Starter Road Bike
04-26-17, 12:02 PM
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Starter Road Bike
Hello all - I am in the market for a starter road bike. I would like to purchase one from one of the local stores here that offer free tune-ups. The brands carried in the stores here are Giant, Trek and Specialized. My budget is somewhere around $1000 (though I could be convinced to pay a little more) 
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!
04-26-17, 12:07 PM
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Fit is most important. Test ride a bunch and get the one you're most comfortable on. As you narrow it down take 'em on longer rides. I took one out for 45 minutes once. 
04-26-17, 12:14 PM
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04-26-17, 12:21 PM
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The bike was a leftover on closeout and they wanted to unload it badly. The owner was all too happy for me to take it out for as long as I wanted. But no, I didn't end up buying it. I did buy another bike from him at a much later date though.
04-26-17, 05:29 PM
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Is a good used bike out of the question? You can find some barely ridden bikes on Craigslist, and a little more variety of brands. Granted, I do like the thought of the warranty and such.
04-26-17, 05:38 PM
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And a starter bike.... can be with you forever. Your budget could buy you a solid, advanced, well made bike alloy bike. They are often called starters, but they're what I prefer to ride.
04-27-17, 10:38 AM
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04-27-17, 12:25 PM
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Go to stores, ride the bikes, pick the best fitting one/favored color. Not that much difference between brands when it comes to the quality and components on it
04-27-17, 01:05 PM
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There. Fixed it for you. Tune ups aren't worth what you think. Proper fit is worth more than you can imagine.
04-27-17, 01:34 PM
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Before recommending a road bike can I ask how long have you been interested in riding Road Bikes? Do you know if it's something you want to do regularly or just try out?
If you aren't sure if it's something you will stick with I'd say check out some used bikes since you can get a great bike for not a lot of money. If you are going to be for sure riding road for some time go sit on a few bikes and see which ones you like. I prefer the aluminum frames and I went with a Trek Emonda. I also looked at the Giant Defy and Specialized as others have mentioned.
If you aren't sure if it's something you will stick with I'd say check out some used bikes since you can get a great bike for not a lot of money. If you are going to be for sure riding road for some time go sit on a few bikes and see which ones you like. I prefer the aluminum frames and I went with a Trek Emonda. I also looked at the Giant Defy and Specialized as others have mentioned.
04-27-17, 02:15 PM
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04-27-17, 07:04 PM
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I think you should think about the type of riding you want to do and where do you want to ride? What are your plans - speed, longer distance rides at a moderately fast pace, do you want to be able to use the bike on gravel trails? There are lot of options out there in "road' bikes today - from race oriented geometry to endurance, to the all road bikes, and then the touring bikes. Once you define your use/goals - that should lead you toward one part of the "road" bike spectrum.
Sometimes there are some really nice bikes on C/L? Especially in the smaller frame sizes.
Sometimes there are some really nice bikes on C/L? Especially in the smaller frame sizes.
Last edited by FordTrax; 04-27-17 at 08:12 PM.
04-27-17, 07:35 PM
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All good information and I would add that if you haven't done any riding on a road bike you might want to rent one for a few days. I did this many years ago and immediately fell in love with road biking.
