Originally Posted by
tfha .
Hi guys, I'm planning to buy a bike mainly to travel to and from classes at University but also to cruise around and to maybe get a workout in. I'll be riding mostly on roads and sidewalks. All the previous bikes I have owned were clunky, mountain bikes, which were pointless because I never did any mountain biking. I want a beginner road bike that's faster, smoother and more sleek than a mountain bike but still durable enough to jump over curbs/down curbs etc. I've been looking at trek bikes because that's the first brand that comes to mind. I'd like to stress that I want a bike that feels smooth and doesn't seem to weigh me down when I ride. http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/road/fitness/fx/7_1_fx/#/us/en/model/reviews?url=us/en/bikes/road/fitness/fx/7_1_fx My price range is somewhere below or around $500 (is that paying too much?). If it makes a difference, I'm 6 foot 3 and weigh 195 pounds. Is it significantly harder to balance on a road bike as compared to a mountain bike? I'd like to apologize if I'm offending anyone with my lack of knowledge in this subject.
Hope to hear from someone soon! Tim
Looks like a nice bike. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif
Maybe a good choice would be a Cyclocross bike. Many of those are available with a commuter set-up.
They tend to be sturdy as they are designed for off-road use, and with fatter tires they are probably ok for rougher roads.
Its not more difficult to balance on a road bike, what needs a bit getting used to is the drop bars, but once you get used to them they are probably as comfy and you also get the extra aerodynamic position.
Something that might be useful if you go for a drop bar one is to get a pair of cyclocross brake levers on the bike like these:
With these you can probably brake much faster when in traffic. They dont weigh that much too.
If you go for a hybrid disk brakes are also a good idea when riding in the rain, as rim brakes stop much slower. At least normal rim brakes. There are some rain brake pads etc though.
As far as for lock, as the previous poster said, you might want to get a big fat U-lock, Kryptonite seems to be very good, at least it saved my bike from the zombieland-park when I was in the gym. But I was looking at a documentary about locks which was made by an ex-proffessional bike thief and he said that the best ones to get are these heavy chains with the heavy padlocks. If you want any more info on locks check some raiting from independent agencies like "sold secure" etc which give ratings on products. If you get a u-lock, try to get one with a fat crossbar that has layers of reinforced steel around a centre lock with a normal key, not one of these cylinder ones.
