Newbie looking for first road bike or fitness bike

[teket911]

Thanks for reading. I', 5'8" but have a long torso and short legs. Without shoes, I have a 27" inseam. Many bikes have a different standover height, so with shoes I should be able to purchase a bike with 28" standover height right?
In no particular order:
1st choice: Giant Contend SL Disc 1 XS size is 27.1" and S is 28". Would it be best for me to get one less than 28"?

2nd choice: Giant Anyroad Comax XS is 28". tires are more x-road which is fine but does it significantly impact speed on the road? I worry about sand and gravel on roads so is the X-Road tires preferable to regular road tires?

3Rd choice: Giant Fastroad Comax 1: XS is 29.1" standover. Would this be too high for me to stop at stop signs really. I really love the flat bars for control and reach because my hands are small. I've had trouble reaching levers on standard road bikes so maybe a flat bar is best. What do you think?

I would like a flat bar bike for control but the looks of the sculpted frame of the Fastroad ultimately. I want to go for speed though too so not sure how the flat bars affect it that much. I'm not looking for competition for maybe 3 years so flat may be the way to go and think about a road bike in 3 years.

Any other bikes out there with sculpted frames and low standover height with flat bars I'm not mentioning?

Thanks for your advice in advance.

 

[teket911]

I just found a "Fuji Brevet Forza 1.1 Disc Flat Bar Road bike" also. It has a 28" standover. Any readers with opinions on Fuji reliability and maintenance? Thanks again.

 

[Volnix]

What do you mean by "sculpted"??

Flat bars often have a geometry similar to mtb.. since you mentioned Giant they were making a flat bar with road components once call the "rapid". Not sure if they still are.

You can use a drop bar bike just like a flat bar... You can even mount a second set of brake levers one the straight part of the bar...

One downside on dropbars though would be the crazy prices of brake-shifter combination controls...

Have you checked:

Specialized, trek, BMC, Riddley, Cannondale, Fuji, GT, etc?

 

[Motosonic]

Check Diamondback, too. They have a good selection of Hybrid/Fitness Bikes. I think Haanjo? is what they call it?
These bikes you've listed look a lot like Cross bikes to me, though?

 

[teket911]

Check Diamondback, too. They have a good selection of Hybrid/Fitness Bikes. I think Haanjo? is what they call it?
These bikes you've listed look a lot like Cross bikes to me, though?

Motosonic, I've looked at diamondback and don't like the Haanjo. I've decided I want a road fitness bike and right now it's between the Giant Fastroad SLR 1 (29.1" standover) and the Cannondale Quick Disc 1 (27.2" standover -perfect height).

So it will probably be the Cannondale unless I can test a Fastroad SLR 1 at the store. They didn't have them in stock before so I don't see why they'd have one now. Pretty much everyone around here buys standard road bikes or trail bikes. It's too bad the SLR 1 standover is so high cause I really like the frame's form and tapered weld joints which gives it some styling.

Anyone with a Cannondale Quick or similar road bike know how the ride is? I'm planning on purchasing at the end of January when I get my tax refund. Thanks for those who replied. I replied earlier but have been waiting on admin approval for some reason. Oh I see it is probably the links I included. I'll erase and repost.

 

[teket911]

Vilnix, Thanks for the reply. I checked all you mentioned specifically and found a couple more but like the looks of the Giant Fastroad CoMax the best. By sculpted, I mean the joints are not just butted up against each other in a square fashion and welded so you can see the weld. In the CoMax, the welds are blended and smoothed forming sculpted curves making it appear one piece frame.

Specialized I didn't see one I liked (Sirrus basically) with less than 29" standover so no go.

Fuji I found - Fuji Brevet Forza 1.1 Disc for $1750 and has 105 cranksets. It has a carbon frame is why I mention it. I think the COMax is about the same but I like the CoMax better. Fuji comes in 44cm which is a 28" standover height. I don't know about Fuji being a great name brand and the bike shop here won't work on it free like if I bought a Giant, SPecialized, or Cannondale.

Cannondale - Quick Disc 1 - $1300. Alum frame carbon fork for $1300. Standover is $27.2". Shimano 105

Cannondale - Quick Carbon 1 - $1840. Standover should be same as above. Shimano 105.

Kestrell RT-1000 Flat bar Road Bike - Carbon Frame/fork $1450 Shimano 105. (Performancebikes.com) Standover is 28.7" though so maybe not so good a choice.

With all these I still like the CoMax and SLR 1 best but it has that 29.3"/29.1" standover height going on.

I was hoping to get people standover height and size of their bikes to compare to my inseam/advertised standover height. Reason being 29.3" to Giant maybe actually 28.5" or something since every manufacturer seems a little different I think in reality.

Thanks for mentioning the other brands. I want a quality bike that will last and still shift good years later through all weather conditions except snow of course. SO you mentioning specific brands helps me decide what not to get as well.

Can you tell me your bike model, inseam, and listed standover height? Do they match up to the advertised standover height? I mean it doesn't have to be a Fastroad CoMax but maybe just a Giant road bike in general to compare standover height vs actual inseam to determine if the CoMax or SLR is a no-go or not.

Thanks again!

 

[Volnix]

Yeah they can hydro form 6xxx aluminum.. some different grades of aluminum, like 7500 and 7050 are usually just straight pipes.

The welds are also often flattened out and they do kinda look nicer I agree.. I think that they only do this for the visible welds and not the bottom bracket ones.

 

[uadialej]

These bikes you've listed look a lot like Cross bikes to me

 

[musang]

what a good bike

 

[Froze]

Are you doing anything else of physical activity currently for a constantly long period of time like running? If not then I don't recommend that you buy a $1,300 bike for your first go around in the world of physical activity, instead I would recommend that you find a really nice used bike for around $250 range, why you scream? because most people who start a new physical activity routine like cycling, running, joining a gym, etc, only commit for about 3 months, then they realize it takes work and time and they give up, this is why you see a lot of home gym stuff for sale, this why gym aren't over crowded even though they are overbooked.