TW00Si

Yes Bama Dave. I ride a road bike mainly to feel less guilty when consuming beers and donuts. Do the occasional triathlon and century rides with a Cannondale CAAD 9 with ultegra components.

FearlessFife

I am VERY liberal with the weather I will ride in. Hot, cold, raining, etc. It has rained so much this year I have ridden more in the rain this year than I have the last five years combined. Bottom line is I want to get out there and pedal, and it takes some pretty extreme conditions before I will stay home.

RELATED: I hate riding the trainer in my basement more than anything in this world.

V6 Donut

I ride my redline thru the trails with my MTN bike friends and to go grab a snow cone.

UnkieTrunkie

My road bike is a "starter" Felt F95 (Motoo is a lameass, he sold his. . . ), which, at the time was under 20lbs and under $1K, which is a serious sweet spot. That said, it really depends on what kind of riding you're doing. Having fallen in love with my road bike, though a starter, I've still learned a few things:

1. Get fitted at a good bike shop.
2. Try all the bikes you can afford - you'll find no two makes are quite the same.
3. The best "bang for the buck" might not fit you, so who cares about that value?
4. Be wary of going too cheap on the drive train components - smooth shifts and smooth pedal strokes will make you happy.

That's my $.02 on that. . .

As far as my bikes now:
Felt F95
Fuji Nevada 29.1 - just got this, and have little to no clue what I'm doing

VaderS2k

I've still got my racing BMX from jr. high, a 98' Trek SubHead. Then picked up an 04' or 05' Trek 3700 MTB in college for something to get around on and still have that for rides with the wife around town.

Just picked up a Trek Speed Concept a couple months ago to supplement my running because getting older sucks. Also want to start doing some duathlons when I get a chance to, no triathlons because swimming long distances does not interest me in any way shape or form...

I second Trunkie above with going out and test riding a few different models before making a choice jkelley. They all have a slightly different feel so pick one you're comfortable on.

FearlessFife

This is solid advice. $1,000 is a great price point for a good all around bike - or an entry level road bike. Also, if you do ANYTHING else, get fitted. It makes a huge difference.

If you can, also get shoes and clip-in pedals. You'll be as much as 30% more efficient when riding.

arsenal

$1k is a good point, but it is also the magical point at which you are so close to having much better components. If you can stretch to 1200 - 1400 there is a huge difference.

As others said, ride and ride some more. Most LBS are pretty awesome with letting you test ride and most will do a 10 day buy back

Bikesdirect has motorbecane at a great price; nice components etc. but you can't ride first, unless you find one in a shop

FearlessFife

This also. Especially if you can get closer to the $2K price point on a road bike you can have a far and away better bike to ride.

jkelley

I think I would be okay with a $1,000 price point. What I'm not okay with right now is $2,000, $3,000, or more like I know some people are spending on these. I think some frames alone will go for $6k?? I think I saw that somewhere? That's not for me, obviously.

As arsenal said, with a couple extra hundred dollars maybe I could get some much better components. That's difficult for me because I'm always about the "best bang for the buck" on this type of hobby but I also need to be reasonable on the scope of my purchase. I have never ridden a road bike. Literally, never. Also, for me (right now) this is primarily exercise oriented. I think I will really enjoy it in the future but that is my focus right now. So if I can get "more efficiency" or "lighter weight" or "more speed" or whatever are the main factors of a great bike, I don't think those are MY focuses. My focuses will be the quality of the components (fewer/cheaper maintenance intervals), longevity (something that I will be starving for "more" in a year or two), etc.

I will definitely go get fitted. Are bike shop prices pretty close to say Amazon prices, since I know there's a lot of good entry level road bikes on there. I would hate going in and getting fitted for something only to say "see-ya" when it comes to going and purchasing it online. Although I would definitely take it to them to be assembled since it seems like a reasonable average price for assembly and I don't want to fk it up.

arsenal

Honestly it's much better buying from the local shop - if you need a quick adjustment or something fixed they are right there and it's free, plus you usually get a discount on all accessories and parts (which you will buy!)