I did my first mini Tri (5k run, 10 mi bike, 100 yd swim) with my wife last month and had fun. Well... for the most part. I didn't really know anything about bikes and did it using a $56 Roadmaster from Wal mart. I did very well in the run and I'm very good at swimming but the bike's chain fell off 3 times, the brakes locked up twice, and the left pedal snapped off 2 miles from the end of the bike part. I was pretty upset and want to toss this bike since it costs more to fix it than I bought it. I'll never buy anything from Walmart again unless it's a towel, TP, or a DVD. I got what I paid for but like I said, I know nothing about bikes.

I did have fun doing this but want to get a proper entry level road bike that I can also use for commuting. I don't have much money and I have been shopping around.

Here is what I've found at 3 different LBS's in my area:

'05 Trek 1000 $580
Raleigh Grand Sport (don't know if it's an '04 or an '05 but the guy said he'll sell it for $500. He has it tagged at $579)
'05 Giant OCR 3 $600

All 3 have carbon forks.

According to many that I've talked to and going off of what I've learned here, entry level bikes by reputable companies are essentially the same. Am I right? If this is the case, then maybe I should go with the Raleigh.

Which way would you guys steer me? I'm going to buy in the next month.

If it matters, I weigh 170 lbs.

if you're gonna spend that much, you might as well get a Jamis Satellite for $675. If those are your only choices, I say the Raleigh. It's the same as the sport only with a carbon fork? Can you get just the Sport for <$400?

Don't forget to test ride 'em, for at least 20-30 minutes

PS: don't buy anything, at all, ever, from Wal-Mart. Enjoyed your story about the $56 bike falling apart. Video would've been better.

You might want to check out this current thread:

https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycling/82724-exaclty-what-wrong-bike.html

They're discussing '04 OCR3s and other bikes around the $300 level.

Which one felt the best when you took it for a ride?

Observations from the mfr's websites:

The Raleigh Grand Sport 04/05 has a Sora rear; The Giant has a sora rear. Trek has the better Tiagra for '05.

The Raleigh has rims in the "trekking/cyclocross" category vs. the Trek's which are in the "road" category. The trek's rims are lighter. I'd pick the rims in the "road" category if I wanted to go fast like say, in a triathlon I can't tell which specific rims the Giant comes with.

Trek comes in more sizes compared to Giant (didn't compare it to Raleigh) however if you fit one of the sizes these bikes come in then this is a moot point.

I'm not a triathlete so this stuff may not matter to you...

"trekking/cyclocross" sound more durable and since he wants to commute too, perhaps that's a factor?

Tiagra isn't that much better than Sora that it should be a factor. In fact, if your shop is willing, swap either the Sora or Tiagra rear-d for 105/ultegra.

It was a big enough difference for Trek to remove Sora rears entirely from their road line-up for '05.

"Tiagra isn't that much better than Sora that it should be a factor. In fact, if your shop is willing, swap either the Sora or Tiagra rear-d for 105/ultegra."



Interestingly enough, we are looking at these same bikes for my wife. The issue on the Sora is not necessarily in the rd; rather the Sora shifters don't have the "half-click" indexing that allows for fine tuning the fd when moving among the triple chainrings.

Sheldon
OCR2

I rode Sora shifters for 1500 miles and never had any issues. Sora is good stuff, so is Tiagra. I'm now using Ultegra, but prefer the thumb shifter on the Sora and think Campy uses the thumb, so that's probably where I'm headed next.

As for Trek putting Tiagra on the rear, I'm sure it's far more a marketing decision... allows sales people to say, "Yeah, even has the upgraded rear derail..."

I would say go for the raleigh as from experience I love my raleigh sport.

I have the 04 trek 1000, with the sora group, and it does have "half-click" on the FD.
The main reason to go with tiagra, would be that it is a 9 speed and therefore easier to upgrade components 1 part at a time to the 105/ 9sp ultegra groups.

Cheers,
Dave

EDIT: Just re-read that, I have the double sora group, and have not riden the triple. Please ignore the "Half-click" statement.

I would check out the F80/F90 from Felt, otherwise the Trek and Giant are solid starter bikes.

Sora is still 8 speed, while Tiagra is 9 speed. It could be a marketing decision by the sales experts.

You did a tri on a $56 walmart bike.......AWESOME!!

Damn, that's the some downright heroic s*** right there. I would loved it more it you would have beaten them and rubbed it in at the end.

