Time to step up a grade. What bike to buy?
08-14-07, 11:40 AM
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Time to step up a grade. What bike to buy?
I'm sure this has come up before, so pardon me if we are covering old ground but I've just joined Bike Forums.
I've been commuting to work on my bike 3 days a week for most of this season. I drive about half way and cycle the rest. My round trip is 35 miles. Along with several long weekend rides I’m now well over 1,300 miles for the season, and I’ve been doing all this on my Cannondale Road Warrior 800! ( https://www.cannondale.com/bikes/05/c...del-5HR8Y.html .) I bought this bike a couple of years ago when my commute was a lot shorter. But this bike is at its limit for the sort of riding I do now, and I would also like to start cycling all the way to work and back at least once a week (75 mile round trip), and that’s way beyond what this bike is designed for.
So it’s now time for me to step up and get a real road bike, but I’ve never owned one before so I’m a newbie to the style, although as you can see I’m not a newbie to pedal power. Whatever bike I get it will take a fair amount of use and will be going long distances on a regular basis, so I don’t want anything too heavy (like a Touring Bike), but the last part of my ride is down 120 blocks of Manhattans pothole riddled Avenues, so the wheels have to be able to withstand that without having to go to the shop to get realigned once a week. Oh yes, I weigh about 210 lbs, so I’m guessing I’ll want one of those wheels with more spokes.
My budget max’s out at $2,000, but I was hoping to pick up something used on eBay for half that if possible. I figure it might be a cheaper way for me to get used to a new riding style.
If you’ve taken the time to read all this, thank you very much. And so my kind reader, the questions I have are (a) what bike would you recommend, and (b) would you recommend buying on eBay?
I've been commuting to work on my bike 3 days a week for most of this season. I drive about half way and cycle the rest. My round trip is 35 miles. Along with several long weekend rides I’m now well over 1,300 miles for the season, and I’ve been doing all this on my Cannondale Road Warrior 800! ( https://www.cannondale.com/bikes/05/c...del-5HR8Y.html .) I bought this bike a couple of years ago when my commute was a lot shorter. But this bike is at its limit for the sort of riding I do now, and I would also like to start cycling all the way to work and back at least once a week (75 mile round trip), and that’s way beyond what this bike is designed for.
So it’s now time for me to step up and get a real road bike, but I’ve never owned one before so I’m a newbie to the style, although as you can see I’m not a newbie to pedal power. Whatever bike I get it will take a fair amount of use and will be going long distances on a regular basis, so I don’t want anything too heavy (like a Touring Bike), but the last part of my ride is down 120 blocks of Manhattans pothole riddled Avenues, so the wheels have to be able to withstand that without having to go to the shop to get realigned once a week. Oh yes, I weigh about 210 lbs, so I’m guessing I’ll want one of those wheels with more spokes.
My budget max’s out at $2,000, but I was hoping to pick up something used on eBay for half that if possible. I figure it might be a cheaper way for me to get used to a new riding style.
If you’ve taken the time to read all this, thank you very much. And so my kind reader, the questions I have are (a) what bike would you recommend, and (b) would you recommend buying on eBay?
