Hello, sorry if this is the wrong forum for this.
I'm cycling to try and get in better shape. Sadly my budget is a bit limited. I tried a road bike I found on FB Marketplace but it isn't comfortable for me to ride. It's an Ozone 500 RS3000 that looks like Academy sold for 250 new.
I am listing it on FB again to try and get something more my speed and I'm being offered a trade. Normally I'd look up the offered make and model to see if it's a roughly equivalent bike but all I have is a picture and the interested parties comment of
"I I don't remember but it really bad ass with the front from rks and middle spring" when I asked about the manufacture.
Being new to the hobby I don't really even know what he's telling me or what questions to ask. I'm 6'1" so from the picture I have it looks like it might be short for me, but it's kind of hard to tell. I would post the picture but I'm not at my 10 post minimum yet.

We'll wait.

Sometimes you can find a deal on FB market place and elsewhere. Most of the time you won't. Especially if you have no experience with cycling and don't know what your needs are.

What type bike you get should be determined by how you want to ride it and for what purpose. Also the terrain conditions around you.

If you over paid for the current bike, you'll have to hope that someone else is willing to overpay for it again. Or just give it away or trash it for recycling scrap metal and consider that part of your education toward your cycling ability.

If you want to post a pic, try putting the pics on imgur.com or another hosting site and then just write the sharing URL link in the plain text of your message. Don't try to use any of the linking or image tools in the editor. Just type it out on the keyboard. Then remove the https:// and put a space on both sides of any . or dot that is in the link.

As a noob you also are limited to five posts in 24 hours or maybe it's per day.... so post wisely.

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And stock photos of the The ozone 500® Men's RS3000
https://cyclefitnessnyc123.weebly.co...7s_RS3000.html

Ok your photo looks like a fairly low end department store MTB. And your Ozone is a low end road bike (is it one size fits all?)

If both are fully functional, they have more or less equivalent value.

As far as should you do it?

At 6'1", you're likely too tall for both bikes.

If you wish to go with a MTB, look at 29er bikes.

If you wish to use the road bike, look at Large and Extra-Large sizes.

The position of those drop bars is absolutely hideous.

Thank you so much for doing that, and for the advice. I think I'll keep trying to recoup close to what I put in it and keep looking for a deal on a gravel/mountain bike.

It's not much fun to ride. It certainly feels fast, but I'm not used to the posture at all and can't make it very far on it.

Hopefully your bars are not angled down like that. If so, that's your problem.

When you can, post a pic of your bike so everyone can tell you (helpfully) what you're doing wrong.

Tell us what city/state/country you're in and there are folks who'll be happy to find a bike for you.

COVID has tossed the bike market upside-down. However, I wouldn't anticipate selling the Ozone RS3000 for more than about $150.

The "used" market can be rough on prices, even if nearly new.

On the other hand, if the bikes are out of stock everywhere, then you may have a chance of getting full price out of it.

One thing I would say here is to stay well away from bikes with any form of suspension (Front and Rear) in that price range. They are complete junk. If you are looking for a mountain bike, stick to fully rigid frames in this market.

Sell what you have. Don't try to trade because you will end up getting the wrong thing again.

You really need to figure out what you want---to understand enough about bikes in general--before you can buy a bike with anything but an outside chance that you will get anything worthwhile.

For people who don't ride ... I suggest getting a single-speed beach cruiser and just riding around a while ... see if you really like riding. Buy cheap stuff at yard sales where you can swing a leg over the bike and see if it fits, spin the wheels and the handlebars, squeeze the brakes and see if they really grab the wheels.

Best bet is to find someone--friend of a friend or something--who has a clue about bikes, and go to a bike store, just to take a couple test rides (don't bring cash and hide your plastic.) That way you can get a feel for what fits, and the friend's friend who has a clue about bikes can tell you later what you liked and what sizes fit and all that.

If you are brand new to riding, I might suggest starting with a flat-bar bike---a bike with a straight or swept handlebar, not the curled-up rams' horns-looking bars. You can always get another bike .... but if you buy a bike you can ride comfortably today, there is a better chance you will actually Want to keep riding. if you buy a bike you hate today, you will take up skate-boarding or video games or something .....

Those drop bars look launch compatible.
Guaranteed to drive you into the tarmac.

Biking is very hard at the beginning, especially if your bike is not a good fit for you, and the Ozone doesn't look like a good fit. It does get easier if you keep pedaling. Being fit in other sports will help you aerobically, but each sport uses at least slightly different muscles, so keep pedaling.

I found a lot of other pictures of the Ozone online and the handlebar position in that picture appears to be the only one that looks off. Where are they getting these photographers who've obviously never actually seen a bike?

Agreed on the picture of the bike drops, mine weren't positioned like that.

Before the Ozone I'd been using a castoff Roadmaster that I liked but it was having gear shifting issues. Probably fixable, but for a free bike I didn't know how much I wanted to put in it. Since my post I have sold the ozone and purchased a Trek 820 which is similar to the Roadmaster in style. I didn't know if I was breaking the "no suspension" rule since Trek is a more known brand, but I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm not using it on terrain where great suspension is a necessity. So far I'm liking the Trek very much. Thank you all for your advice!

Good job on getting the Trek. It is better than your Roadmaster or Ozone.

Do you know what year the Trek is?

John

From the serial it’s a 2016

That’s good. Suntour had an M3030 fork recall on bikes from Nov 2014 to May 2015.

John

Thanks very much for looking out, it's appreciated!