zack crockett

Hi Guys,

As a long-time cyclist who recently took the plunge and bought a new road bike, I came to realize exactly how much effort and time buying a new bike took. It took me nearly 3 months of research, curating, and combing various sources before making a decision.

I have decided to write a comprehensive "Guide on how to buy a road bike" for free release through Amazon. There is a lot of info on the internet, but much of it is unreliable, inconsiderate, and/or not well-sourced. My goal is to get advice and opinions from experts (aka, you guys), and craft a helpful guide from it. Again, this is something that will be released completely for free, and I'm doing it out of personal interest and a desire to give people a definitive, comprehensive guide to buying a bike, after slogging through the process myself.

The goal is to make it as informative as possible, and hopefully give newcomers (and new buyers) some sense of direction as they enter the market for their new bike.

Here's what I have so far:

Introduction to the Sport

A very brief background on the bicycle, its history, and it's various uses over time.

What Type of Rider Are You?

-Competitive: triathlons, sprints, endurance rides, etc.
-Recreational/Commuter
-Touring
-A note on dedication/investment

Section 1: Important things to consider

-price range
-small store vs. big bike retailer
-online purchasing (craigslist, ebay)

Fit and Feel

-bike fit (incl. seat tube length, top tube length, and head tube length, stand over height, reach)
-"feel" during test ride
-saddle comfort
-Test rides: why they are not indicative of whether or not a bike is right for you, and why you should take your time

Section 2: Components

-a note about weight vs. durability vs. cost

-frame material (CF, steel, aluminum, titanium, etc)
-fork material
-components (double vs triple crankset, etc)
-group sets (shimano, campy, etc)
-wheels

Best Value Bikes for Each Type of Rider

-examples of bikes for each type of rider/each price range, with pictures and links.

Additional Considerations

Other costs
-Bibs, shorts
-pedals
-helmet
-aero bars
-tires

Is there anything that would be helpful that I'm missing? Things you wish you'd had an answer to when in the market for a new bike? I'd like the book to be between 5k-8k words, and as comprehensive and dense as possible.

Of course, I'll credit all contributors in the book's preface.

Thanks for any help!

--Zack

zack crockett

Please also feel free to shoot me a PM if you'd be interesting in writing or contributing to any of the sections above. I'd like to make this as much of a community effort as possible.

Gluteus

..

https://wheelandsprocket.com/articles...les-pg1226.htm

LowCel 

I spent about an hour buying my first road bike and that includes going to two different shops. It did it's job, gave me something to ride while learning what I would like to change. I swear I think a lot of people put way too much time and energy into bike shopping, time and energy that could very well be used for riding.

DropDeadFred

I searched for the baddest most expensive thing I could find on craiglist that didn't fit.

Seattle Forrest

Uh oh. There seems to be a flaw in your logic.

Here are some things the 41 (eg this forum) is expert in: aerobars are evil and could impale other riders, sleeveless jerseys were invented by Saddam Hussein, which road bike can I buy for $15, how do you know if you've done a century ride or not, why can't I shift my sram bike, how far back can you be and still draft somebody without letting them know it, Cervelos are so awesome even though they're ugly, and Fred. If you also go into the racing sub forum, you'll have some material on how to attach your number to your jersey.

GiantDefyGuy

I agree with this.
I spent a total of about 15 minutes getting my first road bike.
There was only 1 store open on sunday, and that's when I decided to get a bike. And then that store only had a white Scott and a blue Giant to choose from (in the entry level road category). I chose blue. I still ride this bike, although I did make a few small changes here and there since I got it.

And I put a serious answer in this thread in the other forum, so I don't need to repeat myself here.

LowCel 

Thanks for pointing that out. Zack, cross posting is not permitted. Please let me know which forum you would like to keep this in and I will merge the posts.

GiantDefyGuy

Aw man! I'm a tattle tale?!?!?!?!?!?!


sorry.

rdtompki

Zack, if you're serious you should put together a storyboard and ask for a review. I think it's going to be difficult to deal with all the different classifications/use cases. For example, Commuter and Recreational can be very, very different. Many who ride Centuries would consider themselves to be recreational, but would require a very different configuration than the average commuter.

