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    Road bike suggestions?

    Always been a mountain biker, but work schedule and kids’ schedules make getting to the trails more difficult. Still love and will keep my Rockhopper 29er, but I am thinking about getting a road bike. 99% of my miles and riding opportunities are in the neighborhood and area on sidewalks, Kingwood trails, and roads.

    Started looking online for bikes and very quickly became confused with all the different types of bikes. I’ve ruled out pure racing bikes and gravel bikes, but are “traditional” and endurance the same thing? Also I assume that coming from a mountain bike that any road bike will seem faster, but I don’t want to get something too casual then outgrow it quickly.

    Over the years I always seem to fall into the habit of riding for achieving a goal. Ride a trail without crashing. Then ride the same trail faster. Then faster to beat my best time. Then faster and making certain obstacles or jumps. On the street riding for fun always becomes beating my time for a certain loop or riding a certain distance just to see if I can do it. This summer my 9yr old daughter and I have been riding together to achieve a goal (attempting it this Sunday!) of riding 22 miles from HTR/GP on Spring Creek Trails all the way home to our house in Kingwood. I already know that I’m going to go back and attempt it solo in under an hour and a half. Then I will probably try 44 round trip, home to Dennis Johnston Park and back. Then again but faster. I’m not interested in racing events and again most of my riding will be locally with my kids or on my own. Don’t know if that affects what kind of bike I should be looking at.

    My budget is $1200, which is great for a mountain bike but crap for a road bike it seems. I will probably buy a used bike and let someone else pay the $2000-5000. So, with all of that in mind, what do y’all recommend?

    #2
    Honestly go down and get fitted. It’s like a bow, all the major brands are going to be quality it just depends which feels best to you. You can get a quality specialized, Fuji, Cannondale, argon, oreba, etc in that price.

    You aren’t going to get the top of the line but you don’t need that either

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      #3
      Go to Bike Barn in Atascocita and get fitted like suggested. They have some nice bikes in your price range and can explain the differences. After that look for a used bike. My wife and I both bought our bikes used.
      They also have a ridding group that you could look into. Lots of help.

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        #4
        Any reputable bike shop will let you try different bikes in your price range. Go and test ride a few and get fitted. They will also explain the differences between the components and point you in the right direction.


        Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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          #5
          Trek website has a bike finder. Answer some questions and it will spit out a model. Even if you don't go trek, it will narrow down the type. I just did this same thing and realized there were way more types of bikes than i new about. Did the trek thing and it showed the same bike coming from 2 different directions, so that is what i bought and am very happy with it. When i went to the store and looked i was kinda overwhelmed and if i wouldn't have done the bike finder i would have bought the completely wrong thing. Good luck

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            #6
            I agree on getting fitted first then start searching Craigslist. Learn the different levels of component's that come on bike because most of the carbon frames are really close as far as quality. How tall are you? If you end up needing a size 54 I'm about to sell mine due to me building a new house and I wont have time to train this year.

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              #7
              Performancebike.com

              I have bought some bikes from them, good deals.

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                #8
                Go to your LBS and figure out what size frame you need, it is the single most important feature when it comes to buying a road bike.

                Most of the bike manufacturers now offer the same framesets build with different materials. Example, Specialized offers the high end S-Works Venge, and the Allez Sprint. Same frame geometry, just one built from carbon ($$$), the other aluminum ($).

                Those frames are then matched with different levels of components. It’s these components that drive the cost higher. For example:
                $$$ Shimano DuraAce (racing)
                $$ Shimano Ultegra (enthusiast)
                $ Shimano 105 (entry)

                Once you know your size, search Craigslist and Ebay. You should be able to find a bike in your price range. Lots of riders dumping their cantilever brake bikes for the new disc framesets.

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                  #9
                  Holy ****! I had no idea bikes were so expensive.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by SBESTX View Post
                    Go to your LBS and figure out what size frame you need, it is the single most important feature when it comes to buying a road bike.

                    Most of the bike manufacturers now offer the same framesets build with different materials. Example, Specialized offers the high end S-Works Venge, and the Allez Sprint. Same frame geometry, just one built from carbon ($$$), the other aluminum ($).

                    Those frames are then matched with different levels of components. It’s these components that drive the cost higher. For example:
                    $$$ Shimano DuraAce (racing)
                    $$ Shimano Ultegra (enthusiast)
                    $ Shimano 105 (entry)

                    Once you know your size, search Craigslist and Ebay. You should be able to find a bike in your price range. Lots of riders dumping their cantilever brake bikes for the new disc framesets.
                    yep, all this. Fit is key or you'll be fighting it the whole time.
                    Its been several years since my road bike days but I had a great bike in aluminum and the Shimano 105 system on it. Other than having it tuned occasionally, the components NEVER gave me problems through several 1000s of miles.
                    Good luck!
                    Last edited by tdwinklr; 07-29-2019, 11:13 AM. Reason: sp

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by Rubi513 View Post
                      Holy ****! I had no idea bikes were so expensive.
                      Yep, there are some pricey ones. My entry level one was $800. But compared to a $200 one at walmart, it is not even close. Assuming i keep riding, I will probably step up to a $2500 carbon in a couple of years, and that is still in the entry levels haha

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                        #12
                        How tall are you?

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                          #13
                          I wouldn’t rule out gravel bikes. Checkout the Giant Revolt advanced line. 3 models to choose from, I prefer the 2x system. I went with the advanced 0 and it’s one heck of a bike for the money. Very forgiving on the roads also.

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                            #14
                            Went to a bike shop at lunch that is a Specialized dealer. Checked out the Roubaix, Allez, and Diverge. Have a little better idea of where/how to focus my budget. Don’t need to weight my budget on an absolute aerodynamics. Also not interested in a gravel bike. I like the idea of an 11 speed vs 8 speed, and 105 or Ultegra components. Still not sure on endurance vs race bike, but probably endurance since it will all seem faster to me without needing to get crazy with the riding position. Carbon seems cool but my budget will keep me in aluminum. Been fantastically happy with my aluminum Rockhopper so I suppose an aluminum road bike will be fine. I’m 5’8” and 195 but am down from 255 at the beginning of the year. Will probably finish at 175-180 lbs given my diet and fitness schedule.

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                              #15
                              If you’re going used check out Look bikes. The two bikes I regret selling to this day were Look framesets I had built up. Lightspeed probably makes the best aluminum bike on the market imo

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