jpres

Hey guys!
Recently decided to get into road biking but a little overwhelmed by the options out there for new bikes.
I've done some reading and research but would appreciate some guidance from you guys on where I should start, what kind of bike I should be looking for, and where I could get the best price for it.
Ideally, I'm looking to spend under $3000 and my goals are to have a bike to ride on weekends and possibly race in the future.

Any help would be much appreciated!

CliffordK

How much riding have you done?

Go to a few local bike shops and talk to them. Perhaps join a local cycling group and talk to some of the other riders.

I'd encourage you to also look at $300 to $800 bikes on your local Craigslist. Get a nice used bike. Learn about it some, and what you like and don't like about it. Perhaps learn about different racing and TT geometries.

CRASH IT. Yeah... lots of stories on here about people with their fancy bikes off of the bike store floor, then doing something stupid like simply tipping over.. and there goes the bright spotless finish.

Post a few details about yourself (height, weight, age, location, etc), and people may have some suggestions about size and perhaps even a few bikes to check out.

Doge

What is road biking mean to you?
Pavement / going fast or riding on all kinds of roads - OR?
Some think that a flat handlebar bike ridden on dirt roads is a road bike, so I thought it is best to clarify first what you are looking for.
$3,000 will get you more bike than most people are capable of finding the limits of.
What is/are your goal/s?

Maelochs

How did you "decide" to take up cycling? Have you ever cycled before? How did you decide that you want to ride on weekends, and race?Do you have friends who share this desire or participate in this activity?

Whatever the answers are ... but a $500 road bike from BikesDirect of Nashbar.com, go on YouTube and figure out how to assemble and adjust it, and ride it for a few thousand miles ... Also, go online and read about the various types of bicycles available, the various forms of bicycle competition, and all forms of bicycle maintenance.


In a while you will know the answers to most of your questions, and they will be Your answers, not guesses made by strangers which are at best partially accurate (the guesses, not the strangers.)

Heathpack 

I decided to take up road biking, too, around 3.5 years ago. My rationale was that our town has good bike paths and I thought I could get some decent exercise in on a bike. I had gotten a used mountain bike at a garage sale a year or two prior, but hardly ever rode it because it was so heavy & clunky, not much fun.

My approach was to buy a new entry level road bike at a local shop- I paid $600 and got a decent enough start on that bike such that I could know what I wanted for my "real" bike.

Part of the process in becoming part of your cycling community is to develop a relationship with local shops (because if you want to race, there's a good chance your race team will be sponsored by a shop). You will also need help & advice as you progress through cycling, connections to group rides, etc. Your local shops are the hubs for this stuff, invaluable for a newby IMO. So use the shopping process to get a feel for the shops.

For me, after I'd been riding for 10 months or so, I started buying my "real" bikes and I knew exactly what I wanted. I reused many parts from my entry level $600 bike, so it was not a loss by any means.

mcours2006

Three thousand dollars is a lot of money to spend on something that you don't know if it's going to be a fleeting fancy. Go with a less expensive one and see if it's something you are going to be sticking with so you don't post an ad on CL with something like "Almost new carbon road bike with 6800...less than 500km....paid $2500...asking $2000, OBO.." a year later.

Elvir

If you cycled before and you know you want to take up the hobby, my recommendation before anything else, is first to find a bike that will take you a LONG time to outgrow. For $3000 you should be able to do that. The other thing you need to asses is what you care for. Speed, Endurance...A big consideration is to buy a bike from a store that has lifetime tune ups. If you do get into it, you will spend a descent amount of time taking your bike to shop to get tuned, and the money saved will be big compared to buying a bike from a store that offers one or 2 tune ups.


I bought my bike to somewhat compliment my Mountain bike. I wanted to build endurance on the side. Little did I know that I would sell my mountain bike and take up road biking completely. At the time of purchase it was a lot more than I needed, but with time, I started learning how to ride,(I don't mean paddle)..the ins and outs of a bike

Jean3n16

$3000 isnt going to get you a fast bike. $30 and time will get you a fast bike to work towards the $3000 bike.

WhyFi

Oh stop. Having $3000 to spend is the only prerequisite for owning a $3000 bike - one needn't pay their dues riding ****ty bikes before having the privilege to ride a nice bike.

