State Bicycle Co. 4130 geared road bike – decent budget option?
 

I have an opportunity to get a good deal on one of these. Never ridden a road bike before, and much of my riding is gravel, so I'm not looking for something to ride 24/7, but thought it might be a good option for trying out drop bars, road bike geometry, etc. Any experience or opinions?

Having worked on a few States, my impression is that while they tend to offer a lot of value, and have cool paint jobs, frame quality control is not the best, lots of small alignment issues. When you buy one new, you get one quickly slapped together and thrown into a box, and if the person who unboxed and built it isn't a decent mechanic, you may have issues with parts not being in great adjustment, and potentially wearing out prematurely as a result.

With the model you are looking at, it comes with a 1x crankset with no narrow-wide ring, no chain keeper, and no clutch derailleur, so I would expect it to drop chains somewhat frequently. Adding a front derailleur and setting the limit screws so it doesn't rub would be the quickest and cheapest way to fix that. 28mm tires are ok if the gravel is fine and well packed down, but if it is more coarse and loose, you will likely wish you had gotten a bike with clearance for larger tires, like a touring, gravel, or cyclocross bike. If you don't need that wide of tires, the bike fits well, and there isn't a better option available to you, it could make sense to go for it.

Sorry, should've been clearer: This wouldn't be for gravel riding (I'm covered for that), but more for some recreational road riding. Thanks for your post, very helpful.

This might be cheaper and easier to setup: Amazon.com : CyclingDeal Mountain MTB Road Bike Bicycle Chain Guide - Chain Drop Catcher - Chain Clamp Guard - Single Chain Guide - Size 31.8mm & 34.9mm : Sports & Outdoors

Why not just get a road wheelset for your gravel bike then?

I'd like to try drops. Also, a decent 700C wheelset for my gravel bike would cost about as much as the State would.

Sorry, I just (incorrectly) assumed that your gravel bike would have a drop bar.

Rather than spending hundreds of dollars on an entry-level bike just to try roading, you can see if your LBS offers longer test rides or even bikes for rent. There is one near me that rents bike on daily basis, and even credits the rental cost to a subsequent purchase.

One road bike isn't going to tell you anything. It'll give you some experience. Whether those experiences will be mostly good or mostly bad is just a guess. I wouldn't use the experience of one bike to say whether or not you liked road biking. Road bikes are made for all different types of fit. Make sure you not only get one that fits you. But also gives you the type of fit you want. Relaxed and more upright or very aero, and everything in between the two.

There is an inexhaustible supply of 70s and 80s road bikes for sale in online classifieds which can often be had at a fraction of the cost of any new bike equal to their quality. I have seen straight-gauge chro-mo road bikes for ten to fifty dollars very often, and a lot of double-butted lightweight road bikes for a hundred bucks give or take. Patience is your great friend in this buy.

State Bicycle Co. 4130

These are nice quality new steel bikes especially for the deals which are aplenty.
The most important purchase decision is fit so try to ride if possible.

Yeah, you'd geta good feel for road biking with that State 4130, the connected-directly-to-your-synapses-feeling where each rotation of the crank yields forward motion. The budget components will dampen that feel a little, but you'll likely still get the vibe.

For the same money, you could also get a 10+ old, barely used, road bike from a well-respected brand with a higher quality steel frame (more of that steel magic carpet ride feel), better components (more precise feeling shifting and braking), and lighter wheels (faster acceleration, smoother rolling).

Just looking locally, I see a Jamis, a Lemond, and more. They'll also have 2x drivetrains, which will be helpful if there are hills nearby.

Best of luck.

Yeah, definitely consider good-condition used instead. Better value and potentially something you might be less likely to upgrade out of as soon. If nothing else, you should be able to sell a used bike for about what you paid for it if you end up not liking it/loving it but wanting something better. Not so much with new.

Basically similar to a BikesDirect type bike. I'm not saying it's a bad bike but I prefer road bikes that are lightweight and have brifters. I say this from the perspective of someone who has road biked recreationally (with the occasional fast group ride) for the last 15 years or so on a range of bikes from entry level to nice. I started on a used Specialized Allez and a used Lemond Tourmalet, both steel and basic, but they still had 7-8 speed brifters. I really noticed the difference going from those to a used Cannondale 2.8 (precursor to CAAD) - the Cannondale was lighter, smoother, faster, and just more fun to ride. I'd prefer any one of those 25 year old bikes over this State.

We have a local guy that sells mid to mid high end used road bikes for the same price +/-, all tuned up and ready to go. And if you don't happen to like it, resale will be easy without much loss.

I've got a used Lemond Zuric - full ultegra, mint condition, in route that cost just a little more than the bike the OP is talking about. Full-on high-quality race capable bike vs who knows what with that State bike.

Although I never tried the 4130, in the past couple of years, I personally built up (3) SBC bikes that I've had in my stable. From the Undefeated road (caliper), a 6061 black label all-road and my current Undefeated Track/SS/FG, these were built up as +1s and each build surpassed my expectations every time. If the geometry works for you, I wouldn't hesitate jumping on a SBC build or frameset.

Those state drop bar bikes all have brifters don’t they?

This is what I saw with a Google search:
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3576331e5e.jpg
I think it's their modern take on a vintage road bike. Not saying it's a bad bike. Though I wouldn't say that's representative of a typical modern road bike in my opinion.

Ah yeah, wow didn’t notice the friction shifters. Think I saw the All Road (gravel bike?) version.

There's no front shifting, and to my understanding, SunRace downtube rear shifters are typically indexed-only. So there's probably no friction shifter on that bike.

My misnomer. I was being lazy and meant downtube shifter. I should probably just shut up about this bike now :innocent: