captainmorrow
Hello and thanks for reading my post. First of all I hope this is in the correct forum and I can get some great help.
I'm 19 years old and a couple of days ago I woke up and out of the blue, decided I want to take up cycling! I haven't ridden since I was a lot younger and so I really don't know anything except what I've asked the people I've talked to at a couple of bike shops today and what little I've been able to read here on the forums. If you are reading this now, I can tell you for a fact that you absolutely do know more than me about cycling so any bit of advice( no matter how unimportant you think it is) that you think might be helpful, I would appreciate.
Here's what I DO know:
-I want to spend at most, $1,200 on the bike itself.
-The people I've talked to sounded very confident in Shimano products, and it sounds like I'd be good with going with Shimano components on the bike, as well as shimano pedals, eh?
-I want to stay on paved roads only, and although I'm a complete noob, eventually get to where I can do 100+ mile trips using the same bike I buy right now...so I definitely want to get a road bike/shoes/pedals/etc.
-I plan on doing all of my biking in Michigan, where it gets hilly at times but definitely flat as glass compared to somewhere with mountains. A guy I talked to said it would be better to go with two gears up front (he didn't say up front but I can't remember what the front gears are referred to as :( ) in order to get more performance/reliability...is this the way to go?
-Considering I want to do long road trips, getting shoes where I lock down into the pedal like a ski binding (sorry I don't know the proper cycling term for it) would be the best way to go right?
-I don't want to "outgrow" this bike for the price I'm paying, in other words, if I improve and become a regular cyclist in a year, for the money I paid for the bike this is the best one I could have gotten.
At this point, the different dealers I've talked to have said I would be best with the following three bikes:
-Lemond Reno with Bontrager SSR Paired spoke and double crank, Tiagra 9sp parts. ($829)
-Trek 1500 with Bontrager Select Paired spoke wheels, and 105 9sp parts. ($929)
-Raleigh Grand Prix 2007 model. ($1200, possibly 1100 i can't remember:( )
I can say that I definitely like the Raleigh the best, but considering the price difference I guess that shouldn't be a surprise. Is the Raleigh a good bike and would that be the best bet for the price compared to anything else?
Thank you for the help, I'll keep a close eye on the thread and reply with any other info that might be helpful. :cool:
I'm 19 years old and a couple of days ago I woke up and out of the blue, decided I want to take up cycling! I haven't ridden since I was a lot younger and so I really don't know anything except what I've asked the people I've talked to at a couple of bike shops today and what little I've been able to read here on the forums. If you are reading this now, I can tell you for a fact that you absolutely do know more than me about cycling so any bit of advice( no matter how unimportant you think it is) that you think might be helpful, I would appreciate.
Here's what I DO know:
-I want to spend at most, $1,200 on the bike itself.
-The people I've talked to sounded very confident in Shimano products, and it sounds like I'd be good with going with Shimano components on the bike, as well as shimano pedals, eh?
-I want to stay on paved roads only, and although I'm a complete noob, eventually get to where I can do 100+ mile trips using the same bike I buy right now...so I definitely want to get a road bike/shoes/pedals/etc.
-I plan on doing all of my biking in Michigan, where it gets hilly at times but definitely flat as glass compared to somewhere with mountains. A guy I talked to said it would be better to go with two gears up front (he didn't say up front but I can't remember what the front gears are referred to as :( ) in order to get more performance/reliability...is this the way to go?
-Considering I want to do long road trips, getting shoes where I lock down into the pedal like a ski binding (sorry I don't know the proper cycling term for it) would be the best way to go right?
-I don't want to "outgrow" this bike for the price I'm paying, in other words, if I improve and become a regular cyclist in a year, for the money I paid for the bike this is the best one I could have gotten.
At this point, the different dealers I've talked to have said I would be best with the following three bikes:
-Lemond Reno with Bontrager SSR Paired spoke and double crank, Tiagra 9sp parts. ($829)
-Trek 1500 with Bontrager Select Paired spoke wheels, and 105 9sp parts. ($929)
-Raleigh Grand Prix 2007 model. ($1200, possibly 1100 i can't remember:( )
I can say that I definitely like the Raleigh the best, but considering the price difference I guess that shouldn't be a surprise. Is the Raleigh a good bike and would that be the best bet for the price compared to anything else?
Thank you for the help, I'll keep a close eye on the thread and reply with any other info that might be helpful. :cool:
