Busa_Chris

I'm fairly new to road biking. I was given a Schwinn Prelude 700c a few months ago. Took it straight to a bike shop that several riders referred me to (and I know how important this is since I own a motorcycle shop). They said it was a decent starter bike. Tuned it up and fitted the bike to me. I've been riding a when I have free time and the bike has been enjoyable. It is a bit stiff, as in not flexing when going over dips, etc in the road. I have a few friends that ride and their bikes are much lighter and fancier than mine (disc brakes, carbon this and that, etc).

I won't complain about this bike because it was given to me and you can't beat free! I have been looking at changing out my thumb shifters for the brake lever shifters (ST style I believe) and putting on a gel seat. The cost of those two alone (even at a used or discounted price) makes me second guess whether upgrading this bike is even worth it or if I should buy a different bike and sell this one.

Don't kill me. I'm new here and looking for honest advice. Thanks in advance!

MRT2

As far as I can tell, the Schwinn Prelude is a department store bike. Do not spend any money trying to upgrade it as it is a very low end bike. When you are ready for something nicer, just buy a better bike. It really doesn't pay to try to upgrade what you have.

rms13

Not worth putting money into. Buy a new or new to you (used) bike that is a step or two up when your ready. Don't get a gel saddle

Busa_Chris

Thanks! So my next question is should I build my own, sourcing each component, or buy something complete? Which would be more cost effective? Remember I'm not racing or doing cross country rides, just looking for a nicer setup.

And why no on the gel saddle? I'm new to riding so I'm not too familiar with the "do's and don'ts" just yet

ShortLegCyclist

Unless you are willing to hunt over months or years at swap meets and used shops and use used on or sale components, it is going to be MUCH cheaper to get a complete bike.

Manufacturers pay even less for components than bike shops do due to volume sales leveraging, so there is no way you can beat the cost of new components over a manufacturer.

What price range are you considering?

MRT2

What is your budget? Unless you are looking to spend more than $2,500 or $3,000, you will probably do best just buying a complete bike.

GuitarBob

These guys are fast. Since you're a moto guy, think Honda 50 only less reliable



It's almost always more effective to buy a complete bike than to build one up from parts. This is a good time to be looking as the model year is changing, so you might find some deals on last year's models if you want new.

Busa_Chris

Honestly I'm not sure what my budget is or should be. I just know that spending 300+ on shifters and a saddle seems to put me in range of a better bike. I've been enjoying riding and plan to continue for years to come, so I want something that is going to be decent and comfortable, and has quality components so I don't have to upgrade anything until it breaks. Any recommendations on <$1,000? Is there an added benefit to buying new (obviously there's 0 miles on everything but aside from that)?

MRT2

Plenty of nice road bikes available for under $1,000, either full retail, or on sale at the end of the season.

Go to your LBS and see what they have. Giant, Trek, Specialized, Jamis, Cannondale, Raleigh, etc, etc...

ShortLegCyclist

The big benefit will be a warranty. Would suck to have a defective frame or component and no recourse.

Sub $1000 and $300 are very different things when it comes to road bikes, though.

You can get a very nice new bike for $1000, you simply cannot for $300.

But you can get a very nice used road bike for $300.

But, no warranty.

Busa_Chris

Thanks for all the advice! I'll go to Performance and some of the mom and pop shops in the area and shop around. I'm in no rush so hopefully I'll find a good deal on something I like with quality parts.

hybridbkrdr

I recently looked at over 50 manufacturer's web sites looking out of curiosity for bikes I find interesting. Well, OK, I say interesting but from my point of view. I prefer aluminium frames and forks and simple brakes. Some people prefer aluminium frames + carbon forks (or all carbon and disc brakes). Anyway, here's the list:

Diamondback Century 1
Schwinn Fastback 3
Jamis Ventura Sport
KHS Flite 280
Raleigh Merit 1

The cassettes on these vary like 12-25T or 11-30T etc. It may be harder for a beginner to climb hills with a 25T cog. In any case, the thing about these bikes is you can easily change to Shimano Ultegra 8 speed bar-end shifters.* (But I've read nice comments on Shimano Claris brifters on those bikes.)

