i would recommend these two:
http://www.velomarkt.ch/veloboerse.p...17&adid=104997

http://www.velomarkt.ch/veloboerse.p...17&adid=105448

if you want to make competitve training on the road , there are tyres with the diameter 26"x1"(around 150 grams per tyre), the lightest MTB tyre so far comes with a weight of 280 grams each .
I dont think you will find bikes like these in the price range at about 1000 sfr

Here is one for 1000 sfr(3 years old):
http://www.velomarkt.ch/veloboerse.p...24&adid=104713

Thanks guys... but I just went back to the shop and bought the Cannondale Bad Boy S from last season. It was reduced, the service was really good and I really like the bike. It's a fab simple design. They'll do all the extras as well, so I can just go and collect it next week. So next weekend, if the weather isn't too bad, I'll try to go for a spin with it to that Geifensee lake.

Congrats on your new purchase, and wish you happy and safe riding. remember to take pics during your greifensee ride, you will cherish it for a long time

BTW hope the bike was a color of your liking. And were the tires pneumatic or hydraulic

Congrats, that bike looks good.

Just, be aware that we often have "backwards" springtime weather over here....

Sunny and warm on Wednesdays, gray and rainy on weekends

with a bit of luck we'll have a reversal this year.... cross fingers

Thanks guys I can't wait to pick it up next week.
It's totally black and soooo sleek, I'm loving it!

Fingers crossed for some good spring weather

mine got stolen last year, but its a wonderful bike!

Oh no, sorry to hear. I'm going to use a really strong big ABUS chain (usually for small motorbikes).. so I'm hoping it'll be safe.

Did you have insurance for it? I actually don't know how you insure your bike over here....

have fun with your new bike , miss-lizzy.
Did you already purchased the velo vignette(A must when you drive on roads)?
When you are a member of the tcs(travel club suisse), you can buy a insurance
against bike theft(starts from 50sfr a year, depends on the worth of the bike).
http://www.verkehrsclub.ch/de/versic...ovignette.html
http://www.verkehrsclub.ch/de/versic...diebstahl.html

Another option is the insurance for your household, give your agency a call.........

Problem was that i could not lock it to a fixed installation. So they came with a car and loaded it up. Anyway, my household insurance paid for it. So probably in my case, no need for an extra insurance, but check that first!

A bike stolen from you building or at your door is normally covered by the household insurance.

Some also cover it if it is stolen anywhere.

But check out the conditions first and see how are you covered.

Some years ago my City Bike was stolen, this was a Hybrid model I bought new and the cost of it was som e CHF 700.- ( that was the times were I didn't build the bikes myself )

The insurance company ( Zürich insurances ) paid the full amount, but before paying they forced me to sign new conditions accepting a "franchise" of CHF 500.-, so the next time my bike is stole I will get nothing from them.

Was I too quick in signing that new conditions? Could I refuse to sign it ? I am not sure, maybe someone who knows more about insurances can help us here.

Hi,

Any mountain bikers thinking about riding the portes de soleil/ Alps this summer when the snow melts?

Or the Saleve even?

Or if there are any VTT clubs around Geneva ?

I'm looking for some riding buddies.

Should say I'm in Geneva!

I do a bit of MTBing, not in the mountains so much, but local forest trails. Was thinking of getting some disc brakes mounted, are they really worth it, or just an unecessary luxury?

A friend of mine who is a keen mountain biker bought a newer version of the bike he had which included some fancy disc brakes. He swears if he buys a new bike he will go back to V-brakes. Apparently lining them up is a hassle and tinkering with them is a bit more difficult and there are some other problems.
However, as a casual biker i thought the disc brakes I had on my MTB at home were epic! But then I wasn't overly bothered by the high performance of my bike, more just the fun I almost flew over the handlebars the first time I used them as I wasn't expecting them to be quite so powerful

If you ever ride in mud- or do long downhills a quality set of disc brakes is way better than conventional v brakes. Since both those conditions are prevalent in CH- it is a no brainer from my perspective.

