cheesus311

I am in the market to buy a new road bike. I am fairly inexperienced at riding, at least on more contemporary equipment. Last year, I restored my dad's old '78 Motobecane Super Mirage and rode it around Fort Collins for two or three thousand miles. Obviously, the bike is extremely heavy, slow and dated and I realized this very soon when I took a long ride with my friend who is a track rider and rides a carbon fiber bike. I then bought another old Moto frame, a Grand Jubile, and build a fixed gear bike out of it, which I have ridden for somewhere between a thousand and fifteen hundred miles. I now want to buy a new road bike with an aluminum or composite frame and a carbon fork on it. My price range is around a thousand dollars, maybe a little less. I wondering what kind of bikes are the best for this price range. I plan to ride the bike strictly on the road. I want something smooth, fast, quiet and comfortable. I have looked into Treks a little bit, as well as LeMonds and the more modern Motobecanes. Can someone make a recommendation?

MarkSLC

Aren't the Motobecanes no longer Motobecanes? I thought the name was sold off and they're just slapping them on cheapie frames and selling them for cheap... Not a bad thing, I've seen a few people running up American Fork Canyon with those very bikes, and they do pretty well. If you've ridden an aluminum bike, you know they're not the most comfortable bikes around. They don't dampen vibrations as well as steel and carbon. I have a buddy who picked up a decent Felt aluminum/carbon (or composite) for about $1600.. He said he liked it quite a bit.

cheesus311

It appears that a company called bikesdirect is selling Motobecanes currently. I read that the old company that produced bikes in the seventies and eighties went out of business, and evidently they are still around.

haimtoeg

Motobecane bikes are generic frames made in Taiwan with various components on them. Use search function to see what people are saying about them and make up your mind, just remember that they have no relation to the vintage frames you have.

As far as what bike you should buy that'll be both smooth and fast, obviously only a red bike will do. It is a well established fact that red bikes are faster by at least 2mph than bikes in any other color.

MarkSLC

It's true. My red Raleigh kicks the **** out of my old '70s Centurion both literally and figuratively.

cheesus311

From what I have seen and read, I don't think that I'll go with a Motobecane. Right now I like Trek and LeMond for the thousand dollar price range, (the latter simply for stylistic reasons, which I realize is certainly not the reason to buy a bike, you must buy it because of its color). I will certainly have to do more research though and see what is out there. I am open to any suggestions of brands and models to research.

Treefox

The old Motobecane was reconstituted and now trades as 'MBK' because they lost their trademark. Nice bikes. https://www.mbk-cycles.com/

Red is wind tunnel proven to go faster.

Treefox

There are brands that represent a bit better value for money than Trek. Have a look at Felt, just as one example. A Felt F85 MSRP's at $1200ish, but can often be found for around $1000. I was seeing a lot of discontinued F70's (full 105, alu frame, hilariously all yellow) for around $750 around the DC area not too long ago, but I imagine they're mostly gone.

ElJamoquio

Just like 80% of bikes in the $700-1200 range.

haimtoeg

Otherwise they wouldn't be generic, would they?

thirdin77

Jamis, Felt, Fuji and maybe Giant are all felt to offer higher-level components for the money.

Cannondale and Specialized generally offer lower-level components for the money though the frames tend to be more thoughtfully designed, i.e. the frame tubes tend to be in diameters more suitable for their location, the tubes may be more manipulated, i.e. a tube might be triangular or oval in shape, or it might be bent or deliberately crimped, rather than just gas pipe-shaped.

Everyone will tell you to test ride as many as you can and choose the one that feels right, meaning the one that has frame geometry that feels right to you- you're not too spread out, not to balled up, not too low, not to high- is the one you should settle on.

So test ride some more bikes. And don't get one for stylistic reasons unless it happens to fit well, too.

captnfantastic

if you know how to work on bikes, get a motobecane... it will be a better bang for the buck than any bike shop bike.

I have a motobecane le champ sl and I love it. I hold it back more than it holds me back.

don't forget other things you may need to seriously get into road biking such as shoes pedals helmet computer ect. they can add a considerable amount of money any roadie budget.