thateling

hello, im new to road biking and looking for an entry bike.
Does it make sense bying an extra cheap bike in a store and then slowly upgrading it?eg I buy Triban RC 100 or Supercycle Circuit use it then whenever I feel that I've reached kind of peak on this bike upgrade it with newer groupset like Shimano Deore or 105, better fork, brakes etc., and then whenever I reach a new peak I just move all my good components onto a new good frame.

Because I'm not experienced in buying used bikes, so don't want to get a bad buy.

shelbyfv

No. Take a couple of weeks to read and educate yourself. Then you can shop for a decent used bike with confidence. Put in a little effort and you won't have to be a goof asking "is this a good buy?"

Iride01 

It will make sense to buy a cheap bike and ride the crap out of it for a year or two until you know better what you want. Then throw that bike away, give it away or sell it if you must.

Then buy the bike you now know better that will do the things the other bike wasn't doing well for you.

VegasTriker

+2 to No
If you can't distinguish between a decent bike and a mediocre used bike, find someone who does. If you have a bike club in your area, ask them if they have a tourist rider who will help you sort out used bikes on Craigslist or Facebook. You need to find both one that fits and one that has decent components. Cheap bikes are almost universally heavier and thus less fun to ride. You can change components but reducing weight is expensive.
Some years ago I walked into a local second hand store and saw a rather dusty bike with deflated tires. The store did not even take a rag to it or inflate the tires. They put a $20 price tag on it. I lifted the bike and realized by the weight that it was not a piece of junk. I bought it. It is the Cannondale SM800 bike "Beast of the East" that I still own today. I cleaned the bike up, inflated the tires, and took a ride on it as soon as I got it home. Later I did a thorough cleaning. I re-lubricated and adjusted bearings plus replaced a few parts like the brake pads. You should be doing that on a regular basis anyway.

CrimsonEclipse

If you're going to buy cheap, you should expect it to not be a trial of the bike, but a trial of cycling in general and your taste for it.
You should expect to sell it and never ride it again if you hate cycling or sell it for an entirely new bike if you love cycling.

Upgrading the listed bikes is like upgrading a bottom level economy car. You COULD add a V8 and big rims.... but oh god why?

If you can find a GOOD bike shop, one where you feel comfortable, and not pressured or burdened, they will make all of the efforts to get you started on a new or used road bike for a price that is not too much higher that the listed bikes, with massively higher quality.

Steel Charlie

The Sow's Ear Syndrome. Don't do it.
Buy cheap, ride cheap, flip it, buy better

plumberroy

Read research and learn. A cheap bike is a cheap bike upgrade it and you have a cheap bike with better components but the base is still a cheap bike. for years I didn't have money for a decent bike. I found decent old bikes that needed work and fixed them up. I rode a $10 Raleigh steel C30 for years I put cables and tire on it first eventually changed the wheels until I got to the point I could buy a good bike . My coworkers daughter is still riding the old Raleigh. If you know what you want and are patient you can find decent bikes on craigslist or Facebook marketplace. I bought a like new surly Steamroller off craigslist for $300 you need to know what you want and have a schedule to search regularly

Gresp15C

A drawback to the proposed approach is that the components you'll eventually want, won't be compatible with the cheap bike. You'll be endlessly battling with compatibility issues, and accepting compromises such as older style or second-hand parts. And then the new components will be incompatible if you ever get a new frame. And so forth. In my view older bikes only make sense if you're satisfied with them as-is or with relatively minor upgrades.

There's also an issue with pricing, which is that the bike makers get huge volume discounts on components, meaning that a fully built bike will always be cheaper than buying its parts and assembling them yourself, unless you luck into a series of killer deals.

Outrider1

Absolutely not. If you can visit a proper LBS (local bike shop), you'll immediately get a feel for the difference between a department store bike and a quality bike. They'll also be able to educate you and steer you in the right direction.

shelbyfv

Here's a cautionary thread. junk to junk You can spend time and energy and still have junk.

3alarmer 

.
...there are so many excellent used road bikes for sale, now that it's too inconvenient to use downtube shifters, I would say that no, it doesn't make sense.
But I know a lot more about what goes wrong with them and how to fix it, than you probably do. Find someone to help you look at used bikes who is knowledgeable.