Now to answer your question......all the bikes above are basically the same. But I wouldn't buy any of them....Instead save yourself about $200-$250 and get a Raleigh Sport on sale. Once you've done the Road Bike thing for a while and like it......apply what you learned riding the Sport around and buy something more upscale (if you really get into it). Once you buy that second bike sell the Raleigh Sport to me ......cuz I want one of those to ride around on rainy days. (good bike)

I say go with either the trek or the giant. I feel they are made better than the raleigh

The OCR3 will go on sale....trust me and it should come down to at least 400.00. My buddy has an OCR3 than he just trashes and it keep on kicking. Sora works. If this is your starting bike make sure you get it on reduction, on clerance, close out...you will use it to train later....

ggg300,

When do you think the OCR3's will come down? I may have to go to another bike shop and look.

53-11 alltheway,

I read your posts on the cycling shorts and I'm with you. I don't want to wear tights either. BTW, your posts in that thread were rollin' me

About the tri, I would have loved it more if I would have beaten them too. BUT, there were people that I was passing on the run part and the second a dropped myself on the Roadmaster, everybody was passing me up and I mean EVERYBODY! I have to laugh about it though. It was pretty punk.

To all,

Seriously, I want to get a road bike and I'm leaning towards the Raleigh. My LBS's don't have the Sport. The one that carries the Raleighs just have the Grandsport. The LBS where I saw the OCR3 is a real small one. Judging from the way he was talking, I doubt the guy will come down that much. He kept saying that the bike is about $600. It's just him and his son behind the counter.

All three of the owners of my LBS's say that at entry level, all bikes are generally the same. It's when they get to the passed $1K level that it matters according to them. I don't know how much truth there is to that statement. How much truth is there in your opinions?

There is a fair amount of truth in that statement.

I prefer steel which helped sway me towards the raleigh.

Test ride all three bikes then make your decsion, personally I prefered the raleigh so I bought it. Second choice was the trek third was the giant ocr3

once you have done that you yourself will have a much better idea of what you prefer. The quality off the three bikes is as the bike shops say more or less excatly the same.

We can all tell you here what we like but in the end the choice has to be yours made by riding all three bikes.

I appreciate all the help guys.

I will continue reading this site for it has been very educational.

All three bikes are pretty much aluminum frame, sora equipped, carbon fork bikes.

Price is a factor since I really can't go over $600 otherwise, I would consider a Jamis Satellite. I was looking for chromoly's too but in the road bike category, my LBS's only carry aluminums. The closest Supergo is over 50 mi away. Performance is even farther.

I'm guessing that you can negotiate the price since everything is MSRP. That's the experience I've had with cars and guitars anyway. Does this go for LBS's as well?

The LBS do not make that much profit on the new bike, having said that they can usually knock something off, if they have any 2004 models left you can get a great discount on those.

One other way is if for instance you a buy a helmet at the same time they may knock money off the accesories, it can pay to shop around.

How is it that the LBS can sell a leftover model for cheaper than they would have sold it for when it was a new model?

Do they buy each bike from them manufacturer and deal with selling them on their own or do they pay the mfr as they sell each bike?

Supergo is a parent company to Performance....I live 4 hours way from both stores now. I travel a lot so I paln my trips and my bike buy at the same time....They always have a sale and it is woth the work to call the store ask question...they will tell you when the bikes go on sale and when they go on sale you will get a good deal....they will price match stuff on the net but talk with a manger! do the work it will pay off!

as for the LBS....what can I say...show them the add or offer for less and see if they will match it. Most will not b/c they are paying intrest on the bikes they have...but it is thier loss in my book b/c I'd go back for a bunch of other stuff if they were not so tight!

the raleigh's not steel?

LordOpie,

The Raleigh Sport is a steel bike. But the Raleigh Grandsport is not. I found out that it is an '05.

Here is the link:

https://www.raleighusa.com/items.asp?deptid=5&itemid=232

ggg300,

I just called the Supergo closest to me and they recommended an Iron Horse Triumph for $599 that I should take a look at. I'll go down this weekend and check it out. Any opinions on Iron Horse?

That '05 Raleigh Grandsport is sounding better and better to me. It felt good sitting on it but I didn't take it around the lot yet. It's raining like hell here in SoCal. I'm going to have to visit all 3 shops on the same day and ride them consecutively. Haven't sat on the Giant or the Trek yet.

What area of SoCA? In san diego they have 1 supergo, and like 4 performance shops. Call performance see what they got. Right now till I think feb 5 is a close out sale....take drive when it clears up...there is even one close to Mex so you can go for beer and tacos after the ride..

The closest Supergo to me is Oceanside. The closest Performance is Escondido.

I live in the Inland Empire.