I want to get into actual road riding. as in, on a real road bike, not a xc bike where I lost half my power when I'm climbing. A bike where I can go into the drops, and use clipless pedals. I was just wondering, what's the bare minimum I would need in a bike?

I know generally when getting a bike, I should get the best my budget will allow for. But I'm a little on the broke side right now, and I can't exactly afford a felt or a trek madone. I was gonna go with something used off of probably craigslist. I wanted to get an aluminum frame, carbon forks, and ultegra groupset, but I can't right now. So I'm curious, are the cheaper bikes like the old peugeots or bianchis decent, or would I just be wasting money and time getting one? I know they're most likely going to have down-tube shifters, and they won't be as smooth shifting, or look as nice as the newer stuff, or be as light, but would they be fine for just starting out?


Update: Alright, I have another question. What's a good, cheap cycling computer with cadence? (preferably that fits on back wheel, because I do plan on getting a trainer) I don't care if it's wired or wireless, but considering I haven't seen a wireless one for under 60, I'm gonna most likely go with wired. I've looked at the Cateye cc-rd200 strada, cateye cc-cd200 astrale, and there's a sigma bc1609 I'm looking at on ebay right now that ends tomorrow. I've read some mixed reviews on all of them, but I don't know how reliable amazon reviewers really are. I think asking on a bike forum would yield more accurate results.