Introductions - newbie from Central New Jersey

Hi there,

It's 30F and snowing as I'm typing. Can't wait for spring! I started riding mountain bike 3 years back and this year I'm trying out road biking. First thing first, info... Google got me here and already got some advices on how to size a frame to fit me, nice. Next up some coupon codes, too, great! So I placed order for my first road bike. Yes, it's not from LBS, but I wanted to try this out first w/o dropping tons of cash into it, yet.

This is a very useful and informative forum. I normally hangout at mtbr.com which is great for mountain bikes.

Anyway, just wanted to give a little intro. And maybe find someone who knows the local roads to ride with. I'm in Somerset, NJ area. :)

just rain here!
welcome!
i mtb (raleigh) here in the winter only (it's warmer in the woods, bugs don't 'get-cha', and you have layers of clothing that shields from those sticker-bushes?)
really i am a roady (c-dale), but commute (performance) to/from work, tour (b/n), and get "bent" once in a while (bikeE). ever feel like a club ride down here in almst true south nj, check out the sjw.org.
welcome !!

Hi peanut man, mountain biking and road cycling are both great ways to get out on a bike--sometimes it's almost as much fun getting out on the mountain bike during snow as it is the rest of the year (as long as it's not ice :eek: ) . But Spring is on the way, and you'll be able to enjoy both soon.

Welcome to BF!

East Hill

Ok, so from mtb, I know the ranking of Shimano components... LX/XT/XTR. Road components seems a bit more complex. Sora / Tiagra / 105 / Ultegra / Dura-Ace. Other than weights and maybe some exotic materials, any particular advantage as you go up the price class?

And .... umm... stupid question... I'm getting my road bike tomorrow. It has 105 STI shifter / brakes. Mmmm... I don't think there's a gear indicator on it. All mountain bikes does. Is it the norm that there's no gear indicators on road bikes? Or it's there and I just haven't seen it? Yes... stupid question... but I'm not used to having no gear indicators. haha.

Thanks.

Perfectly normal! 105 is nice, you will enjoy it. It will take you a couple of hours probably to get used to it, especially as the shifting is integrated with the braking. I just saw a thread on that somewhere...can't remember where though.

Perhaps General Cycling? You might want to check the last couple of days worth of threads there...

East Hill

Welcome to BikeForums. Check out the NJ Bike Map link in my signature. The site rates non-residential streets on how well they can be ridden on. I seem to remember being dragged out to Somerset or Middlesex or some county very far away by my cycling team and finding that the roads were very nice to ride on and there was very little traffic.