Entry level road bike

yyz1970

I'm looking to buy my first road bike mostly for commuting. I've looked at the TREK 1000 and the GARNEAU LG2 both priced around $800 canadian. any info on these rides or others would be great thanks yyz1970

joloughl

Hi, and welcome to the board!

I know the Trek 1000, and it's a nice starter bike. Are you sure you can get it for $800CA though, up here in Edmonton they typically go for more like $900CA.

A friend of mine recently bought a Fuji Ace, another good starter bike. It came in at $749+Tax, and he's very happy with it. He wanted a road bike to start training for triathalons on, and this was the best deal we came up with. It's nicely put together, so I'd say take a look at these also.

Good hunting!

celiboy

Hey there jolough - I'm actually from Edmonton. Where did your freind get the Fuji Ace...sounds like a good deal. There are so few shops here that sell road bikes. River Valley, Pedalhead, who else?? I'm looking to spend about 800

joloughl

Hi Celiboy,

We went to Cranky's bikeshop in St. Albert. It's on Perrin Street. If you go to www.crankys.ca you can get all their details. They did a decent fit for him, swapping out the stem etc. to make sure he was correctly fitted to the bike. He'd been riding a mountain bike for years before this, and never realised it was waaay too big for him!

Good luck with the shopping.

Cheers,
John

magrat22

OCR 3 is a also a good entry leve bike..a little bit pricer then the Fuji because it has a carbon fork but having ridden it for the past two months I think it's worth the extra...mind you I'm biased.

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magrat22

Awesome

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celiboy

Well I'm pretty much set on a Specialized Allez - 1300 at Revolution Cycle. Just trying to figure if I should get a dbl or Triple chainring???

magrat22

Depends on what type of riding you'll be doing. If you'll be using it largely for races and race training then the dbl would be best. But if your like me and use it for fun, races and training then the triple ring is good..especially for some of those hills in the river valley!!! Where are you going to buy your bike? Sorry I probably should mention I'm in Edmonton too.

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"Don't count your chickens until they are all in the chicken coop"

magrat22

Oops just noticed you said Revolution Cycle..sorry.

I like the Specialized I wanted on of there Women's Specific bikes but they'd sold out..just as well as the Giant is a better fit anyway

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"Don't count your chickens until they are all in the chicken coop"

celiboy

I hear what you're saying about the river valley hills. Edmonton is generally pretty flat but there are 6 or 7 hills in the river valley system that take some effort to get up, or maybe I just need to be in better shape...and I guess that is one of the reasons of getting a road bike.

warden

If you are worried about getting up hills, the triple is the way to go if you have any issues with you knees. If not, go double just make sure you get a cassette with either a 26 or 27 ring for climbing on a double front ring system. That will help make it much easier and when you get better you can drop down to a lower tooth cassette. The SRAM R9 11-26 is a great upgrade around 100$. A triple ring will not hurt you though if this is your first bike. Are you crossing over from mountain? If so go triple you will appreciate the small gear. If you are thinking about $1300 range, check out the Giant OCR 2, around 1200 with carbon fork and aero type wheels. Definetly worth looking into.

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warden

The main thing you should be going for is the fit of your bike. Parts can always be swapped. When buying road, FIT fit and fit is your first priority.

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Road Rage

Warden is so right about fit! Mega$$$ or bargain basement isn't necessarily going to play a factor if you don't enjoy riding your machine because it doesn't feel good!

Warden is also correct in mentioning to spend maybe just a little more and getting something really worth your while. Something that you won't have to upgrade too soon.

There are some awesome sales going on in Edmonton. You can purchase a new 2004 Trek 1500 (in USPS Team colors, DROOL DROOL!) for about $1350. I've also come across some 2004 Devinci Podiums for about the same price, and that's with a Campagnolo Veloce gruppo!

Keep your eyes open. I think you're going to see some sweet deals come your way. And ride as many pieces as you can. Get the biggest bang for your buck.

Now if you can excuse me, I'm going to bury my nose back into that Trek brochure. That 1500 would look great in my garage next to my old Peugeot...