'06 Trek Alpha Alum. 1000

Im lookin to buy my first NEW road bike, the bike i have been riding for a couple months now is an old Soma Cosmipolitian from the 70's, Im only 15 so my budget is very strickly limited. My parents agreed to get me a bike up to 700 dollars as my xmas and bday presents combined. I have been ridin sense the summer and have a good indoor trainer and good heart rate monitor. I havnt raced any yet but that is my biggest goal for next year. And i want to run one Sprint Triathlon but thats secondary at best. is the Alpha Alum. 1000 a good enough bike that i can do some serious entry level racing next spring. Are there any other bikes that would be better suited for entry level racing but still within my price range.

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"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever." -Lance Armstrong

If you can, work with LBS or other shops and possibly look at the 1200 or some other bike such as a Felt with 105 Shimano groupset. If you can wait a bit, January, and February are slow times at shops;you probably will be able to get a better deal after Christmas. Take a look at some of the national chains like Supergo and Performance if they are in your area , scope out any discount coupons that may be available on-line as well for these shope.

I have a 2004 trek 1500. within that family of trek bikes (1000 to 1500), the 1000 was the base model, the 1500 the top model. the 1500 has a better set of wheels and components and was about $300 more. the 1000 is a good entry bike, but if you can swing the extra money (save up your other presents and partner with your parents on the purchase -- thats the deal my kids pull on me all the time) go for the better bike.

but when you budget your purchase, remember you need to add in the costs of the computer, a must for your training even if you get a basic model; a better set of pedals, since you want clips, not Trek's standard pedals with straps; cages for your water bottles. also, prices usually go down in january (I think) as the winter sets in. your local LBS could propbably tell you when to wait for the sales.

don't know about other bikes. i took the recommendation of my LBS and was not dissapointed.

I thinks its cool that you were riding on a bike which was older than you are.