As for your bike, it has a 7 speed cassette which means if you wanted to change to 8 speed Shimano Claris brifters, you'd also have to change the rear wheel as well (and cassette). One of the reasons I find the list of bikes above interesting is that they're likely to have a more relaxed geometry than $1500 to $2000 bikes. Most people may not want that sort of racing type of geometry for fitness/fun biking. My favorite of those is the Jamis Ventura Sport. There are clearance sales for that one right now. (I said in a previous post I really liked the Miele Andiamo CC but thinking about it again, I think I'd prefer a more "traditional" type of bike like the Jamis Ventura Sport.)

*Actually, not everyone likes bar-end shifters. But, if you want to change to 7 speed brifters, you'd end up doing a lot of searching on eBay (my best guess).

As for the saddle, I think it depends on the distance (and your rear end). I find going over 12 miles on a soft saddle causes me to lose circulation in my rear end. I end up feeling like I was slapped with a 2x4 after getting off the bike. You may want to look for a "semi-hard" saddle.

EDIT: Wow. I'm genuinely surprised. I guess I was somewhat uninformed on what was available. Here's a link to a pair of Microshift 7 speed brifters for $60 https://www.amazon.com/Microshift-Shifters-Sb-r473-Bicycle-Shifter/dp/B00SUH62ZM/ref=sr_1_6?s=outdoor-recreation&ie=UTF8&qid=1440978479&sr=1-6&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A5739251011 and Shimano Tourney pair of 7 speed brifters for $80 https://www.amazon.com/Shimano-Tourney-A070-7-Speed-Lever/dp/B00961NHA4/ref=sr_1_13?s=outdoor-recreation&ie=UTF8&qid=1440978479&sr=1-13&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A5739251011
Whoops! The Microshifter shifters are 3x7, not 2x7.

**For those in Canada, there are Diadora Firenze Comp with Shimano 105 on sale for $665 CAD at Sports Experts and Jamis Ventura Sport for $550 CAD at Sports Chek.

rms13

my recent build cost about $1800 (doing all labor myself) and it turned out great in my opinion

https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...bon-build.html

Didn't cost me $2500-3000 and I basically used all brand new parts and didn't spend months hunting for bargains

MRT2

You said it. How much would your build cost if you paid a bike shop to do it, including their markup on parts?

rms13

If I bought all the parts as i did and brought to a local shop they would build it for $150. Even with that cost it would still be half the cost of an equivalent brand name bike. Not suggesting op builds though. A $1000 will get a nice Fuji with 105 at Performance which is more than enough for what hes looking for

Vicegrip

OP You mentioned Performance bike. Fuji Roubaix is hard to beat for the money. Time a sale and double points day and get a good 105 level bike for what many pay for a set of mid grade wheels. I got one for the Dear Wife and I rode it for a bit to get a feel for it. (she is tall enough that I could dial it enough to sorta fit) I came away feeling it was a good bike not just good for the bux.

Run away from a gel seat. Get a good set of bibs with the Performance points back from the Fuji. Your ass will thank you. Gel seats are for the nice old ladies that ride from the condo the dining hall every day at 4:30.

Busa_Chris

I saw those Microshift brifters but I'm weary about buying something that's that much cheaper than anything else on the market. Experience from motorcycles says to stay the hell away from stuff like that. I would like a performance bike simply because I like to go as fast as I can and push the limits. I wouldn't be commuting with it because it just wouldn't be practical for my work. I'm going by Performance tomorrow to check out their sale bikes and see if I find something I'm interested in.

Fuji seems to have some good reviews from their riders so I'll be sure to take a look at those. The Schwinn Fastback has a nice clean and simple look (which I like). Before I started riding, I was running anywhere from 4 to 15 miles at a 6 minute per mile pace. I found out that's a bit faster than any of my friends wanted to run and soon had nobody to run with. I don't think I'll need a "granny gear" (or whatever it's called) but I could always change out the rear gear set if say I wanted to ride in the mountains versus around where I live.