Jean3n16

a bike under a certain amount doesnt make it a crap bike.

The OP doesnt need to spend $3000 on a bike to get started. They could but as someone else said, it will likely be posted on CL barely used....

69chevy

And one doesn't need to spend $3000 to get a "nice bike".

WhyFi

Sure, I'll wait for you to post some examples of readily available, non-crappy bikes for 30 bucks.

You don't know what the OP's financial situation is - if s/he has looked over his/her budget and looked over the myriad of bicycle options out there and decided that $3000 is reasonable, then take it at face value. No need to impart your 'wisdom' or impose your value system. A newbie looking to spend $3000 probably doesn't have the knowledge or inclination to sift through CL crap, looking for that one diamond in the rough.

Jean3n16

Look at the CL post on the forum. There are pages of good bikes for all kinds of prices under $3000. There are also posts individually of posters asking about their Goodwill finds they didnt realize were good bikes.

PepeM

Go to every shop and test ride every kind of bike. That will give you a better idea of what you like than anything we might write.

WhyFi

Check out a handful of local shops. Talk to them about the bikes they carry and, more importantly, the services they provide. Don't do business with them unless you feel that they're listening to you in an effort to understand and satisfy your needs. Once you've found a shop that you feel comfortable with, buy something; honestly, the brand isn't terribly important - you'll probably have a hard time finding something that sucks at even half of your budget.

In terms of your budget, you don't specify what the $3k would cover. Make sure that you account for: attire (shoes, helmet, jerseys, bibs/shorts, socks, etc), bottle cages & bottles, lighting, tools and consumables (tubes, tires, chains, etc) - it can add up pretty quickly, but these are essential.

Until you've got a little more experience under your belt, getting the best deal should take a back seat to getting you on the right path and being able to lean on the knowledge and experience of a good shop is worth a lot.

WhyFi

Yeah, advise a self-proclaimed newbie to prowl CL. Brilliant.

Jean3n16

How hard is it? Get on. Click on Bicycles by Owner. Put in your budget and open Google if you have to. Go see the bike, test ride it. Buy it if it works..... not much different than a LBS.

PepeM

This is BF, getting a deal is always the priority.

WhyFi

Astounding ignorance.

Jean3n16

Ill just leave you with that thought and you have a peachy day.

sh00k

1) go to shops, see the variety of bikes out there, try some out to narrow down what type of riding you THINK you'll be doing. do you want a road bike? a racing bike? a hybrid? mountain bike? comfort bike? you have to figure this out.

2) I agree that craigslist should be your best bet for a "first" bike. you will find some maniacs selling 30 year old bikes for $1,000 or more but you will also find some folks with buyers remorse selling their almost new 1-3 year old bikes for hundreds or THOUSANDS less than what they paid. winter is near and you will see a lot of people unloading their bikes during this time.

3) enjoy!

BillyD

Maybe you didn't mean this literally, but I've always had problems with this mindset. Why must one limit their selection based on the limits of their physical capabilities? Why must you be a really accomplished, seasoned rider before you can buy an expensive, high-end, performance bike or race bike? Maybe you're saying something different, but that's how it reads.

Seems to me people can buy whatever they want and spend as much as they want. By comparison, should a new driver constrain himself to just a Chevrolet when he really wants and can afford a Lexus?

To be clear, I totally agree with the guys urging caution about spending a lot on a hobby/sport you may lose interest in shortly. Unless, of course, money is no object, in which case I say "Have at it, enjoy, limits be damned!"

WhyFi

Preach.

BillyD

Oh, and potential thread derailment unintended.

jpres

Hey guys! Thanks for the pointers so far. I used to ride quite a bit years ago and recently rode on one and fell in love all over again. I'm sure I want to get back into it and I wouldn't be putting that much down if I wasn't sure it'd be something I want to keep up. I'm a pretty athletic guy and I hope to get into racing eventually. Also, I'm 6"0 for the guy that asked.

I see the logic behind getting a cheaper one first and seeing what I like and don't like. But I also could just be putting that money into a little higher quality on my first bike rather than buying one, realizing I like it as much as I thought I did, then buying another bike.