Originally Posted by
MRT2
I understand a budget but, IMO, $450 to $500 retail (less if you can get something on sale) is about the lowest I would go and it isn't out of the question to stretch your budget a bit to $600 or $700 if you can swing it. The reason is that especially when it comes to flat bar hybrids, you get the most money for your dollar in the $500 to $800 price range.
Having just recently shopped for a road bike I have to disagree. If I wanted a hybrid I could have spent $500 and gotten something with disc brakes and 9sp cassette. If I wanted to spend $400 I could have gotten something with v-brakes and 8sp. $300? You can find v-brakes and 7sp. But I wanted a drop bar roadbike. The absolute bottom rung of major brand road bikes is in the $700+ and you do not get discs or 10sp at that low altitude. You get dual pivot sidepull and 8sp cassette and Shimano Claris. I lucked out and got a carbon fork. I didn't see anyone mention Trek in this thread and IMO the o.p. could do worse than something in the FX series. But what I came here to say was all this focus on FIT. It really is misplaced. A total novice has no clue that proper fit feels like. Maybe they CAN'T be fit properly because they are so unfit that even a proper fit feels 'wrong'. So if they go by how they 'feel'. What are they going to buy? Nothing. I have a 50cm touring bike I got from a co-op when money was tight. I'm 5'10.5". I also have a vintage Team U.S.A that in modern terminology would be 60cm. Both bikes FIT. The Trek 1.1 I just bought is a 58cm. Some would say I should have bought a 56cm. Guess what, they didn't have one! A $750 roadbike with a carbon fork on sale for $599 because it is the last one left and I'm going to quibble about 2cm? Uh... no! I'll get a shorter stem if I must, but so far I haven't had to do anything. It fits fine. Which means I'm not likely to fall asleep while riding to work. If you need your commute bike to be so comfortable that you can, indeed fall asleep on it... get a recumbent.