and the other LBS one offered me a good deal on a current year Roubaix (about 20%) that was in stock. There may be factory discounts on some slow selling models.

Giant: definitely possible to get a discount, one LBS offered me 10% in summer months when I asked politely, and had 20% off road bikes in the fall. That’s why I mentioned before that I almost bought a women’s Comax for less than $1500. Even the official Giant company stores had no HST one weekend (normally doesn’t discount at all). Lots of RFD’ers in Toronto get great prices on Giant through RFD’er r1lee (the RFD Cycling thread is full of people posting their new Giants)

If you have to order the bike, don’t expect any discount because they have to have it shipped in.

Apparently bike stores actually don’t make a lot of money on bikes, they will sell at full price at the beginning and then discount a bit to get rid of inventory. If you average it out, they aren’t going to make a big profit because of overhead (shipping, labour, space, inventory costs). At least that’s what I’ve read many times. I’ve seen some of the cost prices of bikes when I was peering over the shoulder of a sales guy on his computer and the markup was probably less than 50%, not including the cost to have it shipped to the store and assembled.
I read on a bike forum of a guy who ran a bicycle shop.
You make your money selling accessories, and labor for labor. Many these days will try to sell coffee and drinks.

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