I've ACT 104, so from that perspective, avoid the cycles without mudguard, if not possible, then avoid taking them in rains. Your back & people cleaning your shirt will curse you for the muck!!!

I have been using a ACT 110 PLUS for an year now. Very happy with the bike. The advantage over regular 110 is that this bike comes with 3x8 Shimano Acera, Adjustable seat post and removable front/back wheels (comes handy when taking the bike in a car or when u need to get a puncture fixed). Don't worry about disc brakes and suspension, you wont need it unless you are into mountain biking. For regular usage these components are sheer dead weight. I had a bike with suspension before switching to ACT so i know what difference the lack of suspension makes in ease of riding esp when you are going uphill. Also at the 10k price point i don't think these components have any quality to it.

How is 104 in terms of comfort and pedal effort? We don't have much chances when goin for a limited budget so something hastobe compromised upon to.

What's the role of suspension in bicycles on our roads according to your experience? How's the service of parts? I mean common problems with bicycles are seat getting misaligned, brakes fading and requires gr8 effort after sometime, comfort and easiness of ride?

Aah!!! Forget it!!! ACT104 is replaced by several other ACT's & I even doubt if you get 104 now. I bought 104 because it comes with carrier, front & rear suspensions.

I personally find it comfortable with suspension.

This is something you've to do the homework; I stay very close to Ti cycle factory & they also have their service & showroom right in the factory campus. But when it comes to servicing, they're like Honda. They care a damn about their customers. However, we also have Just Buy Cycles who sell Hercules & Raleigh products; they're little better than Ti interms of arrogancy.

So you need to find out the bad devil among the worst & buy their product

That's the real problem, now we know that a bicycle is servicable at almost every puncture shop we see on the roadside. But, the quality of work and inexperience in handling expensive bicycles is what they lack.

Tomorrow will have a thorough market research on this perspective. As I will be using the bicycle extensively, I need an easily servicable and reliable bicycle.

Having suspension makes your ride comfortable only by bit. You will still feel jerks. On sub 10k bikes the shocks don't damp as well, as they would on a motor cycle. Also, more weight to paddle means every time you slow down to attack a pothole or hump, it will take more effort to re-gain speed. On Indian road, seldom is the case where one can maintain a given speed for long time. So what ever little you gain in comfort you lose out in pedaling effort. Another point is that the rear-shock eats up some energy too (read about this in a 0hp forum). Your other points about maintaining a bike are very valid and if you add suspension to it you have one more thing to worry about. In one year the only issue that bothered me was punctures (once i had 6 in a span of a week).

+1; even if your cycle lies rusted, never, ever give it to them; they not only learn on your cycle, but also point fault with manufacturers to have made cycles so complex!!! Damn their capability!!!

Also consider buying a cycle with gear & give more weightage to the gears; I love the gears & they really motivate me to ride harder.

Under 15 gears are the maximum I am looking forward to. More gears and you struggle to get a good combination. Yes, I would buy a bike that I love to, that will keep me motivated to ride her for longer and longer and longer...... very tiresome to think..:P

Just one more thing wanted to ask are tubeless tyres available in bicycles?:P

Yes they are but probably not that easily in India and it may require a rim change too.

Well said mate, keep on advicing us newbies. thank you.

Bicycles are easy devices to maintain. My advice would be to buy a good bike and a set of tools and learn how to do it yourself. There are fantastic videos on youtube which will show you how to do everything. You will be amazed at how easy and satisfying it is to fix and change a punctured tube yourself. Depending on which city you are in, if in doubt, you can always take the bike across to a good LBS (Local Bike Store) for the bigger stuff (changing cranks, bottom bracket, etc.). Its interesting to note here that part of the reason you need to keep servicing the bike at the bike shop is because its cheap. Contrary to public perception, a better, more expensive bike actually requires less maintenance. The premium you pay is for better quality, stronger parts. For example, a Shimano Alivio derailleur is not exponentially better than a Shimano Tourney for shifting. But it is infitely more durable and will continue to perform better in the long run - hence the cost. If you pay your bike a little attention and take a little care, it is very very low on maintenance.

Well put. Only a couple of clarifications. Suspension on bicycles has a very different origin from motorcycles. They were introduced in order to allow riders to push the limits on harsh terrain i.e. were introduced purely for hardcore mountain biking. In India, we have seen crappy suspension from Indian manufacturers as something to take the edge off bad roads. Lets make this clear - you do NOT need suspension if you plan to purely ride on roads. Having a little sus might take the edge off bad roads but indeed it will slow you down (part of the energy you put into pedalling will go towards the suspension bobbing up and down). Steel bikes or bikes with steel forks have smoother rides because the metal itself absorbs shock and flexes. The same is true of carbon and titanium bikes. Aluminium allow bikes tend to have a harsher ride because the metal does not flex as much and therefore transmits the shock to you.

Please note, it is completely untrue that having a front fork will increase your maintenance worries! A half decent (imported) bike will give you no issues or worries at all. Of course, if you buy a locally made bike, you will get what you pay for. Here's a quick pointer - if buying a locally made bike, go in for the one with the least frills - no suspension, no gears, no nothing. It will probably be heavy but will serve you well over time. The BSA SLR is probably the best bet in this category. If however, you want all the bells and whistles, spend nothing less than 15k. You will get gears and an entry-level front fork which will last some time and you will enjoy cycling. If you buy a locally made bike with gears and suspension, you will curse the day you did so and probably end up letting it rust and then give it away without returning to cycling.

NOTE: You do NOT need rear suspension unless you plan on doing some serious downhilling and freeriding. Also, it costs a BOMB! An entry-level full-sus will cost you nothing less than 80,000 ruppees.

Completely untrue. Besides, for a decent Shimano or SRAM these days, you will have 3 cogs up front and a minimum of 7 behind giving you a minimum of 21 and a maximum of 30 gears. For most general riding you will use the middle ring up front i.e. 2-3 to 2-7. If you climb up hills, you WILL need the granny ring (1) and will probably use 1-3 to 1-6. And when you're cruising on the flats you will find that you enjoy 3-5 to 3-7 though it would be advisable to avoid this in the interest of preserving your poor knees over time.

Stock bikes do not come with 3 - 5 gearing - not if they are decent bikes with Shimano or SRAM kit.