saloooon

Hello all,
I am new here to the forums and have been enjoying everyone's posts and learning a lot about the cycling world. I am looking to get a road bike in the not so distant future and would like some opinions from you all. I plan on riding with clubs and participating in charity rides once I get my bike and maybe a race or two when I get in a little better shape. It has been a few years since I rode on a regular basis and I can't wait to get back into it. When I did ride, the bikes I used were never really mine, they were spare bikes from a cyclist friend who did all the maintenance. I am somewhat mechanically inclined and I have always been a person who thinks I should be able to build, maintain and understand my toys to get more enjoyment out of them, with that in mind, here are my questions.
Do you think it would be advisable to try and build a bike up from parts, or would the work involved be way over my head and I would be better off with a pre built fitted model from a bike store?
I have ridden steel, aluminum, scandium and aluminum/carbon frames and feel the steel frame is probably my favorite, how does this compare to Ti ride quality?
I am on a somewhat limited budget and have seen prices for Ti frames all over the price spectrum, are there any recommendations on certain Ti frames?
I have most of the other parts picked out already and will be getting a campy grouping, but not sure which grouping would fit me the best just yet.
well, that's all for now, thanks for hearing me out. I look forward to participating more in the forums.

lotek 

Saloooon,

First of all welcome to BF, its a pretty nice community.
I doubt tbe work would be over your head given what you said
about being mechanically inclined.
However, you will end up paying alot more
buying a frame and then parts than if you buy a complete bike from your LBS.
FWIW find a good shop, and build
a relationship with them, they can be a great resource.
I'd suggest that you get a good book on bike maintenance
and start by maintaining your new ride. Later you can build up
from a frame (and use the LBS to install headset etc.) based on
all the experience you've gained from maintaining.
I can't really discuss ride of Ti, however I prefer steel, it just
takes a bit more care if your in a wet climate or ride in the rain alot.
I'd be wary of exotic material on lower end budget bikes
if your going with Ti or CF you might want to up your budget if
you can make the stretch to a better frame.
Whatever you pick, make sure the bike fits, test ride as many as
possible, and there is always second hand to stretch the budget.
I personally like campy gruppos,
that doesn't mean Shimano isn't good,
its a matter of preference.
I would think Veloce, Centaur (or Daytona they renamed it),
or Chorus is your best bet given the
type of riding you are talking about.
For my money's worth I believe that centaur is the
most bang for the buck.
Hope this helps,
Marty

ljbike

Welcome to the forums. Always like new ideas and questions.

If you are on a limited budget, forget Ti. To get quality, they run into the several thousands.

As for building or buying complete, it's cheaper to buy complete. A quality frame can be up graded as parts wear, but a heavy junk frame will always be heavy junk.

The most important rule is to get one that FITS YOU. Be prepared to spend a hundred or two more than you want to get better quality; with your past experience, you'll be glad later. Good luck.

saloooon

thank you for the welcome and responses. I wasn't sure if it would come out to be more expensive building the bike up or not, so the input is greatly appreciated. I have a few bike shops in my area but only a couple that sell campy equipment so I guess I have some searching around to do. I hope I can find a shop in my area whose idea of fitting isn't going to be having me stand over the bike and say "looks like a fit to me", I have a friend experienced that around here. Anyway, I'll post my story as it goes, thanks again for the help.
Adrien

LittleBigMan

I agree about buying a complete bike, in general.

What does your cyclist friend think?

ljbike

Saloooooooooon, (did I get enough o's in there?)

Even though the LBS doesn't stock Campy they can order it for you. There are many distributors, whom they probably buy from, that carry Campy. Most shops don't stock it because it is a lot of money to tie up in inventory when there is very little call for it.

saloooon

LittleBigMan- My cyclist friend is die hard steel and campy, I think he's the one that burned those two things into my head. He is also very bias to that setup as that's all he has ever riden and doesn't quite have much of an opinion over other materials. He just says "get a bike already!". I'm thinking of driving up this weekend to visit him and do the "Bike New York" ride, maybe I'll have him take me to his LBS while I'm there.
ljbike- thanks again for the info, I was able to go in to a LBS recently and ask them a few questions concerning whether or not they can provide campy, they said they could, but he didn't sound too happy about it. I guess he wanted me to buy of the self, oh well, I'll find another shop.
ps: sorry for all the oooo's , its a name that reflects the four rings of Audi (my other toy).

ljbike

Don't be sorry about the o's. I was just teasing.