Originally Posted by 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!