sunnydaze

I rode a bike 20 years ago in college on and off, never more than 10 miles. I want to begin riding at least 3 times a week for exercise, probably 10 - 20 miles each time. I am in pretty good shape but don't want to kill myself. What bike would you experts recommend I buy? I was thinking of a trek but have heard good things about the dolce 660. Any suggestions would be so appreciated. Shoud I go with straight handebars or the typical curved ones? I want to spend between 450-750. Thanks so much!

MichaelW

How tall are you?
Do you want to use the bike for commuting/shopping/touring, wet weather riding, or just fast athletic riding?
Trek do some good bikes, but you also need a good bike shop. Find that, and see what brands they do.

sunnydaze

I am 5 foot 4. I want to mostly use it to go on 20 mile rides around where I live, using it for exercise in nice weather, not wet weather. I will be on pavement. Some people say I will be more comfortable with straight handlebars, others say I need curved handle bars as sitting up straight for too long will hurt my back. Not sure who to listen to and don't want to make a 700 dollar mistake.
Thanks for answering.

ChiliDog

I'm your height and ride an average of the same distances. I started back in 3 years ago at age 46. Tried a road bike and found that after 20+ miles it gave me neck pain due to the flexing of my head forward to watch the road. That was very uncomfortable for me. I looked at other options, which you might explore: a Specialized Sequoia "comfort" road bike-more of an upright seating and higher handlebar to saddle set-up (Trek now has "comfort" road bikes too); a faster, lighter hybrid with 700cc (road bike) wheels and flat handlebars, for a more of an upright posture-examples being the Specialized Sirrus, Trek FX series hybrid, Lemond Wayzata, among others; a recumbent bike is also worth a look see. They are also fast and comfortable, with no pressure on the arms, wrists, shoulders, or butt! (good website to learn about these is www.bentrideronline.com). "Comfort bikes" are also nice for shorter rides, but tend to offer a more limited seat time as you are sitting straight up, though some people do ride them that way. I like the Trek Navigator series and the Specialized Crossroads series. Lemond has out a new womens' comfort/road bike too. I forget the name of it. You can see there are LOTS of choices. Best to hit some bike shops and do some test riding....good luck and have fun with your search! Let us know what you get...

nualle

If you're looking for comfort, nothing can beat a recumbent, especially a 'bent trike. I'm still a relative newbie to biking. Never did it very seriously and hadn't done it at all for 10 years before I took the car-free plunge two years ago. I am glad I got a 'bent to start with and even gladder that I was recently able to swap it for a trike. In the laid-back body position, I get none of the ancillary aches... no backache, no numb butt, no neck pain. The only soreness I have is the warmly sore leg muscles from working and training them.

If 'bents attract you at all, I urge you to look into what's available in your area. You should probably be able to find one, perhaps used, perhaps a discontinued model, within your price range.

sunnydaze

I am favoring the trek 1000c and the trek 7100 so far. Does anyone have any opinions on these two? Thanks!

mlwschultz

If you're working with a good LBS they can reconfigure the road bike with different handlebars to suit you. It'll probably mean changing the brakes, shifters, stem, etc. but they should be willing to do this for you. Our LBS doesn't charge for doing this if you buy the bike from them. My husband has done this on his road bike, we've done it on our tandem, and I'm getting ready to get a road bike for myself and will do the same to that. They can set it up so it's a comfortable riding position and this helps them make sure you get the right fit on your bike if they know you'd like to do this when they help you select your bike. I'm looking at the Trek 1000 and the Specialized Allez. Good luck with your choice!

MichaelW

A light touring bike would suit you well. These come in two style, drop bar (so called road-comfort bike) and flat bar. each company tends to have a different name for this style.
The key features are:
relaxed riding position, on flat or drop bars.
Triple chainset for a wide, and low set of gears.
Frame fittings for taking luggage rcak and fenders, but these are not heavy duty expedition touring bikes.
Medium sized tyres. You should be able to fit a tyre up to 28mm size, which is good for easy riding on rough roads. Race bikes struggle to fit tyres larger than 25mm, becasue of the close clearance around the brake arms.

As far as your size, do get a frame the correct size, and ensure that it is fitted with small components (cranks and handlebars)

sunnydaze

Thanks ChiliDog. I rode a Specialized Sequoia last night but it was over 1100 dollars. Am riding a specialized sirrus tonight that costs about 500. Do you have an opinion on the sirrus/basic model, if so, I'd like to hear it!

calibrate

If you were not on such a small budget I'd recommend you deal with your local bike shop. However, to get the most bang for your bucks go to www.supergo.com and check out the Scattante R.550. It's just $699 and has Shimano 105, Easton al frame and a carbon fork.

Good luck.

sunnydaze

just an fyi: bought the specialized sirrus, basic model, about 500 or so this morning. just rode it for 40 minutes on the bike path, not sure how many miles I went but it felt great! Hopefully by May I will be able to handle the 42 mile 5 boro race in NY. Thanks for all the advice.