In the unlikely event you can find someone nearby who rehabs and sells used bicycles who actually knows about this stuff, buy one from him (or her).

squirtdad

No: the frame is the foundation of the bike, you can have a nice riding bike with low end components, but you can never make a low end frame ride well with higher end components

No: especially if you are not doing your own work as cost will be eaten up

no: because it is cheaper to buy a bike with all the components as manufacturers get huge part discounts because of volume

Both of those bike look to be sold not in bike shops, but in the likes of walmart and canadian tire, which make them suspect and you will not get any quality of support if there are issues

zandoval 

Some People Don't Have A Choice!

I have seen a few people delay ridding because they are looking for a suitable bicycle. I personally find this wrong. Ya find yourself some garage sale bicycle and hopefully its of standard specs. First ya replace whats totally broken or worn. Then ya transition to other things all the time keeping an eye out for the frame ya really want. At the mean time you are ridding...

That's the ticket... Get ridding...

Laugh at my Dumpster Diving bicycle all ya want... I am ridding...

Slowly it may evolve into a gem or get parted to the gem frame you finally got. So would I kiss a frog? Sure... If it allows me to ride.

BlazingPedals

Put simply, upgrade parts cost more than getting a bike with the good stuff already on it.

3alarmer 

...it's a mistake to think that the components, in and of themselves, are what contribute to your experiences in attempting to improve as a cyclist. Good used frames as whole bicycles are pretty cheap right now. Probably because there are so many people, who feel as you do, that they might get taken for a ride buying one on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. But as already stated, someone else who knows this stuff needs to be on your side, if you haven't yet learned about it yourself.

wolfchild

It's not worth to upgrade a cheap department store bike with better components.

squirtdad

put your location, size, and budget in and people will often pull up bike from craigslist Or kinji you are in canada

RCMoeur 

The upgrade path makes sense if you initially purchase a bike with a high-quality frame that uses commonly-available parts - otherwise upgrades are often good money chasing an initial bad investment.

If there is a local bike co-op in your area, visit them. They may be in a good position to offer advice and a decent starter bike at a good price.

CliffordK

There have been people that have bought mid-range bikes and added higher quality parts. In some cases, entry level carbon fiber bikes outfitted with a Sora groupset and upgraded to Ultegra, and then sold the old groupset as new-pulls. It was easier before most companies shut down international shipping of groupsets.

Nonetheless, as many people have mentioned, it may be a losing battle with parts prices higher than you might expect.

The bikes you found:
One option to get into road bikes is to go used. Look for a former top of the line bike, 10 to 20 years old, and with some luck you'll find one for less than your department store bikes. Then if you wish to upgrade a few parts to more modern standards, then knock yourself out.

Even purchasing a 30 to 50 year old frame as a starter, and you may be better off than the department store bikes above... if you're careful. And, the bike will have a tremendous amount of character.

shelbyfv

I disagree that anyone has to settle for riding junk bikes at any price point. You can easily find quality bikes with older tech for $200 or less. A person just has to make an effort to learn. The market for bottom feeder bike stuff, whether from a dumpster or a box store, exists only because people choose to be uninformed.

DaleDee

I bought a Schwinn 3rd Avenue hybrid 21-speed, knowing that I'd have to do a lot of improvement, but I wanted it for a practice bike, practicing mechanical taking it apart and rebuilding it. I was a total novice at the time. For $199 I knew it would be a piece of junk but it was what I wanted to do. I didn't intend to keep it for long.

First thing, out of the box, was that the tires and tubes were worthless. The tubes were half the diameter they should have been, and they were made of a granular substance. I couldn't inflate either of them because the tubes split open. The tires had no discernible tread; they looked like rubber hair sprouting out. So down to the bike shop for tires and tubes. That made it rideable. I changed the bars and replaced the twist shifter with trigger shifters. I had a saddle that I had no other use for so that went on the bike. Swapped the Ashtabula crank for a cartridge BB. By time I was done, it looked good and rode good. I wasn't disappointed. I put a couple of hundred miles on it and experienced no problems. Finally, I sold it for $100. I was happy with the experiment and I learned from it. Would I recommend doing it for a bike you want to keep? No way.

