britjam

Just starting out and trying to learn as much as possible, purchased my first road bike a few months ago and so far loving it; apart from the few tumbles I've had

61cm FELT z75

cosmicfour

I have a Cannondale CAAD10 5 54cm, I have had the bike for about a month. Everything is stock no changes just yet. 1st thing I would change are the tires, seat and eventually the wheels (not sure where to go with this) oh and I need stiffer shoes.


I was looking at a Trek Emonda S4, Specialized Allez Comp and Giant Defy 1 and Defy Advanced 3. I choose this as it was the best bike I rode when testing. As you can see still dialing in the fit, my local bike shop has been very helpful when I need it.

Preacher377

So, here it is. You may be wondering to yourself, "what is that mysterious black bike?" Well, I would be only too happy to tell you.
I bought this bike for $30 from an eBay auction. It was being sold by a wholesaler, as it had some parts which had broken during shipping and could not be sold at full retail. Now, you may be wondering why anyone would buy a bike with broken parts for $30? I am glad that you asked.
You see, I am a bike cop. About 1 year ago, a friend of mine who is also a bike cop, and myself decided to participate in the annual Police Unity Tour. Unfortunately, we discovered that entrance into that particular ride requires the use of a road bike. At that time, we both owned numerous bikes, but no dedicated road bikes. In the spirit of the British TV show, Top Gear, we decided to set a challenge for our selves: we would enter the ride on bikes that we would build spending no more than $100. My friend went up over spending, buying himself a new set of wheels for his project bike, but I was stubborn and decided to continue the challenge, if only to myself. We wound up not being able to get leave approved to participate in the Unity Tour, so we set our goal as a century ride which was being put on by a local police department. At the time of that first ride, I had spent $30 on the bike, $35 to ship it, $10 for a replacement front brake, $8 on replacement bar tape, and $5 on toe clips. The rest of the stuff that I needed to get the bike in decent condition, I scavenged from my parts bin. So, for a total investment of less than $100, I had a fully functional road bike. I would love to say that I jumped on this bike for the first time and finished the century with no problems, but unfortunately, I did have a mechanical around mile 60 when the seatpost clamp snapped. I have since spent about another hundred dollars on parts to upgrade it and make it more reliable. As it is my first road bike, I am still tailoring the fit; I have another bar, brake levers, and shifters which I plan to put on soon. I will probably also swap out the stem.

Oh, the bike? It began life as a much maligned and ridiculed GMC Denali.

It has served its purpose well. I realize that the GMC Denali is not a famously well built bike; I ride a $4,000 mountain bike for work, and own a $3,000 mountain bike which is generally ride for pleasure. I am well aware of the gap in quality. However, this bike has served the purpose of allowing me to get my feet wet in the world of road bikes. I recently purchased a used Orbea Euskatel Team frame, which I am slowly building up from parts.

RonH

Beautiful bike. I was considering a Lapierre Before I got my latest bike but the closest dealer is 3 hours away and they didn't have any of the models I wanted to see/ride in stock.

sloar 

ferdiandriska

Hi guys,

Here's my ride.

Frame : Giant Composite 2 (2014)
GS : Ultegra
WS : Token T55
Tire : Continental Sprinter
Pedal : R540
Handlebar : Giant Connect
Stem : Giant Connect
Seatpost : Giant Vector Composite
Saddle : Giant Performance Road






Regards,

mbaulfinger

Love that TCR. red hubs and nipples on the wheels are a nice touch

SpeshulEd 

Join date: Apr 2007
First comment: Oct 2015

That's some serious lurking right there!

spoiledrotten

Just purchased my first road bike, after riding a hybrid for a year.

I went to the LBS on Thursday, Oct. 22, and drove away with two new bikes and a Thule 990XT double track bike rack.

For myself, I bought the Scott Speedster with the 58cm frame, carbon front forks and seat post, and Shimano 105 components. My wife got the Giant Defy 3.

Blackdays

Figured it was time - screwed up the chainring:

Slegos888

My first road bike! Brand new leftover 2013 Cannondale CAAD8 Tiagra. Waiting for my shoes and pedals so I'm getting used to the bike with the flats. 50 miles so far and I'm loving it. Have ridden MTB for a few years and recently lost about 170lbs so I decided now I felt comfortable enough to venture into road cycling.

chrughes

Here's my Miyata 512. It's my first real bike that you could call a road bike. I mostly use it to zip around Miami. --Considering converting it to a single speed, but not sure how well that will work with the Biopace chainring.

SpeshulEd 

Would totally leave that Miyata as is, old steel road bikes are sexy.

livestrong1986

Giant FCR 2005
Stock
9.0kg



This Summer
6.54kg

Converted last week
6.75kg

nemeseri

Please DON'T!

chrughes

Okay I'll keep 'em! Officially in the market for a second bike!

tashi

I'd SS the bejeesus outta that bike. Nice enough to be a good rider, with parts that aren't anything special. Perfect SS bike if you ask me. You'll need a new chainring, a round one. I'd get something with brifters for geared road riding.

SpeshulEd 

Or just don't shift gears and it's already a SS. I'm not sure why you'd want to take a perfectly fine road bike and limit it's capabilities? It's one thing when the components are trashed and all you have is a frame, it's another when there's nothing wrong with the bike. There are plenty of cheap frames out there to be had for conversions.

Monkey D.Luffy

Twinsies

tashi

Because riding SS is fun, and it's just not the same if you have all the gears still on there.

What's your objection to removing a couple of parts? They all go back on just fine if you ever want the bike original again.

SpeshulEd 

I have a fixed gear, I have a SS beater, I have two road bikes, I have a cross bike, I have a mtb, I have a hybrid grocery getter. I get that riding single speed is fun. What I don't understand is ruining a perfectly fine road bike and turning it into a single speed. You're going to need new wheels, a new chainring, remove all the shifters, etc when you can probably pick up a $50 frame and do the same thing.

neologism

Nishiki Prestige (I think 1985)...slightly modernized.

mercator

Nice bike!

tashi

The way I see it, nothing is ruined by removing some parts.

I also don't see why you'd stoop to riding a crappy frame just because it's ss. Nicer bikes are nicer to ride, ss or geared.

Buying a complete geared bike is often a very cost effective way to get a nice SS road bike. Most of the ones I've converted have only required purchasing a SS freewheel and basic wrench time. No need to buy a new chainring and wheels.

Edit: he would need a new ring for ss, due to the biopace. But personally I'd replace those for a geared bike as well.


But, whateves. It's not about mine and your preferences. I'm sure dude will enjoy his bike either way.

SpeshulEd 

I guess I don't understand why you wouldn't just buy a SS specific frame or an old road frame. No one said it had to be crappy.

Sure, taking the parts off is easy, recabling the bike every time you want to ride geared makes no sense. Just have two bikes.