new need help...
 

hi I was looking to get into biking and I wanted to get into biking not only for fun but for fitness and eventually id like to race cyclocross. anyway I was looking to get a new bike, I have a budget of 1200 dollars I was wondering what the best bike for the price is I am 5'6 and weigh 180 lbs. I will mostly be riding on road but might do a little off roading. im a noob so I was needing some suggestions, someone mentioned the giant anyroad. please help me.

Anybody have any ideas? Is the trek 520 best.

I would buy a bike suitable for Cyclocross if you intend to participate in it in the near future. Looks like most Cyclocross bikes have fatter tyres than road bikes, so that would help off-road riding.

Trek has these Cyclocross models.

http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/road/cyclocross

You may think it's an overkill first, but if you do want to do some serious run later, I'd suggest that you buy a bike that's meant for it. I'm saying it because I was exactly like that a couple of months ago. I was simply going to ride casually, like running errands and riding around the neighbourhood, maybe riding on the trail a bit. I bought a Trek 7.5 FX for it. I love the bike, but because I do, I ride a LOT more than I anticipated. I've racked up more than 300 miles since I bought it a month ago, including commuting to work and doing mid-range rides (20+ miles). Now I'm wondering if I should have bought a road bike instead. :)

You are the same size pretty much as me I would recommend the Spez Allez is a good bike and sturdy

I have updated my 7.5fx with 23c tires and lighter wheels and a Brooks seat and love riding that as much as the road bike I think you will find that you get the bug and before you know it you own 8 bikes my Fixie arrived yesterday

Thanks for all the input guys I appreciate it let me put it this way I may do cyclocross later on but for now I'll be primarily riding on road and probably doing 100 plus miles every week on it would you still recomend getting a cyclocross bike or a road bike.

If I was you, I would definitely consider buying a Cyclocross bike. As far as I know, you can easily do road biking on a Cyclocross bike. If you want, you can replace the tyres with more road-oriented (i.e. skinnier) ones.

I was looking at trek crossrip comp any thoughts on this particular bike or any other models or brands that are better

Jared, the Trek is a nice bike. Have you thought of a Cannondale Caad-X or similar Dale model?