SuperGregNo1

I spent about a year researching before I bought a bike. Simply because when I first walked in a bike store, I couldn't tell you why one bike cost $3000 while another cost $500. So I figured, why pick out a bike when I have no idea what I'm picking out? But that's just me. If I picked something out too soon I'd be second guessing myself constantly. In the mean time I had a crappy hand me down bike to ride, so yeah if you have nothing you might want to hurry it up a bit

ColinL

I don't know what you can learn from a book versus experience, but in this subject I suspect it's a lot. I spent hours researching my first modern bike and bought the wrong one.

I bought a hybrid with a suspension fork and I should've bought a 29er MTB. But why did I buy the wrong one?

Because I didn't get out and try singletrack trails that are near me now, ones that didn't exist when I rode MTBs in the 90s. After I did get on the trails I realized that my bike and cross tires were a big handicap, especially for a new rider.

Is there anything like singletrack for road bikes, that is impossible to know if you like it until you try? Probably not that dramatic, no. But as someone already mentioned, road bikes can be very different for commuting, recreational (I would say endurance) riding, racing, and so on. You can still buy the wrong bike. You can definitely buy a bike that doesn't fit... and good luck dealing with that in the book!

Conversely, before I bought my first road bike I was riding my hybrid on the streets in the conditions I would use a road bike. I borrowed a road bike from my dad. I did the same hours of research except this time I bought the right bike, mostly. I'm for sure a lot more satisfied with it right now than I am my hybrid.

Anyway, I see potential value in this book. It needs to be better than picking pieces from Bike Forums, sheldon brown's site, and reading reviews in Bicycling. Fortunately at least one of those goals is easily achieved.

zack crockett

My apologies -- I intended to post this here, but accidentally posted in the single gear forum. Sorry! And thank you for the feedback, everyone. It is greatly appreciated.

mmmdonuts

Will there be a category for non-serious non-commuter somewhat recreational roadie smartass who waves?

Yo Spiff

For one thing, we need a better acronym than NSNCSRRSWW.

hueyhoolihan

all of the above is useful information, which is why i scrutinize each and every post...

hueyhoolihan

i volunteer for moderator.

Vlaam4ever

For picking out a bike you only need to know 3 things,
1) buy the best bike you can afford, immediatly. You'll know it when you see it.
2) flip it, slam it.
3) HTFUActually the history part is kind cool, but is not applicable.

If you do these 3 things the bike with pay you back every nickel you put into it.

zack crockett

I couldn't agree more that actually testing out a bike trumps any book I could ever write. Of course, things like fit, comfort, and so forth can only be construed so much through text.

All I'm trying to do is just provide a free guide with credible, expert info that will, at the very least, set people in the right direction. I was lucky enough to have found these forums when I was in the market for a bike, and I read a lot of extremely helpful information. I guess what I'd like to do is curate the knowledge that helped me so much here and make it more accessible to a wider variety of people.

My name isn't going to be on the book; I ideally wanted this to be a community effort, where everyone with special knowledge on a particular aspect of cycling could contribute writing or input. That's really the only way I foresee this being a unique, conclusive endeavor. I thought it'd be a cool thing to do for the cycling community, and just anyone in general who is interested in buying a bike. I realize this is very broad, and that many, many sub-categories must be covered, but if everyone were to chip in a bit, we could potentially make the most helpful guide available, anywhere.

10 Wheels

https://graygoatsports.com/buyers-gui...cles-pg285.htm

generalkdi

I'm curious, which bike did you end up with?

LemondFanForeve

Zack, thanks for your great book idea, I would definitely be interested in a copy of the book once its complete, thanks.

ahsposo 

You could just call it an "ahsposo"...

zack crockett

After all my research, advice from a ton of cyclists, and hours of test-riding, I finally ended up with a 2011 Cannondale Supersix 5 (105 components).

It was discounted and I got a great deal on it from a fantastic LBS.

zack crockett

Lemond -- absolutely! I'll paste a link to Amazon/pdf file once it's complete. I'm more than happy to help out; I love the sport.