New Road Bike Advice?
 

Hello!

I was hoping I might be able to get some advice on which road bike might be more suitable for my use.

Currently, I hope to transfer from my community college to the nearby James Madison University. I'm looking at the two following bikes:

Schwinn Laguna Sport Road Bike
http://www.amazon.com/Schwinn-Laguna...7690881&sr=8-1

and

Giant Bicycle OCR 3 at a LBS.

Both bikes are Medium sized. The Schwinn is $268 in the medium size and the OCR 3 is on sale for $460.

I'm competely new to road biking and would like something good to get started... and would be appropriate for simply community and short weekend rides. I would also like an excellent deal.

Thank you so much!
Dustin

Most advice will be to ride the bikes to make sure what fits and what doesn't. Schwinn's medium is not likely to be the same as Giant's medium.

Another thing to consider is, does the LBS have any incentives (free tune-ups for length of ownership)? The accessories can get overwhelming as well, so factor those into cost as well...pedals, shoes, helmet, gloves, etc.

I regret ordering my first road bike online, as the fit never really worked, I sold it, bought an older bike that I am learning to work on, and it fits a lot better. The more comfortable you feel on the bike may dictate how long you will keep cycling.

Good luck in your decision...a search may help as well.

Thanks for your reply. I accually got to ride the OCR 3 and the gentleman that helped me was very kind. That's one reason why I'm apt to buy the OCR 3 even if it's out of my price range. The OCR felt good, though. I realize a decent road bike costs, thought.

Also, I haven't had any luck today at roughly 6 thrift shops for nice bikes. I found a Huffy Omni-10 and some Phoenix Racer 10. Would those be good bikes for me to work on until the summer?

That Schwinn, if I may add, has the same components (it seems to be) as the 2007 Schwinn Circuit... but I realize that Schwinn isn't what it used to be.

Thank you so much for any more advice!
Dustin