SurferRosa

This ... and keep on doing it. You might end up with four Italians in the stable and money in the bank.

Calsun

Best bet is to look for a good used bike on Craigslist. A bike that the owner bought for $1500 is now selling for $500. I have seen excellent bikes sell for $1,000 or less that cost their sellers at least twice as much as their asking price. All the maintenance items on a bike are pretty cheap to replace in the future, such as brake and shifter cables, tires, and brake pads.

The problem with buying a used bike is having to pay full retail for parts to upgrade it. A bike that sells new has components from a company like Shimano that cost the manufacturer far less to buy direct from the manufacturer than that same part that is sold through a distributor to a retailer and then sold to the end user. The cost is 3x higher for the person buying at a reseller or online.

Maelochs

To start---a bike like the Triban 100 is a great place to start.

https://www.******.com/r/ukbike/comm..._triban_rc100/
https://road.cc/content/review/decat...ad-bike-250460
https://bestbikeselect.com/decathlon...e-for-newbies/

This is the sort of bike I'd recommend for someone just start out ... don't waste money trying to "upgrade" it---likely you couldn't really do much that you would even notice making a difference. One warning---with a 1x7 drive train, you will be working sort of hard on steeper hills and also spinning really fast if you want to hit high speeds ... but for casual riding or urban commuting it is a decent place to start.

If you can muster $500, though, I would look around and see what else is out there. The BikesDirect Motobecane Mirage (https://bikesdirect.com/products/mot.../mirage_sl.htm) is a couple hundred more but worth it IMO.

Go online, look at entry-level bikes from some of the major manufacturers ... see what they offer and what they cost. See what you can afford. Fro $500-$700 you should be able to buy a bike you can ride for a year or two to decide whether you like riding enough to get a better bike, or maybe get a bike which will meet your needs for years. Not everyone needs the lightest, newest, 12-speed, disc-brake, electronic-shifting wunderbike. Plenty of people can ride 16-18 speed bikes with Al frames and CF forks and enjoy cycling as much as if they were on much more expensive bikes.

If you don't know bikes, buying a used bike is worse than gambling at Vegas. You probably cannot tell if a bike fits or can be made to fit, if it has issues, if it needs possibly expensive repairs .... and since you won't be doing your own work, pretty much Anything done at a bike shop will cost half (or more) of what you spent on the bike .... Most shops I have been to---and it has been a long while---charge $40-$50 just to look at your bike.

If you buy a Really cheap bike, like a department-store bike, there is a good chance it will break if you ride it hard. if you ride gently, a cheap bike can be alright---but forget upgrading. A cassette might cast $50, a rear derailleur $40, a front derailleur another $40, and a shop charges $100 to make the swaps ..... Now your $150 bike costs $500 and its wheels and tires still suck, the seat sucks ...... Whereas a $500 bike might not weigh a lot less, but it will have longer-lasting parts which Could be upgraded .... but again not worth it. Get a decent bike and ride it for a year or two and keep it as a back-up.

As another poster mentioned, the "upgrade" parts cost a huge amount when purchased individually.

If you can find a friend who knows bikes, you can find a good used bike for decent money ... a lot of people seem to be selling bikes they bought during the pandemic. if you cannot find a co-shopper, then save up money and buy an entry-level bike at a bike shop. it will still be a bike, and probably as good a bike as most of us rode 30 years ago ... bikes have improved in a lot of ways. The bonus is that all the basic parts on a basic bike-shop bike should last a long time. Department-store bikes ... in my experience, don't last long at all if you ride much.

If you can fo basic assembly and adjustment---which you should learn to do regardless---you might find BikesDirect a good resource. I have shopped there with satisfaction ... though not in many years. You have to do your own research. (https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/road_bikes.htm)

Also, aluminum-framed bikes tend not be as heavy as cheap steel ..... but you can again, do your own research.

rsbob 

Starting to see a recurring theme to the answers. I would go with it.