Which road bike should I choose?

Well I have been looking at road bikes for about a month now, and want to spend under $500 (Australian). Due to my budget I am looking for 2nd hand bikes.

So far I have 4 options.

1. Merida Extreme 907, all ultegra parts, 52cm frame
2. Gitane mach 1400 , mainly sora parts, large frame to suit 6 foot person
3. Trek mach 1400, RSX parts, 58cm frame
4. Giant OCR2, Tiagra and some ultegra parts, large frame


Questions are, what is the best option? What would you go with and why?

I understand the Merida is a realy good value buy, but is the frame to small for me? I'm 6'2

What shoudl I look out for when I go to have a look at second hand bike, are there any tips to finding out if it is a crap bike which has been undermaintained.

Try the fitting guide you can find on this website:

http://www.competitivecyclist.com

Cheers i just did the caculator.

The Competitive Fit The Eddy Fit The French Fit Seat tube range c-c 58.3 - 58.8 59.5 - 60.0 61.2 - 61.7 Seat tube range c-t 60.1 - 60.6 61.3 - 61.8 63.0 - 63.5 Top tube length 57.9 - 58.3 57.9 - 58.3 59.1 - 59.5 Stem Length 12.5 - 13.1 11.4 - 12.0 11.6 - 12.2 BB-Saddle Position 77.2 - 79.2 76.4 - 78.4 74.7 - 76.7 Saddle-Handlebar 59.2 - 59.8 60.0 - 60.6 61.7 - 62.3 Saddle Setback 8.2 - 8.6 9.4 - 9.8 8.9 - 9.3 Seatpost Type SETBACK SETBACK SETBACK

Gender M Inseam 90 cm Trunk 67 cm Forearm 36 cm Arm 81 cm Thigh 77 cm Lower Leg 67 cm Sternal Notch 164 cm Total Body Height 188 cm

So I gather thats the end of the merida :-(

So I see there are a bunch of measurements, french, eddy etc and c-c and c-t.

Which should I be paying attention to?

It depends on the brand, some brands measure c to c (i.e. Look, Cannondale), others c to t, as Trek does.

If you're not sure about the size, you should try it before buying it.

Good luck

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Sorry, English is not my primary language.