Hey all, I've been reading the forums for a bit now and pretty sure I have read all the important stickies and "i'm new and need help" type posts.

If anything has been drilled into my head it is to buy from a lbs and not online, and that above all, fit is most important.

My question relates to picking a lbs. I live in a city where a lot of people come to bike, but for whatever reason there are very few bike shops here. One is nice (both store and sales people), but pretty much only carries Trek and not a huge selection at that. The other store looked very empty, but I think they were in process of purging stock to load on up on new 2010 stuff. For my price range (under $1k) they only carried Orbea, and most of it was high end so they would need to order me something. Now I am sure they would just put it on the floor to sell if I didn't like it, but that just seems like a very inefficient way to shop for a bike. However this bike seemed to have the best ties to the local community, had weekly group rides and the shop owners took being friendly to a whole different level. I am talking offering me coffee while we chatted, making it a point to learn my name, and taking time out to help a complete newbie while working in a shop that obviously focused on more experienced/professional riders. The third bike shop....while they had the cheapest bike, a fuji newest 3.0....i wouldn't ever want to step foot in that shop again other than to make the purches. It reminded me of a run down used car lot and smelled like a sewer.

Now if I want to drive 30 minutes to an hour away I can find more shops and brands, but isn't that defeating the purpose of buying from a local shop who I can easily pop into and get involved with?

Also, any opinions on the Trek 1.1 or 1.2, Orbea Fleche, or Fuji Newest 3.0 would also be appreciated since those seem to be my only local options in the $500-1000 range.

Thanks for helping a newbie!

Welcome to BF.
A good bike shop is your new your friend.
Warranty work and just normal questions will come easy.
Where are you and what type of riding do you plan on with the new bike?

Thanks for the welcome. Yeah, I have quickly learned the value of a good shop. They answer more questions in an hour of chatting than weeks worth of online research has done for me. Plus I am sure that with this being my first road bike I will need to bring it in every month or two for slight adjustments while the bike and I break in, so having a local shop will be great for that.

As for what type of riding, well for the most part I plan to ride the local roads about 3 times per week and on weekends join in with the beginer group on the local shop's weekly (longer) ride.

My goal for riding is mostly fitness oriented. Even though my wife carried the baby, I put on plenty of "pregnancy weight" with her...and now a year and a half later she is pretty much back to her normal self and all my extra weight stuck....so I need a good way to burn this stuff off.

i'm in pretty much the same position. just got a new bike (up in washington, and i live in california) - i'm going to the LBS that seems the friendliest and most helpful - there's a few in my town - but like yours they had hardly any selection and none in my size or even for my gender (F)! that's why i ended up getting my bike in washington (AND i got a smoking deal!)

i'm new to (road) cycling as well so i'm just trying to take it all in right now! i think establishing a good repoire with a solid LBS is key for someone like me, just getting into it. so anyway, i know that doesn't answer your question - but i think you should just go with the shop that you liked the best, even if they don't have great selection right now.


good luck!

Yeah rush_forth, you sound like you were in a very similar situation as me. I am thinking about driving into orlando (about 45 min away) to a shop that says they have over 700 bikes in stock and carry more brands, including cannondale and their CAAD9 6 which seems to be getting tons of praise on these forums. However the down side to that is I will only be going to that shop for routine maintanance for the first year while it is free, and I was hoping to buy my bike from an in town shop that I could go on weekly group rides with and have them right there to talk to so I can tell them how my bike is riding so they can make any needed adjustments. It's either that or I buy the one model bike (orbea fleche) the local shop I really like carries in my price range and settle on that one even if other shops carry better brands and models. LoL...buying a bike is harder than I thought it would be.

Hey H4v0c

I just bought my first road bike yesterday, as a matter of fact. I have ridden a Specialized Sirrus sport for the past year and realized it was time to upgrade. I just bought an 09 Specialized Allez, it's a great riding bike and i got mine for 660 dollars. Big end of year sales and an old model to boot. You should try and find a specialized dealer and try out an allez. the 2010 runs like 850 or you could check out a sectuer sport which is more of a long distance bike than the allez. As far as LBS' go. I bought my first bike at the one dealer that we have where I go to college but i traveled an hour to check out the bike i bought just because they are exactly the same frame and bike but one was 200 dollars more. Just look around. treks are pretty good but I felt stretched out or scrunched up on them. try and get a bike with atleast tiagra components if you can. might be hard to not find a lower level bike without some sora on it.

Do any of the shops offer a decent fitting with the purchase? Getting something beyond "it don't hit yer pecker" could be more valuable then whatever bike you end up with. I'd go with whatever local shop your most comfortable with, as long as the bike gets you revved up. If after a while you find something you don't like about the shop, you can always go to another for service and parts. No one will turn your biz away.

