High level summary: I hate this bike

So while in Massachusetts visiting my family, I rented bikes for my friend and I.

I could have rented the lovely Specialized StumpJumper, a $1700+ bike, for $50 per person, or a Jamis Hybrid, a $300+ bike, for $25 per person. I made a huge mistake in getting the Jamis.

Side note: my friend doesn’t ride a road bike, hence why I wanted to get upright hybrid/trail bikes.

Our intent: Street and packed trail riding

Of which we did both – there was a thrill in being able to bike on sand and leaves and rocks and know I wasn’t going to pop a tire or have less control of my bike.

I also liked having just seven speeds. There was a pleasant simplicity to it.

But after putting on over thirty miles on a bike with NO SUSPENSION, I really started to feel it.

I thought to myself, Why? What is the purpose of this bike?
The tires are too thick for just street – get a road bike!
With no suspension, you shouldn’t be hitting the trails on this thing – get a trail bike!
Not as heavy as a beach cruiser, but not that light, either – I don’t even know!

Turns out the bike is meant for bike paths!? And in Jamis’ marketing text on their website, they trash talk consoles – “It’s a chance to play together, for real, instead by proxy with electronic avatars and a console.”

OK Jamis. Look here. Don’t trash talk my video games. I’m gonna let that one slide, because you are the bike sponsor for the (female pro cycling team) Colavita.

But why are you making such a bike that is only good for short, paved distances? I suspect it is an entry level bike for people that will only put about 5 miles on it at a time and/or collect dust in their garage.

The line of Street/Commuting bikes looks pretty nice, but is just tagging a bike as street/commuting enough to turn a potential customer away?

As this is not my line of business, I personally don’t know, so I’ll have to assume Jamis knows what they are doing in regards to that demographic. There is just no way I’d spend money on a bike with such limited functionality (although it’s still a step up from a beach cruiser), when such better options are available.