Good Road Race bike Under 600

I need to get a new bike but i wont spend more than 600 bucks. I want to have drop handle bars but than that i have no prefence. I saw a schwinn seneca on the ****'s website for 280, is it worth it? or will it fall apart in a month?

I also saw a Fuji Newest for 550. Is it any good?

280 isnt going to buy you much for a road bike, MAYBE used, but even then I have my doubts. Try looking at a ****'s store for a diamondback, they have one for 550 or 600 that comes nicely equipped for a beginner. I was looking at them before i settled on a Specialized, which i got for 524 on clearance

Look around at real bike shops as well, most are having their model year closeouts right now, you could get a beginner bike in your price range if you look hard enough, and they should be better service than dicks...

Look in your local craiglist.I got my mint trek 1000 for 470! Do check out at local LBS since they are all cleaning house.You can buy felt for less then 600. Lot of people purchased bikes from here with positive results.
http://www.bikesdirect.com/?gclid=CK...FRLxhgodc0YQOQ

Personnaly I like to seat on the bike to make sure it fits.You would be suprised how much a deferance it makes from 54cm-56cm
good luck

I saw a schwinn seneca on the ****'s website for 280
This is a walmart bike.Exactly the same bike.Cheap all around and the wheels are totaly out of true and not used at all..I checked it out.Total Garbage.
You can buy lot of bike used.Unlike Cars bikes parts don't ware out all that much.

Decent Choice for 500
http://www.ibexbikes.com/Bikes/CLS-3300-Details.html

dont go by the dicks website. go to the store....

they should have a few diamondback podiums for about $529. they arnt bad at all for the money. comes with a carbon fiber fork (legs only). i think it has sora components and tripple ring up front. the only thing you might need to replace is the seat.

oh yeah...bikes direct isnt a bad idea. only thing is you pretty much have to know how to tune up a bike and have some tools on hand, and preferably a bike work stand. it doesnt come fully assembled and tuned up, you could take it to a shop or something to have it done, dont know how much tyed chargge , but if you can at least get the parts on, a dicks sports can set your brakes and gears and true wheels for $35

Used is the way to go, get a better bike for cheap. New stuff can be had for good prices from Performance Bike. Trek 1000s are often in the 600 range.

You make it sound like a brain surgery.If you can add 1+2 then all you need is few allen keys to put the bike together.No offense to you but I find lot of Americans US citizens just perenoid when it comes to using simple tools and simple logic.

ok but someone who has never worked on a bike wont know what they are doing. sometimes thats hard for the experienced to understand. its not uncommon for a bike to come out of the box and need the gears tuned, the wheels trued, and the brakes always need to be adjusted/installed. you will need more than a few allen keys, the wheels will require a spoke wrench, and the pedals will require a pedal wrench cause a normal wrench is 99% of the time too wide, which most people dont have. ive built hundreds of bikes in the past two years working as a bike tech and they generally take more work than just turning an allen wrench. just trying to give the guy a heads up if he decides to go the bikesdirect route.

+1 on craigslist. There is so much good used stuff and you can meet and greet who you're going to buy from.

David
Ok I agree if your totally mechanically challanged then take it to bike shop however why would anyone buy a brand new bike if the wheels are not true to begin with?Just makes no sense like buying a new CD expecting it to be scrached. I did walk away from brand new Felt bike which had not true wheels.If I am shelling out hard earned cash I expect it to be perfect for what is advertised to be.

Agreed. The ****'s in my hometown does not even carry road bikes. They only carry moutain bikes and street bikes.

ive seen how bikes get packaged/handled/shipped. the wheels are the easiest thing to mess up in shipping. im also pretty sure that most bike companies that will sell direct, or even to shops have written on the box, on the paperwork, or on the webiste, the details that involve finishing building the bike, and one of those things is minor wheel truing.

it happens all the time with any product. it gets damaged or a little out of true during shipped, the customer buys it at the store in the box, or wherever, and discovers its not perfect out of the box.

It might have something to do with the fact that you are in Boston and there are a lot of LBS's in your area. Take a trip to the heartland and you will find that most American US Citizens are very good wrench turners and are not paranoid about working on their bikes. Most of those who take their bikes to a shop are the ones who either don't have the tools, don't have the time, or don't have the knowledge to repair their bikes. You're right that most of it is pretty straight forward but there are some jobs that I won't attempt to do. I am not a welder so I won't attempt to perform frame repairs. I prefer to let a shop replace sealed bearings in my hubs that have them, due to the need for a press which I don't have. I also let my LBS cut and thread spokes for my wheels since I don't have the equipment for that.

Most bike owners that I know do the majority of their own bicycle maintenance. A lot of them do get their wheels trued at a shop but that is because they don't have the patience to do it themselves.

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