What is the best road bike for a beginner?

Hello guys,
I would like to know what the best road bike for a beginner is. I would like maybe a new bike so what would be the price range for a new road bike for a beginner? Also, what would be the best and most reliable bike brand which has a good bike for a reasonable price? Ok, I will give you some details to help with sizing etc.

I am 5ft 2inches to 5ft 3 inches, I don't know exactly, so please advise on best wheel size and also frame size. I would like to use the bike for both racing, training and also going for long fast cycles. So which would be the best bike for me? I have a summer job starting pretty soon so that will help with money but still need the bike to be budget friendly but good. If you need to ask me more questions to choose the best bike for me, please ask.

Thanks,
CycleLad99

 

Well, you can choose any bike you want. There are many bikes available for purchase. Firstly, you have to decide your budget. You can buy a sports bike if you have the budget of $1000 but I know many people would not invest that much amount of money on a single bike. So, I would recommend you to go for the normal road bikes. You can purchase these 'road bikes' in less than $300.

 

I agree with @neednoexcuse with the bike that you want. As what I always say to newbies who are planning to buy their first bike, choose what gets your fancy and try it. There's on substitute for riding the bike for a fitting. Feel the bike if it blends with your body's size. If you are comfortable then maybe that bike is good for you otherwise get another bike and try it for size. And if you are not going to tour as professional, a cheaper bike is more like it.

 

I think you can get a much nicer bike for less money if you consider buying a used bike off of Craigslist.

A lot of people buy excercise equipment, gym equipment and bicycles, but about 73 to 80% of those that buy that stuff stop using it after 3 to 6 months where the equipment sets in a garage for years. You can find very nice mid level bikes that were hardly ever used for $150 to $350 that would far outlast a low cost new bike, and if you decide to sell the bike the new one you'll be lucky to get $100 for it but the one you buy use you should at least get what you paid for it. Obviously buying used you need to know your bikes and what to look for, if you don't know that stuff take a friend who does. But bikes like cars you can pretty much tell if it's been taken care of or not ridden much.

If you don't have a friend to help you you can always post a CL posting here and we'll all be glad to tell you if it's a good bike or not. I've bought a couple of use bikes over the years and they've been great, heck I got a couple of bikes out of dumpsters and they too have been great! You just need to know what a mid level bike is and what are good mid level components. Sometimes a used bike might need to be gone through to make sure it's up an running good, sometimes you may need to get a new seat but you might need to do that with a new bike as well!

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I agree with Froze. Post some details on this forum, and we'll be happy to help. I've been racing and touring for about 40 years, so this isn't my first rodeo.

First, make sure the bike fits. You want to enjoy riding this machine, and you'll fight an ill-fitting bike right up to when yo sell it!

Make sure it matches what you want it for. Racing? touring? General riding around town? Mountains?

If it's not new, have a shop check it out before you fork over the $$.

A clean bike is more enjoyable to ride than a dirty one! Keep it that way!

Always wear a helmet! Always! Last Friday, if I hadn't had mine on, I'd be dead! period!

have fun!

 

You should search about the road bikes on the Internet. There are many bike review sites on which you can get the reviews for the various road bikes and then you can select the bike of your choice depending upon the condition of the road in your locality. You can either buy it online or you can buy it from the local stores. My suggestion would be to buy the bike from a local store because you can negotiate the price.

 

Low cost new bikes that are under $1000 can rarely be negotiated on because the profit margin gets thinner as the price goes down, and most bike shops don't carry anything less than $500 anyways. So for $250 range you can get a really nice used bike that will outlast any new bike costing upwards of $1,200 and probably even more! And you can usually negotiate a better price on a used bike. Plus if you decide to sell the bike later the new one you may get $100 for it, but the used one you'll probably get at least what you paid for it.

Being a beginner you need to reread my first post. Don't get real hyper on buying your first bike and spend a load of cash, unless you have loads of cash and just want to spend some of it.

 

Story time!

 

Used Craig's list bargains rule 'IF' a fellow knows how to pick a winner and avoid the losers. One missed crack in an aluminum or carbon frame is all it takes to turn a deal into a dud.


TREK/Cannondale/Specialized/Giant and a host of other brands offer good quality and decent warranties at pretty much all price points. As stated above, buy using your intended uses, a perfect fit to your body and budget. If you stick with riding for more than a couple of years you will likely be upgrading to new, better equipment and bike, adding new equipment and a new bike or changing your cycling goals and require new or at least different type/style of bicycle.

Also as stated above, the lower price point in bike stores is around $800-$1000. This gets you a pretty good road racing bike with a warranty. You will not find much in the under-$500 range worth putting a lot of miles on in a bike shop. With some smart shopping, you can buy a used $1000-$1500 racing bike with not a lot of wear on it for a couple hundred bucks, but you really have to know how a bike fits, how it works, what it needs as far a replacement parts or repairs/adjustments, etc.

