Road Cycling - New Guy Here - Gimme some advice!

Wassup ya'll, I've been riding a Trek 4900 for about a year and a half now and I want to get into road riding. Lately, more of the riding I've been doing is on the concrete mazeI just missed the Houston-Austin MS150 and I want to ride it next year. What bike should I get? I like the Trek 1200 T and Specialized's Allez Sport 27. If any of you have these bikes or ones like them, give me your pros and cons. I'm 6 foot 5, so I'm gonna need a pretty big frame. I plan to spend somewhere around $750, so these are right in my price range.

I know I need clipless pedals and shoes, but what else can you guys recommend? Are there places to find good deals online for this stuff? (c'mon, share your secrets!)

I'm not necessarily looking for a new bike, either. So, If anyone is looking to sell one; let me know.

Thanks for the help!

Fit is the number one thing to look for in a new bike. Test ride as many bikes as possible and takes notes. Both bikes you mentioned are great bikes for those interested in trying road riding. At your height, traditional geometry frame might be a better fit/feel (vs. compact).

Hope this helps,
ehenz

Thanks for the advice. What is a traditional geomotry frame?

I won't go into bike specifics - there are so many things to consider. FIT is the #1 thing.

However, if you know what you want as far as accessories and supplies, www.nashbar.com is a good online retailer. Check out the coupon code in the Hot Deals forum for a 20% discount on orders of $100 or more. Shoes, pedals, helmet, shorts, jersey, computer, gloves, glasses, etc. all add up quickly.

55/Rad

Thanks for the advice. What is a traditional geomotry frame?

For example: The Trek 1200 is traditional geometry and the Specialized Allez is compact.

advice: go to shops, test ride as many bikes as possible to figure out what it is you like in a frame (long rear end, short rear end, long top tube or not, head tube angle, seat tube angle...) short rears are nice for quick cornering and fast manuevers in traffic and such... seat tube angle has a lot to do with comfort on bumpier roads, seat tube height and top tube length are probably the most important factors for fit. once you've figured out what you want (frame material, geometry, price range, quality of components), if a shop has a bike that fits your criteria, get it from the shop and take it back to them and only them when it needs work.

if a shop doesn't have something that fits the bill, check ebay, or craigslist.org if there are listings for your city. ebay can be a little risky, as you don't usually get to try before you buy, or even inspect it, but most of the folks who post stuff on craigslist are really nice, honest folks who will let you come over, check it out and think it over. there are some SERIOUS deals to be had on CL. you can do what i did and get the frame cheap off CL and order the parts from your favorite shop and have them build it up for you.

the most important thing is to test ride as many bikes as you can so you know exactly what you want, fit-wise. you can do a fit session if you want, just to get a good idea for where to start (in fact, it's a really good idea if you're not sure where to start), but bear in mind that the numbers that come out of a fit session aren't always going to point to the most comfortable geometry. it's a great thing to have done, but nothing compares to test riding and actually feeling the differences between frame A, frame B and frame C.

i've never been fitted outside of someone looking at how tall i am and saying "you need a smaller frame, here, try out this 50cm bike," but thanks to a few years of just riding and experiencing things for myself, i can usually tell how a bike will feel to me just from looking at the numbers. the first road bike i owned was coincidentally, the first road bike i ever test road. it was a great bike, but after a couple years, i decided i wanted something different.

i don't want to ramble on for too much longer, but i just want to say that for me, riding a track bike really helped me figure out exactly what i wanted out of my bikes. it helped me figure out just how far away from the seat tube i wanted my rear wheel to be. i got to play around a lot with wheel positioning due to the horizontal dropouts and figure out exactly how i want my bikes to handle. you don't have to get a track frame to play with the adjustability, that's just what my experience was. you can just get a nicer, older road frame with longer dropouts as your first bike.

the key to having wonderful experiences riding a road bike, as so many other people have said already, is FIT. so get out there and start trying out bikes.

im also a newbie and just got a trek 1200. the most important thing for you to do is go 2 bike shops, every bike shop in your local area and soak up as much info as you can. thats what i did and boy did i get an education. i was debating over a cannondale r400 or an allez sport both for 750 when i found the trek 1200 for the same price (i saw it in one store for like 800 or 900) it just goes to show what you can learn and find out from shopping around

What sold you on the 1200 vs the r400 and the allez nick481? I'm having the same debates myself between those (and the road warrior 600/800 and specialized sirrus)
or maybe even the trek 1500 and r500 etc.

the 1200 had tiagra components, one step up from the r400 but the same as the allez sport, it also had a carbon fork which neither of them had. i was basically getting more bike for the same price. moomins, my dad actually got a sirrus. it was before i got mine so i kinda borowed it for a lil while when he wasnt home. its more comfortable than the 1200 but i honestly like the 1200 more bc ur in a better position to pedal more efficiantly

Thanks for all the advice. I'm gonna head out and ride as many models as I can tomorrow. Hopefully there will be some good deals to be had.

Don't forget your local library. When I was at that stage I did all of the above and read everything I could get my hands on. You might be suprised on what they have to offer. Best of all, the library is free.
Have fun and keep the rubber side down.

Jim

Keep in mind, Cannondale makes a 66cm frame. You should be able to find it in the back of a catalog. You might be able to convince yourself that a 62-64 cm frame fits, but my bet would be that your second bike will be a Cannondale 66cm or some other bike that is just as big.

My recommendation is that you study the frame dimensions in the catalog hard and test ride where possible. Production handlebar stems only get so long and so high, so the thing you are looking for in the catalogs is a long, high top tube (more precisely, you want the top of the head tube to be horizontally far from the seat tube, and vertically far from the bottom bracket height), which then with a long, tall stem will get the handlebars where you need them. If you are in a bike shop, sales pressure and a short test ride might convince you that you have good fit, when in fact you do not, particularly with your size and experience.

Worst case, let's suppose you got a bike that is too small and you are stuck with it.
What to do? Two possibilities:

1. Get a custom, long, tall stem. Salsa did make them, haven't checked lately.

2. Santana makes a stem-stretching gadget they call an ASX-50, which adds 5cm to a stem, pointed in most any direction you need. You can order one by telephone, or get one at a Santana dealer.

Of course, these strategies move the center-of-gravity forward, and that is not good for the handling, but they are better than not riding.

You are going to have to put up with whatever crankarm length is on the bike to start with, particularly with your budget. Long term, you will want to get some long cranks, 185mm or longer. I like cranks that are 5.3mm per inch of inseam in flat shoes, so 35" of inseam requires 185mm cranks. T.A. makes 185mm (Peter White is a good source), and it's possible that you can find some BMX or ATB cranks that are longer than that (Profile and others).

Modern wheels are better than in the past. If you still find that you are too heavy or too strong for wire-spoked wheels, try Aerospokes.