Originally Posted by
ildiddy
A lot of good advice being given here. A quick couple of lessons I've learned.
- A good fit will trump "better" components any day of the week. Both in terms of comfort and performance on the bike. Having the latest DuraAce group won't mean anything if your stem is 30mm too long and you feel stretched out.
- Though we all want to save money and "used" bikes are a good way to do it, make sure it fits. If you don't, you almost always end up spending more money buying poor-fitting "used" bikes than what it would've taken to buy a new bike that fits you well.
- And find a bike that you connect with. When you come home, you want to see your bike and think "I want to go for a ride".... That connection is kind of important.
Well, you sort of said this but you buy a bike like this:
1. Frame
2. Wheels
3. Components.
A badly fitted bike with Di2 still sucks. A properly fitted bike with Tiagra will still be fun to ride. And the first thing people tend to upgrade are the wheels. Even on a $4,000+ bike, wheels used generally retail for less than a grand. My Super Six HM Red came with Mavic Elites.