Road Cycling - Maybe new to road biking...

Hi there, my name is Tom and I'm resident of sunny south florida....

After spending the holiday with my family, my sister could do nothing but talk about road biking. She knew I recently lost about 40lbs and started running again. (I still would like to lose about 30 lbs). She did a good job of convincing me to consider biking over running. So I guess the first step is finding a good beginner bike.

After much surfage, I liked the Iron Horse Triumph (http://www.getawaybikes.com/Detail.cfm?Categoryid=33&BrandID=11&ProductID=839&CFID=3400930&CFTOKEN=53425676). It's only about 350-400 bucks which is about the most I'd want to spend right now. It has an aluminum frame and carbon fork which seems pretty good for the price. I found a nearby dealer that sells them for around $400 assembled. I was hoping to get some advice from the forum gurus. I did some searches but did not see anything about this bike other than some short comments.

Also, I live about 1.5 miles from Hollywood and Dania beaches. I know it has a pretty wide road with a bike lane right on the beach. Is anyone familiar enough with the area to know if the beach roads are a good place to ride around the Dania/Hollywood/Ft.Laud area?

Well, thanks for reading and thanks for the help!

In my opinion, the most important thing about a bike is fit/comfort. If the bike doesn't fit you right, you aren't going to keep riding so you're wasting your money.

There are a lot of brands out there and you should be able to find a selection of bikes in your price range.

Go to as many bike shops as you can and test ride as many bikes as you can for the longest rides you can squeeze in. Talk to the bike shop employees and learn everything you can from them. Becaust there are so many bike that are so similar, the choice of bike shop can be more important than the bike.

Take your time and get a good one. I try to make it a rule for myself that I don't buy a bike a bike on the first visit to a shop. This somewhat lessens the chance of impulse buying, making the purchase a bit more educated and informed.

Tom,

Welcome to the club!

The Iron Horse will be plenty of bike for you to start out with. As mentioned, get fitted properly ... this will either make or break your experience with road biking. This bike comes with Shimano Sora componenets which are respectable. I believe I read somewhere that Sora may present a problem when and if you want to upgrade later.

-mark

Thanks for the feedback. And I definetely plan to try out my bike before I buy it. When I found the bike on ebay I noticed the retailer was located about 10 miles from my home so I can just go there in person.

Before buying from a local ebay seller, re-read Psychic Pimp's post above. He offers some very good advice.

I picked up cycling about 3 years ago after being pretty sedentary. Over 3 plus years have lost about 125 lbs. Although a little more expensive than your $400 price range, I started out with a Giant OCR 2. It is a nice "entry" level bike, too. Might be worth test riding it and worth the extra investment. I've stuck with it because the ride was enjoyable and I found a good group to ride with.

Just a thought! Happy cycling!

Couldn't resist congratulating Cyclingmaniac on the weight loss. Quite an impressive achievement. Pedal on.

Before buying from a local ebay seller, re-read Psychic Pimp's post above. He offers some very good advice.

No worries here. The outfit Nortbot is considering is fairly reputable (Getawaybikes). I purchased my latest bike from them a few months ago without complaint. They were very easy to work with and responded to comments/questions very quickly.

In general, I would agree with you that Ebay is to be approached with caution.

-mark

Cyclingmaniac - I am impressed too! That is quite an accomplishment.