I'm sure this is asked a million times, but what is the best gearing setup for fast riding but still having a lower range for climbing hills (not mountains)? Ie: 2x8, 2x10, 3x8, etc..

GuitarBob

These days, most road bikes come with two chainrings on the crank -- "a double" -- and they're usually sized with 50 and 34 teeth (a "compact"); used to be that 53-39 was most common (a "standard").

Most entry road bikes are going to come with a wide range cassette, something on the order of 11-32, give or take. A wide-range cassette isn't a bad way to start for most, but there are some significant gaps between cogs, so if you're really not going to the mountains, you might be happier with a narrower range, say 11-25. Cassettes are quick to change, so if you decide this sport is for you, you'll collect a few.

hybridbkrdr

I just wanted to make a passing comment that REI has the Diamondback Century 1 on clearance right now for under $600. If you're not familiar, usually people say between Shimano Claris, Sora, Tiagra and 105, a lot say Tiagra is the minimum quality acceptable for more serious cycling while 105 is preferred.

In general, going from 8 to 9 or 10 speeds means less difference between each cog. Some people want a 11-25T cassette and 10 speeds just to have a more consistent feeling when changing gears.

If you're strong enough, you may prefer a double crankset instead of triple.

f4rrest

The important thing is to try a few bikes in person, and after a few, one of them will feel most right for you.

If you build one from parts without much prior riding experience, it's unlikely you'll end up with the best fit for you.

You wouldn't put your new customers on an aggressive 1 liter sport bike would you?

hybridbkrdr

I went to the Performance bike web site and the [h=1]Ridley Fenix AR2 & Ridley Fenix AR1 look interesting. It's the usual 50/34 crankset but they don't say the number of cogs for the cassettes. The Fujis had 52/36 cranksets. (50/34 and 12-25 might be the choice for some people.)[/h]

mawashi

I agree with all the guys here, your bike isn't worth upgrading, but keep as a loaner or when the weather turns nasty.

The 2016 models are coming up around Sept and the first sanctioned disk brake race too so there should be a glut of 2015/2014 bikes on sale in Sept to Dec. Hang on a bit and you could grab a great bike at super prices soon.

hybridbkrdr

If you're really curious, you can look at this HTML5 Gear Calculator

You can slide the cogs around to visually see what kind of gears you're using.

EDIT; OK, I find this weird but after saying 12-25T might be common, I was looking at bikes that go up to 30T or 32T the other day and had to keep on looking. Now that I'm looking for examples of bikes with cassettes that go up only to 25T I can't find them. In any case, I remember reading a thread where someone kept complaining about his gearing. He was really annoyed at large gaps in his gearing. He knew exactly where he spent most of his time at what effort. I guess only experience would tell you what you want... (you could buy a different cassette later on)

By the way, 6 minutes per mile is like national (or international) level. Did you win any marathons?

Busa_Chris

That gearing calculator should give me a better idea. I used a similar calculator when I raced motorcycles for a rough baseline.

I've never ran any marathons. Prior service in an airborne unit and we ran... A LOT! Really enjoyed it though. Got into a groove and could run for what seemed like forever. I never thought I was that fast since half the guys in my unit would take off like we were standing still. Had a few that ran around a 3-4 minute mile! They weren't the first ones to finish the longer runs though...

And no, I would never put a new rider on a liter bike. I've actually refused to sell a bike before to a kid wanting a liter bike. He had cash in hand too. I knew he had no riding experience and I guess my conscience just won't let me do something like that.

I plan to do some window shopping over the next few weeks to find a few that I like and then patiently wait for them to go on sale. Maybe a triple crankset would benefit me by giving a lower gear ratio for the day I decide to do something crazy and hit the mountains. Other than that I don't see any benefit for local riding.

rms13

All the kids around here are racing around on liter bikes with clearly little riding experience or common sense based on the fact they all think its a great idea to ride in a t shirt and sneakers