Originally Posted by
Russcoles11
I have no doubt that there are good quality cheap bikes out there. There are however a lot more that are rather poor. The concern with a cheap aluminium frame is that aluminium frames can snap suddenly without warning, this is more likely in a cheap badly made frame. A 2nd hand steel bike may well go wrong but if it does you generally have some warning and it can also be fixed.
I agree.
I think that good bikes can be had in the $650-$700 range for a road bike. The Trek 1.1 and Raleigh Revino 1.0 come to mind. A true entry level bike ready to race probably comes in at least $1000, but the 1.1 and Revino will be decent club ride bikes and not bad for first race bike I suppose.