First Road Bike trying to figure out budget

[Polina Grinbaum]

I have been commuting for a few months in a city with a lot of hills. I splurged on a pretty nice hybrid which I've got racks on etc... I've gotten super into it then my friend lend me a road bike and i did about a 30 miles with some really experienced folks and have fallen in love. and now want to buy a road bike for taking out on the weekends with these folks and maybe one day i can keep up with them.

Now comes the bike buying part I just started looking and it's easy to get overwhelmed OR carried away and splurge on something fancy. I am not young and want something comfortable and fast I can go on long rides on. I just bought a bike and want to make sure i get something i can enjoy for a while. I am happy to spend 200 bucks more on something that i will love more but it's hard to tell with just a short test ride. i mean of course i like the 3,000 bike best right?

What price range should i steal myself for? Is it worth it to get a really nice used bike but still spend a big chunk of money.

 

[kdelong]

An entry level road bike is going to cost you $800 - $1000. If you can wait until October to pull the trigger, you will be able to get a better bike for the same amount of money as the bike shops will be trying to get rid of their stock before the new model year bikes arrive.

Then again, if you are experienced enough or have a friend who is experienced and knows what he is looking at, you could try buying used. There are a lot of higher end bikes out there that are purchased by people who don't know that they really don't like cycling until they have everything bought. Most try to get what they paid for the bike but if you are good at haggling and can convince them that the bike depreciates by about 25% for just leaving the shop, then you could cut a pretty good deal.

 

[Archbob]

Depends on your budget. I bought a $700 road bike from the LBS and its pretty good and also bought a 1999 passage on craigslist for $220 and it rides great as well.

The cheapest new road bike I can think of are either the start Denalis($300) or the Schwinn Seneca 700c($350). Both get pretty decent reviews. You can get something decent in the $600-$700 range.

If you want something a bit better, I'd say go into the $1500 range and get a bike with 105 components.