Icculus21

Does all this high-end CF and Ultegra talk make you feel inadequate? We all must start somewhere, and often have budgetary constraints which limit us to lower end models. Here is my 2013 Trek 1.5 which I purchased brand new for less than $1000 with about a 25-30% year end clearance discount. It's my first road bike and I use it for both commuting and longer/fitness rides, as I cannot fit or afford two bikes. I read a lot about peoples' high-end bikes, which I strive to own one day, but for the foreseeable future it's this. I recently purchased my first component upgrade which is Vuelta Corsa Lite wheelset (not yet installed).
BE PROUD OF YOUR ENTRY LEVEL BIKE!!! (and its Tiagra groupset)



(BTW, how do you post a large photo and not just a tiny thumbnail?)

12strings

I did a write-up with pictures about my 2015 Jamis Quest Comp here: https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...road-bike.html

Steel frame, Sora drivetrain, 23 lbs. I've upgraded small things like saddle, stem, pedals, brake pads.

I paid $830 back in 2015. This was 4x the amount of my previous $200 bike, and yet is still the absolute cheapest bike on our club group rides! But I Love it!

Luis G.

20160531_212834 by crazysur123, on Flickr

Here's mine, It's a Fitwell Degroot 2. Came in at $590ish. I try to keep costs down on cycling, so I've used Craigslist and ebay to my advantage, I enjoy bargain hunting.
So far I have only had to buy Pedals, and a 105 Cassette, so my total investment is about $660~.

I bought the wheelset, and Arione R3 saddle in addition to two cranksets which were sold to cover the costs of the parts.

wphamilton

No. Following fast featherweights up steep hills makes me feel inadequate.

Tiagra? Sora and Claris on mine - nothing to be particularly proud of, but I built it the way I wanted it and there is some satisfaction that it has served me well for years.

BounceCT

I've got a 2011 Trek 1.5 Tiagra 9sp I picked up on CraigsList 2 years ago for $400 (it was lightly used). I've put over 3,000 miles on it since. Recently changed cassette and chain, upgraded saddle, tires GP4000sii & pedals last year. This year new (budget) wheels: Fulcrum 5's. My Tiagra shifters have side exit shifter cables which i dont like and may change in the future. Otherwise bike is a great starter bike and should last a long time.

Shuffleman

You should only feel inadequate if people pass you by and you lose site of them quickly. It happens to just about everybody. I am coming back from a serious surgery and this past weekend I rode with my normal group on a normal ride. The ride was double the distance that I have done since rehabbing. I got left behind by the entire group. I felt inadequate but I will feel that way until I work my way back in terms of strength and stamina. I even felt embarassed for my bike.
Seriously, most of us who buy bikes buy them because we can and because we like them. It is no big deal. I am not sure that I ride any faster on my current bike as opposed to my old bike. I just like it more. Ride what you have an enjoy the ride regardless of the beast that you are sitting on. The enjoyment should be about the actual ride, not the bike.
Bikes are like taxes. You consider the tax bracket above you to be rich. You are feeling like the guy with 105 is higher end but the guy with Sora feels like you are higher end.The guy with Claris thinks that the guy with Sora is higher end. And the guy with Dura Ace is thinking that the guy with Record is higher end. (Sorry, I had to toss that one in there). Another way to look at it is simple--whoever spent more on their bike than I did is crazy.

Luis G.

Then you have the jerk who is riding his $200 academy bike, and is thinking all the other guys he passed 2 miles ago are stupid.

Icculus21

Very similar to what I've done. I've had pedals from the start, recently purchased the wheels and tires, and replaced the chain and cassette at around 3000 mi. The new Tiagra's have hidden cables, but I read 4700 shifters are not compatible with 4600 components (don't know how true that is).

12strings

Passing featherweights up hills on my 23lb entry level bike makes me feel great!

PaulRivers

I originally bought an expensive high end Specialized Tarmac after getting my first good paying job a full carbon bike. It cost around $3k, and that was a 2 year old high end model that cost $5k originally.

After a year I found I had a problem - I couldn't ride it anywhere an leave it locked up because it was just to expensive. Also no rack (though I've since learned that they do make racks for that kind of bike).

So I decided to buy a cheaper entry level bike. I was hesitant about the comfort level on an aluminum bike, but didn't want to be leaving a $2k full carbon bike locked up outside, so I bought an "endurance" aluminum bike - a Specialized Sequoia for $800.

It's been much much better than I expected. The comfort (I hate road buzz and had had issues in the past) is much better than expected. It's not quite as good as the best full carbon bikes, but it's "good enough" and I'm pretty picky. The speed is a little slower, but not by a huge margin. I end up riding this bike almost exclusively and almost never use my far more expensive one (to be fair this is partly because the more expensive one is also slightly to small, to twitchy in handling for my taste, and doesn't have a rack which I find very annoying when I want to carry something like an extra shirt or rain jacket just in case). I was also a little shocked to find the difference between Tiagra and Dura-ace was not terribly noticeable. Durace felt "smoother" when things worked right, it wasn't any faster or any better at shifting if not adjusted correctly.

There are still some advantages to full carbon fiber higher end stuff - it is a little faster for me, it is a little better at handling road vibration. But with the massive price difference, I find it very hard to justify buying another high end bike that's the ride size for riding. We'll see. The difference between a $100 bike and a $400 bike was dramatic, the difference between a $400 bike and a $800 bike was pretty noticeable to, but the difference between a $800 bike and a $3,000 bike? It's...it's there, but it's hard to justify the additional $2k.

