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which should I test ride ?

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

which should I test ride ?

Old 07-18-05, 10:49 AM
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which should I test ride ?

I'd like to buy a road bike for riding nearly every day for about 3 hours and do some racing too. I have a little trouble with my back when riding my mountainbike, would my back get worse on a road bike ? I want to ride it for a couple of years with ultegra components and spend 2500 - 3000$, so which road bikes should I test ride ?
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Old 07-18-05, 11:01 AM
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Bascially....everything you can.

You restrictions narrow your choices down somewhat, as probably does your size. So I would say ride everything you can that meets your requirements and even some that don't. Check out every local bike shop around and of course you can bug friends to try out their bikes also.
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Old 07-18-05, 11:09 AM
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"Bascially....everything you can."


I second this.
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Old 07-18-05, 11:27 AM
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pick what fits you best and the bike shop will do the rest.
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Old 07-18-05, 12:06 PM
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What ever you test ride, be sure to test ride a Specialized Roubaix - you will probably stop your testing and buy it.
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Old 07-18-05, 01:45 PM
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Three hours every day? Nice.
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Old 07-18-05, 04:54 PM
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Ride everything that isn't bolted down! That's what I did. Oddly, the bike I now own was one of the ones I test rode very early on in my search, and the very day I rode it, I was thinking, "Man, I could see myself putting an obscene number of miles on this bike," but I felt at the time that it was out of my price range. However, as I continued riding other bikes throughout the next month, I kept mentally comparing them against the bike I now have. Eventually I went back to the shop, re-rode the three most likely bikes there, and decided that yes, my first impression of this bike was correct, and that maybe I should just go ahead and plunder my savings account, which I subsequently did.
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Old 07-18-05, 04:59 PM
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Get measured first by a reputable pro in your area.
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Old 07-18-05, 05:03 PM
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Whatever you do don't buy the bike at a LBS. Buy all the parts on Ebay and www.probikekit.com. At the end you can easily have a $4000,00 bike and only spend $2000.00.
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