Prosper

Noob to the site and to recreational road riding. We moved to the Denver area almost 2 years ago and I'm getting much more into road cycling. I've been riding my 30 year old Schwinn LeTour on my 10-30 mile rides and am ready to upgrade. It's pretty hilly where I live. I'm mostly riding rolling terrain with Cat 4-5 climbs and am hoping to build up to Cat 1-3 all of which I can find very easily riding out my front door. I'm also hoping to commute to work a couple of times a week which is about 15 miles each way. I worked in a retail bike shop in sales for 4 summers about 25 years ago. My budget is around $1000 and I'd be happy to buy used. I'm 5'6" with a 28" inseam so am looking at 52cm bikes which is a relatively limited market. After some watching of Craig's list and eBay it looks like I can get a slightly older carbon bike (2007-2010) with Shimano 105 or Ultegra components or a newer CF or aluminum frame with lower grade parts. I'm leaning towards buying a slightly older bike with higher grade components. Of course I'll test ride and closely look at any potential purchase. I'm not completely opposed to buying new but realize I'll be getting a significantly lower level bike and getting improved service/warranty/piece of mind. Any advice or recommendations? Thanks!

Team Sarcasm

I wouldn't exclude alum if you budget is 1000, bike material won't stop you from climbing a hill.

If you hold out for a few more months you can probably pick up a 5700 105 bike for pretty cheap because 5800 is coming out.

Have any brands or geos youre partial too? a carbon super six from cannondale may be up your ally. Caad10 (alum) specialized allez (alum) specialized tarmac/roubaix, felt f-series.

joshnc

Just stick with what you have. Bikes in the last couple of years have gotten stupid expensive for no good reason. If you must have a newer bike get one on craigslist.

Prosper

I'm not partial to any particular brand. I'd just like to have a bike that's a bit more efficient in transferring my energy into movement and not into the frame, in addition to indexed shifting.