Road Cycling - bike advice

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nick481
03-19-04, 03:58 PM
can anyone tell me if getting a raleigh r400 is a good idea. just so you know, im going to start racing. im young, only 16 so i have all the time i need to train and whatnot, i looked at the roadbikereview.com and it said it is a good bike for a begginner (me) im just wondering if any of you have anything to say about it.

nuovorecord
03-19-04, 04:37 PM
can anyone tell me if getting a raleigh r400 is a good idea. just so you know, im going to start racing. im young, only 16 so i have all the time i need to train and whatnot, i looked at the roadbikereview.com and it said it is a good bike for a begginner (me) im just wondering if any of you have anything to say about it.

Without knowing much about it, I can safely say that it's probably a good bike. At a certain price point, say, $700 and up, it's hard to buy a truly bad bike. The components (usually Shimano) are all the same and work just fine, regardless of what bike you buy, and many manufacturers' frames are all made in the same factories overseas, so build quality is uniform.

The main advice I'd give you is to go out to a bunch of local bike stores and ride every bike you can. Bikes differ greatly in the way they fit and a good bike shop can assess which one will fit YOU correctly. Also, talk to the mechanics at the bike shop, not just the salespeople and get their perspectives on what bikes they think would be good for a beginning racer. Typically, they know a lot more about bikes than the salespeople do! :D
MichaelW
03-20-04, 07:45 AM
There are lots of online guides for fitting a bike, some better than others. The one I like best is at peter white cycles.

RonH
03-21-04, 04:25 PM
I'm guessing the Raleigh is a used bike or something a shop had in the back room (couldn't sell) since the R400 hasn't been made since 2002 (I think??).
I have a 1999 Raleigh R600. Top quality for the price. I'd recommend the R400. Just make sure it FITS.

http://home.mindspring.com/~rhorne/raleigh/Raleigh-right.jpg