badgirl

I'm just getting back onto the bike and was wondering if anyone can chime in with what sort of bike they ride. I'm not really able to spend more than $1000 so please keep that in mind. Thanks in advance.

Planemaker

I am not the bike expert but, if you tell your height, weight and what your intentions are the experts will be able to provide you with their advice.

Bent Bill

What surface do you plan to ride on
gravel,asphalt road or trails ?

stonepiano

Agreed. Although, when I started riding after a long layoff, i chose a Cannondale Adventure hybrid. Wanted an upright ride, which served me well for four years.

Planemaker

I ride a Trek Fitness 7.4 and really like it. I mainly ride on bike paths which at times are not rode bike friendly (a bit to rough in spots). The Trek was able to handle my weight, 270, straight out of the store.

Cfiber

More than budget, we need to know the type of riding you'll be doing and where you'll be doing it...

Like someone has already asked about the surfaces on which you'll be riding. We need to know your about cycling terrain.

Wooden Tiger

None of us are going to be able to help you until we know what you'll be using the bicycle for.

tiger187126

for $1000 i think you can get fitted with a nice bike that will last you a long time. as for what kind of bike...

Erwin8r

With a name like that, I think a Cannondale BadBoy would be right up your alley...

My wife has one and loves it! Disc brakes, comfortable, sloping geometry so she can get on/off of it easily, and hers has the front suspension headshok fork. It comes with 700c wheels, and plenty of room for larger, cushier tires. If she sever wanted to, she could run 26" mtb wheels on it.

MRT2

$1,000 should give you a lot of choices. Mountain bike, comfort hybrid, performance hybrid, perhaps even an entry level road bike. But, you need to tell us where you want to ride, and in particular what kind of surface you will be riding.

Don't forget to budget for a helmet, floor pump, and lock.

Wooden Tiger

Yeah, what you said.

It turns out that in the long run, the bike is just the beginning of things you'll buy. My wife and I had no clue it would turn into the bike, helmet, eyewear, gloves, hydration packs (MTBing), shorts, bike rack, hitch on the car, Clif Bars, air pump, all-purpose tools, tire levers, water bottles, water cages, extra inner tubes...

...And then she was kind enough to point out to me, "Did you know biking is the third most expensive sport, right behind scuba diving and horseback riding?"

Yeah, we picked a good one to get into...

MRT2

I take care of the gear side of the sport, my wife just rides. When I started get into riding 15 or 16 years ago, I started buying all that stuff. She asked me why you need all that stuff (besides the helmet). Before she met me, she did multi day tours with no bike specific equipment like shorts, gloves, shoes, or eyewear. I asked how she pumped up the tires. Answer: Gas station, but only when the tires started looking flat. I asked how she transported her bike. She threw it on the roof of her mom's old station wagon and tied it down with old socks.

Now, I applaud her ingenuity, but I would not set out on a multi day tour on a 70s bike boom 10 speed with flat tires, secured to my vehicle with old socks.

Wooden Tiger

Yes, ingenious indeed, but are you going to strap down a nice carbon bike with old socks to the top of a "Griswald Special?" Probably not.

Rachel and I had no idea what we were getting into and that's pretty much my fault. I'm the person who usually does the "research" for all things other than purchasing a home. It doesn't matter if it's a grill, vacuum, bike, pair of bike shorts, automobile, etc., I just enjoy doing research while she, on the other hand, hates it.

I figured cycling was pretty straight-forward. You know, you go out and get yourself a fairly decent bike for $700-$900, get a helmet, and you were done. I mean, when I was a kid, after all, I got the bike and was finished, why would it be any different today, right? As a kid, I never wore cycling shorts, helmet, gloves, eye wear, or anything of the sort. I was in for a rude awakening!

Tallying everything up, we have spent over $8,000 in cycling equipment, which includes the two bikes and the rack we lost in an auto accident in April '12.

- '10 GT Avalanche 1.0 ($765)

- '10 GT Avalanche 3.0 ($360)

- Trailer hitch ($260)

- Cheap POS Performance Bicycles bike rack which broke after four uses ($150)

- Yakima bike rack ($400)

- '10 Schwinn Paramount Series 7 Road Bike ($1,400)

- '10 Fuji ACR 2.0 Road Bike ($1,100)

- Cycling clothes (Appr. $700-$800)

- Three helmets (Appr. $250-$300)

'12 Cannondale Flash Alloy 29er 2 ($1,600 incl. tax)

'13 Specialized Jett Comp (Appr. $1,400 incl. tax)

Thule bike rack ($400)

- Two hitches (one for each vehicle, Appr. $500)

- One front derailleur ($70)

- Three cycling computers (Appr. $90-$125)

- Cycle Ops trainer Appr. $150-$180)

- Three hydration packs (Appr. $275-$300)

- Tire levers ($5)

- All purpose tools (Appr. $30)

- Lights (Appr. $150)

- Tires (Appr. $200-$300)

- Inner tubes (Appr. $100)

- Chain cleaner/lube/etc. (Appr. $75)

For the record, neither of us are even what we'd refer to as "serious cyclists." We're basically just the types of people who go out for a ride here and there and just "enjoy the ride." This list could probably keep on going. The amount of money we've spent is just crazy.