Road Cycling - New rider looking for a bike - too many choices

:confused:

I'm glad I found this forum. I've been looking for a new bike for a while. Today I rode 3 bikes:

Giant OCR1 (not bad) size small
Cannondale R400 sport (too small, twitchy)
Lemond Zurich women's 49cm - AWESOME!

Now, the zurich is about $2k which is over my budget (it seems my budget keeps going up). I've decided that I do want a steel bike and this zurich was very, very nice. It rode way better than any alum. bike I've ridden.

Ultegra was really great too, much smoother than the 105s. I'm thinking about the Buenos Aires. The zurich had some high end stuff I don't think I need but the frame fit well.

Any suggestions. BTW, it's very difficult to find small bikes to ride, and especially used ones.

Thanks.

Megan

take the Zurich, you won't need to upgrade.

Hi Megan and welcome.

With a budget of $2000 why are you looking at used? You can get a really nice new bike for that price.

I have a Zurich and LOVE it!:love:

If you can go for it! I haven't been on aluminum, carbon or ti, but I have no complaints about the steel. It fits too, even if it isn’t the women specific. (I’m 5’-2”)

Good Luck

I have two buddies with the Zurich...they both love it :D

YMMV but I've ridden the OCR1, an R500 and the Zurich (all 2002 models) and I can say that of the bunch I liked the Zurich the best. Then again, I tend to prefer CF or steel over Al. But you can't just judge a bike by the material... it dpends on how it was made. I did like the ride of the GT ZR 3.0 also. I know GT has kept their MTB line alive. Looks like they pulled out of the roadbike business. Shame really... the ZRs rode pretty nice.

:rolleyes:

I've just come back from a few more test rides.

I rode a 50cm Felt F35 (nice, but too small)
a 52cm Felt F50 (nice, very nice, light)
a cannondale R800femine (smooth, but a funny shape)

The zurich I loved so much, to respond to scubagirl, is a women's specific bike. I just went to a bike shop that's new to me and it was a great experience. All Pro in Simi Valley, CA. The woman co-owner measured me and took a lot of time with me. She thinks with my measurements I won't do much better than the Zurich, maybe the buenos aires.

After all the rides today, the Felts were nice, but the Zurich was 'like butta'.

Thanks for all your responses.

Megan

Look for a Terry.

If you're looking for steel, you may be interested in checking out the Specialized Allez Comp cro-mo model. It retails around $1700 with a pretty sweet Columbus Foco frame. http://www.specialized.com/SBCBkModel.jsp?san=03AllezCompCrMo18&bl=road&my=2003

They also have two women-specific models though they are Alu bikes. Still might be worth checking out.

Felts are nice.I just got the SR71.Prices are pretty good for what they have on them.I also see performance bicycle has all 02's at 50% off so you might find a hell of a deal.Torrance would be the closest to you and then fountain valley,the one i go to which is next door to supergo.

Hi Megsam,

There's plenty of bikes you can choose from that offer Woman specific geometry but if you fell in love with theZUrich then I'd say you found your bicycle soul mate. even if a new one is above budget, it's better to spend once wisely than twice foolishly.

Enjoy the Zurich.

You may already have your heart and wallet set on the Zurich, but if not, then I'd also recommend your having a look at Jamis road bikes. They have steel frames and a very nice price/component fit.

http://www.jamisbikes.com/bikes/road.html

Happy riding!

Megsam,
look at the Bianchis. They also make great steel frames and with campy componenets. The shop i work at sells the 2003 Eros for 1000 bucks, with a chromolite frame, carbon fork and like mirage/veloce components. They are sweet bikes.!
byron