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Look: There are a lot of cycling companies out there. Some of the best bike brands have models with gearing intended for easy commuting. Others make bikes specifically for road racing. Some are intended to roll over rocky gravel trails and down steep, dirt-covered descents, and others even fold up enough to fit underneath the seat of a plane. A few bikes cost less than your AirPods—others will run you as much as a used Subaru Forester. So, narrowing down that list to a few of our favorite brands is no small task, which is why we called in the pros.
With help from a grip of cycling experts, including Dave Rome, senior tech editor for the biking website Escape Collective; Robin Graven-Milne, owner and mechanic at Bike Plant; Ilya Nikhamin, owner of Redbeard Bikes; and Eben Weiss, author of The Ultimate Bicycle Owner’s Manual and Bike Snob NYC, we compiled a list of nine of the best bike brands for every type of rider.
The Best Bike Brands, At a Glance:
- The Best Bike Brand: Surly
- The Best Mainstream Bike Brand: Specialized
- The Best Bike Brand for the Tech Obsessed: Cannondale
- The Best Low-Maintenance Bike Brand: Priority
- The Best Folding Bike Brand: Brompton
- The Best Mountain Bike Brand: Santa Cruz
- The Best Single-Speed/Affordable Bike Brand: State
- The Best Fixed-Gear Bike Brand: Affinity
- The Best Old School Bike Brand: Rivendell
Surly only produces steel bike frames, which makes it kind of old school. (Basically, most bikes were made of steel until it started to become more popular to use lighter materials like aluminum in cheaper bikes or carbon fiber and titanium in pricier models.) Still, steel bikes offer a solid value for all riders since the materials are super durable, helping the bike roll smoothly over bumpy roads and trails.
The designs are “function over form,” says Rome. “They’re completely bomb-proof.” They are also notoriously easy to work on and customize. That’s likely on purpose—Surly is one of the bike brands owned by Quality Bicycle Products, the largest distributor of bikes, bike accessories, and components in North America. Rome says many people buy a Surly and then spend time customizing it until it becomes the bike of their dreams. “If you see someone on a Surly, you know they love bikes—but also that they’re kind of practical about it.”
The Surly product line is relatively robust, with a focus on comfortable bikes that can handle rides on gravel. The Preamble is a good option for commuters, while the Grappler might be better suited for longer trail rides. And if you’re looking for a bike that can serve as a bonafide Grocery Getter, try the company’s longtail cargo bike, which is cheekily named the Big Dummy.
The Best Mainstream Bike Brand: Specialized
Broadly speaking, experts say, you can get high-quality bikes from pretty much any mainstream brand, be it Trek, Scott, Specialized, or Giant. “They’re all going to make stuff that is good,” says Weiss. Of the three, however, I have a slight preference for Specialized. The full-service brand, headquartered in Morgan Hill, California, sells a wide range of bikes. If you’re looking for a hybrid commuter bike made of lightweight aluminum alloy, you can buy the Specialized Allez. If you’re looking for a bike that can accommodate wide, nubby tires for comfortable gravel riding, you can’t go wrong with the Specialized Diverge. If you live and breathe cycling and want the same bike as your favorite WorldTour rider, you can get the featherlight Specialized Tarmac. And, if you’re shopping for a toddler who needs something small that they can stand over and practice on, you can get the Specialized Hotwalk.