Thanks for the responses guys. Next question, what disc brakes would you recommend, how much do they cost and how much (ball-park) would a bike shop charge to mount them?

a typical set from Shimano XT cost around 180 sfr, setup is 8 sfr(bike-import .ch), you can pay up to 550 sfr for one set(sram XX or avid), give your local dealer a call

Hi -- I'm packing up a touring bike, preparing for a year or possibly longer based around Lausanne and Geneva. I'm in NYC now.

It's a 1980s Japanese frame, made for 27 inch wheels. Right now I only have a rear wheel for it. It's made for v-brakes, but I took those off in order to allow for the possibility of using 700c wheels if necessary. I've got a pair of extra long reach cantilever brakes for that purpose.

The airline will charge US$100 to fly my bike in a box (as opposed to the $45 they charge just to check a second piece of normal-sized, normal-weight luggage). There's a weight limit on the bike box, so I'm trying to be strategic, and only bring the bike stuff I can't easily and/or cheaply obtain in Suisse.

For example, I could buy a drive chain here, but I understand I can buy one for just 10chf from the Coop Do-It (love that place). That's better than the US$16 my local bike shop here would charge.

On the other hand, I'm sure there are things that I can't easily obtain cheaply in Suisse. I could purchase a 27-inch front wheel, for instance, for just $40 here; not even sure if I could find one there. Same goes for tires.

So I'm hoping folks on this thread with some experience and knowledge about what's available in Switzerland -- whether it be at bike swaps, flea markets, bike shops, or hardware stores -- can opine on whether I should bring x, or find it over there. And by 'x', i mean just about everything, including: handlebars, pedals, brake levers (interrupter/cross and/or aero/road), fenders, racks, saddles (brooks?), seat post, panniers, tubes, bells, lights, and tools.

Also worth considering, I guess, is the availability of stuff via internet/mail order. I know that, here, you'd be smart to think ahead and buy tires online rather than in stores ... is that generally true there as well?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

27" rims and tyres will be VERY hard to find here - Europe went over to the 700c standard a LONG time ago. Fortunately, tubes are stretchy enough that they are interchangeable between the two sizes. I would say make sure that your bike is setup to take 700c wheels before shipping it over.

No idea how much a chain would cost here because you haven't told us how many rear gears the chain needs to be designed for: 5-speed, 7, 10???

Internet shopping is cheap and easy from the UK and Germany, and prices will be comparable to US online prices. The problem is that Switzerland is not part of the EU, so shipping can sometimes be higher plus you pay import and tax fees on top of your order. But as long as you make a decent-sized order (about 200 CHF or so) then those fees are not so important, and if the order value is really low then you won't pay any extra import fees or taxes. There are now a couple of online Swiss stores who are starting to get a decent inventory and competitive prices, I plan to update one of the original posts on this thread with this info pretty soon. Getting stuff from them is fast and hassle free.

Also, if you're in the Lausanne area then ask me about anything specific you need, I may well have it in a drawer somewhere (e.g., I have two extra pairs of barely-used interruptor/cross brake levers and a pair of aero road brake levers), which I'll sell to you for slightly less than internet prices (plus some old drop bars that you can have for very little).

Hey, ChrisW: Thanks for the helpful response! Somebody at Hood Cycles said 27" wheels & tyres can be had, but at a higher price than here. I think, since I've already got the rear wheel, I'll bring an extra tyre for it and use a 700c in front. Maybe the smaller front wheel will afford me a more aggressive touring position. I may take you up on your offer with the aero levers. I've already got interruptors but I think there may be concern over whether there's enough pull for cantilevers (not v-brakes, as I had written). I'm used to single speed here, so I'm not used to buying anything other than 1/8" chain ... it's the number of sprockets I've got in the rear that corresponds to the "speeds" of the chain, right? 6, in that case. But that was something I already identified as cheaper at Coop (10.50 CHF) than I can find here.