help with a road bike purchase

hello all! im looking for a bit of advice on a new purchase. its been about 13 years since i last road a bicycle. back then i did bmx street and vert riding. in the last few month the wife wanted to get in to cycling and suggested we get mountain bikes to ride around on and i ended up purchasing a trek 3700 disc. although it is not bad for the amount of use it gets, it kills me when we go on long city rides. a few weeks ago we did 16 miles and i wanted to kill myself. which is why i am here now

id like to get a road bike such as a specialzed allez or maybe a caad 8. besides bmx bikes i have never ridden anything else up until the mountain bicycle so my knowledge on anything else is limited. id mainly be riding long trips on paved paths and the occasional ride to work which would also be on a nice path. id like to stay under1k and preferably under 700 since the bike will not be used every day. i weigh 225lbs so im curious if any of these bikes would even be possible for me. thanks in advance

 

The Allez should be more comfortable, but I know that the CAAD rides really smooth, nice. Go on test rides and see what fits you the best. I had my heart set on the CAAD 8 but the frame just does not fit me well. The dealer was talking about fitting a longer step, perhaps changing the seat post in order to get a proper fit.
Go visit a few local shops and ride a few different makes and models and see what fits you well and what is a good deal.

 

Instead of focusing on just one or two bikes, I think you're best bet would be to visit a few bikes shops and test ride what interests you. Then buy the bike that fits best, rides best, handles best, suits your aesthetic values, and fits in your budget. The Allez (no matter which one you're talking about) and the CAAD8 are excellent bikes, but there are other excellent bikes out there, too. In the price range your looking at, bikes will generally be of equal quality.

 

So I managed to find A caad8 tiagra for 900 out the door. 2013 model. I'm not sure about fit tho. Im 5 11 with a 32-33 inseam. They have a 54 and a 56 in store. They both feel ok but I honestly have no idea what it's supposed to feel like. I'd say I like it more than my mountain bike but have no clue on what a proper fit would be. What should I look for and focus on?

 

yeah the problem is that on your BMX past you rode standing on the pedals all the time and sitting down just for a pause, so bike fit is new to you. If you are 5 11' both 54 and 56 sizes should be ok for you, then you gotta play with the seatpost position and stems position and length to get the perfect fit, 16 miles might take you an hour, that is really like the minimum to call it a workout on the bike,

 

went today and rode the cad 8 tiagra. im not sure how i feel about it. overall i think the position of it is pretty comfortable and blazing fast without much effort. what sort of worried me is i felt everything on the road and it seems very twitchy or agile you could say. when i got back the guy saw my face and made a few other suggestions. 1 was the sora 2 caadx tiagra 3 synapse. there were also a few specialized like tri-cross, sectev.i like the caad for the city riding but im wondering if i could throw some slim slick tires on for heavy road use and get the best of both worlds?

 

Sure, you could. Any 700c (say, 32-42mm wide) tire marketed for the so-called "performance hybrid" category would work fine on a Tri-cross type bike.