Road Bike Racing - question?

So what do you guys think, a cheap road bike with REALLY GOOD WHEELS, compared to a normal road bike, i'm talking like around 400 used, most likely a GTZR2000, bianchi giros, and stuff like that. I know wheels plays a HUGE factor in a road bike but what about components. I hear that you won't feel the difference between components due to the lack of experience in road biking.

I would say get what you can afford at the moment. I'm racing next year with a stock Allez sport and some wheels I'm barrowing. Work with what you got. When you have the money to spend, upgrade. Its not all about the bike, you are the one controlling it :) As long as you tell it to shift/brake and it does, thats good. I'm trying to work on my times, I'll upgrade my bike sometime...

just my thoughts
-Ross

buy the best you can afford..

actually they are both in my price range, and because of that, i'm not sure what to do. Just came here to hear what you guys think, and what you would do.

Can you give us the specs, components, etc. for both bikes so people can better comment? And give us an idea of the kind of wheels you are looking at?

Koff

I'd buy the bike with better components. Cheaper to do that now than to upgrade each component later down the road (which you may want to do later but you're less likely to want to do so if you start with better parts).

Then later, when you get more money buy a really nice set of wheels. My reason for this is you'll want two sets of wheels anyway. One for everyday rides and training (The ones that will come on the bike), and then a really light fast set of wheels that you use for racing. Since they're really light they won't hold up to the abuses of everyday wear and tear, so you'll only want to use them on race days.

That's my reasoning.

Agree with Ritalin. Think long term even those wheels are calling your name.