Better brands than Orbea? You're kidding, right?

Well, I shouldn't have said better...but I was trying to say settle with the one model they have in my price range, regardless if there is something that I like better or feels better at a non-local shop. I will say though that from my searches on these forums there does seem to be a preference towards the CAAD series of bikes. I could hardly find anything about the Fleche.

Dewaday, yeah, the two better local shops both insisted on fitting me properly to a bike. Neither tried to push a non-perfect fit, but in stock bike on me to make a sale.

There's a general preference toward ANY mass-produced, look-like-everyone-else bike. People are sheep and like to buy what everyone else buys. Ergo, Trek, Specialized, and Cannondale being the big three. Each one of them produced something cool and different a long time ago, they developed a following, and people keep buying. Doesn't mean they're better.

There is only one rule to buying a bike. Ignore who made it, if bike A is a better "value" than bike B, and all of the other useless bullsh1t: Buy the bike that makes you smile the most when you ride it.

If that bike is a Cannondale, then buy it. If it's the Orbea, buy it. Etc.

Correct people are sheep. I wanted to go for specialized. heaps of people had em.

I chose the bike I have now (not a specialized) but an Azzurri, coz of value. I got it cheaper and it has better components I'm lovin' it

Well I drove an hour away to a shop with the great priced '09 CAAD9-6 on it's web page just to find out the page was out of date and all they had were the 2010 models at $300 more. But at least I got to take the bike out to the parking lot, though not sure how much I learned doing a couple figure eights in the lot but it was better than looking at stuff on the racks. It felt nice, but certainly didn't scream buy me...plus they were in the middle of assembling a Specialized Allez Elite that was my size that for the same price came with 105 components and the sales person wanted to see me try that one tomorrow before settleing on the CAAD. Aside from that I had to think about it anyway since going to the 2010 models added a digit to the price and broke my $1k limit I was trying to hold...though only by $200. However for $999 I also looked at the Trek 1.5 with full Tiagra in a shop that is just 10 minutes from my house.

Now that I got a chance to play with the Tiagra shifters I think I am going to pass on the Orbea Fleche I was looking at but tomorrow I will see what kind of deal that shop can offer on the Aqua TTG.

h4v0c,

I'm a fan of Tiagra but..... For $200 I would go 105 for sure if the bike fit and you like it. Makes for easy upgrades down the road. With Tiagra it would require pretty much a whole new groupset. Something to consider. If your like most around this nuthouse.... You will get bit by the upgrade bug sometime down the line.

The CAAD is a huge favorite here- but I think you'd be better served to get a bike that fits well from a good shop that is accessible (10 minutes away is a great thing). I doubt very much that the differences in frame/engineering between a good manufacturer like Cannondale, Trek, or Orbea would be noticeable and significant, considering this is your first road bike.

Having close access to a great LBS that will do free adjustments and give you good advice seems really important.

Hey all, thanks for all the help. I finally slapped the good ol' credit card down on the counter and made my purchase. As tsohg mentioned above, having a local shop, especially for a first bike meant more than picking the group favorite. While I loved the CAAD and Allez, the Trek 2.1 felt just as good a fit and as silly as it sounds, it had my favorite paint job out of all of them which helped. But most of all, the shop is about 10 minutes from my house which was a big factor. They are holding it over night to add on the little extras like computer, peddles and stuff and to check the bike over to make sure it is tweaked right. Then when I show up tomorrow they will do a final fit for me.

Now I just need to get out there on it for a while so I can get in a little better condition to join the local club rides.

Congratulations What did you buy?

Trek 2.1 with a double

Congrats man... Pics!!!!

Like this one?
https://****************/road-bikes/tr...2-1-road-bike/
Yikes that is pretty.....

Nope that is the 2009, I got the 2010 https://****************/road-bikes/tr...2-1-road-bike/
But for whatever reason the bike I got has paired spoke rims instead of the standand pattern like in that picture.

I will post pics of mine when I pick it up tomorrow. Not that it will look very different from the picture on the link....just with my cyclocomputer, bottle cage etc..added on.

Agree that LBS is your friend. I've worked in many small shops and can tell you that good shops recognize that although it might not have immediate returns, service is what sets them apart from dept. stores and online sellers.

Cyclists should recognize that these merchants are part of their community and (if the service is good) should support their local proprietors.

I also looked at the 1.5, but for 200 I got 105, higher quality aluminum and a paint job that I liked much more. The components being more important a reason lol.

Got everything I needed while there except a light. Roads here have next to no lighting and most my riding except on weekends will be at dusk (after work). Been searching the electronics forum but other than the home depot flashlight with twofish clamps all other options that really light up a dark road seem to be in the $100 plus range.