Your height puts you on the smaller end of the frame size spectrum, but it's still going to take a keen eye from an experience coach, fellow racers or shop salespeople with speed in their blood to get you in a good, starting position and set up for you to go racing on. Something in the 52-54 Cm size? Stem length, saddle set back, bar width-reach-drop, crank arm length, etc. ...all of that can be dialed in as you go, but the frame has to be 'right' to begin with. It's the building block upon which everything else is based.

Also, are you an adult or still growing? If you are a 'lad' and still putting on height you might consult the cards and buy for the future just a bit.

You CAN absolutely go racing on a new $800-$1200 bike. Putting on some lighter, more aero wheels will get you as fast as your training will take you and training is the real key to getting fast.

Good luck and ride safely!

 

You're a beginner, beginners don't usually start training for racing until they've ridden for at least a year and put some miles under their belt. If you are an athlete now, like running a lot every day, then you could get into training for racing sooner, if your not an athlete now I would be concerned about you getting burned out fast if you jump with both feet into training and racing before you put a year on a bike.

Used racing bikes, like ones made of aluminium and carbon as Campybob pointed out are too tricky for a beginner to inspect for frame problems. I suggest getting a steel bike they're easier to inspect for damage, like rippled paint is big clue, or the fork doesn't line up perfectly with the head tube, it appears like it's pushed back toward the down tube; the rear tire is too close to one side of the rear of the rear stays, though that could be due to the wheel not being in the dropouts correctly. You can train on a steel bike, you can even race on one, you can get a set of racing wheels for race day which would help a lot, then as you get better in a couple of years you can find either a used or new aluminum racing bike and still use the wheels you bought for your steel bike to race on the aluminum bike with.

I recommend that a amateur racer use nothing but an aluminum bike, why you scream when CF is lighter? Because as an amateur racing alongside other amateurs who don't know how to hold their line, don't know how to stay off the rear tire of the rider in front, don't know how to communicate they're going to move out from behind another rider and pass, don't know how to control the bike on fast turns, etc, etc, etc, all that means there will be a lot of crashes, and crashes result in a lot of broken bikes, thus by having an aluminum frame bike you could get another frame for less than half the cost of a CF frame. Even pro races there are a lot of crashes, magnify that by about 10 times and that's what an amateur race will have! Difference between a pro crashing and destroying his bike vs an amateur crashing and destroying his bike is that the pro gets an entirely new bike for free whereas the amateur has to pay for his new frame (frame only because you can't afford an entirely new bike) out of his own pocket. On top of all that, you'll need, or should have, a backup bike for racing, in case you do wreck while training the day before the race you now have another bike ready to go on race day, or if you don't you're out of the race. Plus you need a set of backup racing wheels, and wheels get damaged a lot, so you have to another set always on hand ready to go just in case.

There is a lot more to racing than meets the eye that I haven't even mentioned, amateur racing today will cost an average of $6,000 to $8,000 a year, that doesn't include the bike(s)! That's tires, repair stuff, gas to travel to events, motels, coaches (trainers), event entrance fees, food, and other costs. You could do it for less if you all you want to do is race in your local city's events, but as time goes by that won't be good enough...I know, I've been there!

Later when you get really good at racing one of two things are going to happen if you go beyond Cat 3. You will need a better lighter more aero bike so CF will be the frame to get, and or if you and your team are really good you can sometimes get a partial sponsor, usually bikes only, and sometimes entrance fees, you still have to pay for all the other stuff I mentioned. Till you go pro then all that stuff is covered.

 

bots?

What is it with OP's popping up out of nowhere, asking ambiguous questions and disappearing...over and over and over again?

No comments.
No additional information.
No follow on questions.
No thanks.

hmmmmmm....

 

I started by buying a rigid bike (mtb with no suspension) and then rode it until I got really comfortable, then I started adding and replacing parts to make it a road bike. This is usually what people do in BMX, they start with a frame and add parts to it. I bought my bike at a bikeshop where nobody wanted it so I got it for $50. Then just started getting parts like a saddle and pedals and shoes, then rims, tires and brakes and then bars and tape! It all cost about $300 and that was a good way to get started but there was another option. I could have put off buying a bike for 3 months and just bought something I've had my eye on for a while on Bikes Direct, or could have bought my cheap bike and continued adding parts to it throughout also practicing and training on a bike like I did. I think I made the correct option in gaining experience over theoretical experience.

 

Hey, That's very interesting. I have read some Best Entry Level Road bikes for beginners here. Please check here so you have now the idea of what road bikes fit for you as a beginner.