mjeffers

Hello all,

I am really excited about having stumbled upon this forum! I am a graduate student at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, and I basically just ride all over town. I have been on an old Ross for the past two years. I couldn't tell you exactly how old it is but I can say that my uncle rode it around this campus in the late 80's/early 90's. It has been through a lot and although I do my best to take care of and properly maintain it, it has taken on some considerable wear. I will most likely be looking for an upgrade soon and will greatly appreciate any and all suggestions from you pros out there!

MJ

CbadRider

Welcome to bike forums. What kind of bike are thinking of upgrading to?

mjeffers

well, I'm not sure yet. I hope that's where you guys/gals will come in! I'm definitely looking for a new road bike, but at this point I still don't know much about the manufacturers or what makes one better than any other. Trek vs. Specialized vs. Giant vs. ....? I'm sure I could find fans of each, but I would love if someone could help break down the pros and cons or the differences between them all (I may need to repost or move this to another discussion area). I have noticed that most of them have lower-end models in the $500-600 range, give or take. My budget would probably be in that ballpark but I'm not sure what you're getting with their low-end models, if they have much cheaper components and it will only leave me wanting something better. I'm not necessarily set on buying something brand new though, I'd be more that ok with finding a nicer used bike. My concern then is figuring out what I want (or at least enough about the different lines to know what I'll like and what's a good deal) and then hoping to find it. I've looked around on craigslist and in the local shops and it seems like nice used bikes are very hard to come by (as opposed to walmart brands or old clunkers). St. Louis, which is 2 hours away, has a lot of nice used bikes posted on craigslist and in other areas but I can't exactly drive up there every time I find one I'm interested in looking at. If there are other places I should look, please let me know. But this lack of selection may require me to look at buying a brand new ride.

CbadRider

You will probably find your answer in the Road forum. You can use the Search function to look for different brands of bikes and see if you get the information you are looking for. There have also been a lot of "need help buying a bike" threads that you can also search for.

If you can't find the answers you want, feel free to post a new thread.