Maelochs

You should never feel inadequate. Watch bike racing on TV and you will see the fastest riders in the world get dropped. Tying one's self-esteem to one's cycling performance ... well, it's an option for some I guess. I couldn't keep up with most three-year-olds on tricycles ... but I will be having just as much fun.

I long for a better bike ... for no good reason, which is why I don't have one. I have an entry-level BikesDirect Dawes, and a couple rescues from the early '80s. It is hard for me to convince myself to scrounge up enough money , in my meager salary, to buy yet another bike. Really, the only justification for owning more than one is so if something breaks, I can still ride.

Regardless of how I try to sell myself, I know I am not going to enjoy riding another bike That much more. Sure, for the first few miles I would marvel at how well it felt and how much better everything worked ... but after that, it is just me riding a bike and since the "me" part hadn't changed ... it would be pretty much all the same. A Little better, but nothing like what I would have to spend to make the upgrade (All this is based on experience, by the way.)

If/when I can very reasonably afford it, i will surely buy another, better bike ... but mostly because I come here and see the beautiful bikes everyone else rides. Bikes like your Fuji, for instance ......

PepeM

This one's mine, Trek 1.2. Can't think of any good reason to get anything else really, although at some point I might end up upgrading just for fun/vanity.

WalksOn2Wheels

Reverse smugness is still smugness.

That said, lots of deals on CL to be had for very nice bikes at the cost of a new Tiagra equipped bike.

scuzzo

I think the best bang for the buck is go used... heck CL can work.. but its a loto kinda thing.. there is a risk... but what you can get on cl or ebay used will be much much better then entry level new rides.. i would buy used every time becaue you get better stuff and if you are carefull know what to look for and what is being sold.. what you fit.. you can find your white whale.. that bike that is on the list.. i know i did.. one K for a full Ultegra 10 lite speed vortex.. plus the hunt is more fun.. its not very sporting to just go to a bike shop and say.. i want that... its more fun to hunt the deal down.. come to think of it... i dont think i ever had a new road bike.. 2 dales, a schwinn, a felt, a litespeed.. all used... nope.. all used in good or very good condition..

mcours2006

I've come to accept that I will never own a brand new bike unless it is gifted to me, because you can find much better value in a used one. As far as entry level goes, I've got a couple that could be considered so, but they were originally hybrids that I converted to drops.

This is my mule and all round workhorse year round. Steel Bianchi Advantage converted with Tiagra 9-speed.



This is my other workhorse, but no winter service. Aluminum Giant Rapid 2 converted with 105 10-speed. It's like the Defy but slightly longer wheelbase. Quite comfortable ride, actually.

Icculus21

[QUOTE=mcours2006;18833185]



This is my other workhorse, but no winter service. Aluminum Giant Rapid 2 converted with 105 10-speed. It's like the Defy but slightly longer wheelbase. Quite comfortable ride, actually.

I actually had a Giant Rapid which I converted as well. I decided to get a "real" road bike after riding a friend's Specialized.

Icculus21

I actually had a Giant Rapid which I converted as well. It was good but I decided to get a "real" road bike after riding a friend's Specialized. I was actually able to get decent money for it which helped pay for the Trek.

mcours2006

I was unsure if it was a good idea to convert because of what I'd read on here about converting non-road bikes to road bikes, but eventually decided to do it because the Rapid was more or less a road bike with flat bars, so I thought how different could that be? Glad I did it. Version 1.0 had Tiagra. Version 2,0, the current version, has the 105's.

Love riding it.

sevenmag

Here's my 2012 Secteur with 8 speed 2700. It originally had the thumb buttons which I never liked so I changed the shifters to claris. This has been a great bike for me and I've loved riding it. I'm upgrading soon but I'm keeping it as a back up and foul weather bike.

Please excuse the tires, I put those on for an organized/charity ride. The black ones go back on this weekend.


20160609_182926 by Todd Crandall, on Flickr

12strings

The Claris Secteur was one of the best bikes I test-rode, smooth yet responsive, it beat out a tiagra-level Aluminum synapse easily. I ended up going with steel, but This would have been my next choice.

ltxi

My re-entry level a year plus back bike was a two year old, used Tiagra equipped Cannondale Synapse. Perfectly adequate for the purpose and I no way ever felt "inadequate"

Icculus21

That's why I did it at first, it's basically a flat bar road bike. It was a pretty easy conversion because of that, the only things that needed to be changed out were handlebars and shifters. It even had road gearing and road tires.

mcours2006

Exactly. It was pretty inexpensive conversion for me as well. The used Tiagra shifter+handlebar cost me about $100.

GlennR

I started on my son's 12 year old Trek 3700 MTB for the first year. My first "road" bike was a Trek Madone 4.6c which I replaced after 4 years. I got it for $1700, and added the Easton wheels in the second year for $900. When I sold it, I got $800 for the wheels and $1300 for the bike... not bad.

San Pedro

What's entry-level? When I was buy I thought Claris was, and I thought I get a little step above that with my tiagra equipped Allez Elite (upgraded brakes). After spending too much time on here I now realize that of course 105 is entry level, and beneath that I don't know what adjective to use.

I would also love passing guys, but I rarely see other road bikes going same way on my commute. There is one guy who rides an older aluminium Pinarello that I sometimes see and blow by, but that guys cruises pretty slow.