Can they hold up?
 

Ok so heres the deal, I live in the NY metro area and im currently using a somehwhat cheap MTB to get around. I take it to school, friends houses, excersize with it (we have a .8 mile public track around here), e.t.c. Now lately ive been thinking of upgrading to a beginers road bike, Id really like to get some more speed and have something lighter that I would feel comfortable riding much longer distances with. However my question is, would a road bike be able to hold up to NYC streets, there are a lot of bumps, a lot of short stops, pretty much it can get tough sometimes. But dont get me wrong there are plenty of great places to ride, and for rides where the bike would be locked up for a while or where I knew conditions would be tough, I would take the MTB. Its just that there would invetibly be times where the road bike would have to be put to the test. And I would greatly appriciate your opinions on this matter. Thx.

P.S. I am currently looking at the Fugi League and the Trek 1000, any sugestions??

Just run your tires at the inbetween min-max pressure, make sure you have 32+ spoked wheels, that the spokes are properly tensioned, get up off the seat when going over rough pavement, and learn to avoid the really big potholes and you'll be fine.
BTW: are you talking about the track near mill basin?

Yea, in Marine Park, its pretty close to mill basin

Cool, how is the loop? You should bike up to prospect park, they've got a pretty good 3 mile loop there. I've been meaning to go down there with my gf to the golf driving range. I think it's on the other side of the belt, you know how to get there?

As far as bikes are concerned, how much are you thinking of spending? Generally, on most streets, if you can bike at 20-25mph, you can join the cars in traffic. The middle of the lane is a lot cleaner and smoother than the sides.

I would also suggest you get a spoke wrench and learn how to fix minor wobbles. I have Bontrager Race wheels and twice in 900 miles I have had to true the rear wheel. I became somewhat adept at this on my old bike, a Trek Navigator 300, which had a propensity to break spokes.

Once you learn that, you shouldn't have any big problems.

That's very true. Not all wheels come perfectly tensioned. Luckily when I bought my road bike, the wheels were almost perfect. After riding around for 2 months on NYC streets on my road bike, the rear wheel is within .7mm, the front is within .6mm, which is pretty good.
A spoke wrench you can use to occasionally true out your wheels so you don't always have to bring it back to the bike shop.

Yea, the inner loop in Marine Park (the one designated for bikes) is .8 of a mile. If u go there early in the day you'll have a lot more free space, especially on a weekday. If u go there during the afternoon, especially sunday afternoon, there are a lot of kids that cut in and out of it, which can get annoying at times. But overall its usually pretty nice. Its pretty much just a flat oval with baseball fields in the middle. As for the driving range, very easy, take the belt parkway to flabush Avenue south (towards Rockaway) and as soon as u get off, it will come up on ur right in like a minute or two.

As for price, i realize that road bikes can be expensize, but figuring that I am a beginer (with limited resources) I was hoping to get away under 500, the only way I would spend more is if the bike really blew me away, or there was some reason why an extra 100 would make a world of difference. And BTW, do u recomend any bike shops in NYC to check out?

I got last year's giant OCR2 at bayridgebikes for $600. Another user here, Nam got last year's OCR3 for I think 450. Bay ridge bikes is on 89th and 3rd avenue.

I can't ride on the belt parkway. Is there a way to get to the driving range by bike?

Feel free to drop by bay ridge bikes, I've recommended it to quite a few people. They're real friendly, will let you take a brand new bike outside for a test ride around the block, no questions asked.

You can certanly get to the drving range by bike. If your farmillar with Flatbush Aveune then u know it streches from the manhattan bridge to the marine park bridge, which leads to rockaway. The driving range is located on Flatbush Aveune south of Kings Plaza (Avenue U). While I wouldent recomend taking flatbush avenue all the way across Brooklyn, just keep that street in mind that u have to be close it. And if ur totaly not sure how to get there and ur coming from the bayridge/parkslope area, here is what to do: get to ocean parkway, which has a big bicycle lane take it down to Ave U and make a left, take Ave U to Flabush Avenue (like 40 blocks, but its really dosent take too long). Make a right on Flatbush and take that down to the driving range ( at that point there are no more city blocks but it should take like 5 10 minutes). Its actually across the street from floyd bennet feild, NYC's original muicipal airport which is now a National Park. Its a very fun place to ride cause there are long runways where u can go as fast as u want

Are bikers allowed in floyd bennet field and on the runways? I heard there was a loop there too.

i have trek 1000 and i like it lots.....its a good beginner roadie

Yea deffently, pretty much anything is allowed there, Its just a bunch of big open fields