first time buyer
 

hey guys, as the red subtitle under my name says, i am a newbie, particularly to road biking.

i'm having a hard time finding a bike, i'm not too knowledgeable about road bikes, i know somewhat about mountain bikes, but have moved to the city, where a decent mountain bike would get stolen for parts.

i currently ride a trek singletrack 930 that my cousin gave to me for free when he got a new bike, for now i ride that with some road tires on it. but i'm looking to get into road biking and fixed gear riding.

any help on what's what with road bikes, or what to look for when buying, what to stay away from.

i think i would like to get a nice frame and ride it as a fixed gear bike (with a flip flop hub), and eventually as i learn/get more money, buy a nice set of gears/shifters.

any advice is appreciated.

thanks
-Dan

Test ride everything then get the best bike you can afford. I was also told, buy the bike for the frame as you can always upgrade the parts. So if you can get a good bike, like a carbon bike, for cheap but it has lesser components don't worry about the components since once you get into it you can always get better ones.

Of the bikes in my price range ($1000-ish) when I first got into road biking (2006) they all pretty much felt the same to me. The components were basically the same as well amongst the different bikes manufacturers.

I had narrowed it down to the Allez Elite, some Lemond bike I can't remember, Trek 1000, and some other one. They all had the same 105 9spd components and were all aluminum with carbon forks. And being new to riding I didn't know about the nuances of bike feel, stiff bottom brackets, this and that, etc. They all pretty much felt the same to me to be honest with you. So I went with the bells and whistles... the Allez had aero tubing and it was a color I liked, dark grey. So I bought it.

I did a couple MS150 rides with it, my first Century, etc. I still have it and my wife uses it occassionally. It was the best I bike I could afford at the time and I was very happy with it.

As for single speed... I don't have one but you have lots of options. Schwinn makes an entry level single speed with a flip-flop hub that'llprobably make a nice commuter. I think it's about $450-500 and it's made of steel.

Good luck!

thanks gee,

im going to a bike shop today to see what they have and their suggestions, and then going home and asking my LBS. i trust them a little more, hipster kids aren't running rampant where in my hometown (can't say the same for chicago though) which means they will try to sell me the bike that is right for me, not the more expensive flashy one.

if your ultimate aim is to get ageared bike after an as then u may as well get a geared bike in the first place. I'm in the same boat as gee and bought an allez in 2006. I knew it was a good frame, had adequate components, looked nice and was available in a color I liked. My intention was to swap it after 1or 2 yes by now I'm just gonna keep it for the forseeable future because it does everything I want it to.