Bikedued - I understand what you are saying. I can't plop down any kind of serious money right now. In fact, I'm still working out the 200 bucks. I don't do anything on credit, so financing isn't really an option. My opinion is this, If I can find a decent enough starter bike that will allow me to go out and ride some miles for another method of gaining fitness, great. If I do a Tri with the thing, It would be something small like a sprint tri next summer probably, where I won't care if my 200 CL bike gets me to the finish line over the minor time gain I'd get from a ten times more expensive tri bike. Let me put some time in on that for a couple summers, find out I want to get serious enough with that and I'll go in and buy a "proper" bike. meanwhile, I'll be happy to sell me taken care of 200 CL bike for say, close to 200 bucks

That Berrien Springs event is way out of my way (100 miles) for being inexperienced. I'd rather stick to my local CL listings. But thank you for looking for something that may work.


Much of this thread has become a debate over fit. Like I said, I feel comfortable enough scouring my local CL ads, finding a possibility, going for a test ride and deciding if it feels like it would work. A trip to the LBS before I go out for sure and afterwards is in the plans.

I've looked at the cheaper bikesdirect.com bikes and some cheap road bikes like the GMC Denali on Amazon, and when I look for reviews, everyone states I can find better deals on CL. Then I ask in a thread about CL deals and I get, "Go buy a new bike."

So, in an effort to direct my question for help, if someone is so inclined to checkout my local CL and find suggestions or respond to my "How about this one" posts, that would be great (and those have been very helpful).

Again, thanks to everyone so far...