Buying 1st. road bike

John has been using his MTB on the road and now wants a road bike, he has two problems, first which bike to buy, and the second is how to convince his wife he should spend the money on a new bike.

Question:
I am 54 just started riding been using mountain bike with road tires but would like to get a road bike I have limited budget so don’t want to spend over a $1000 any suggestions? Thanks.
PS having a hard time convincing my wife,
thanks again.
John.

Hi John.

I’m not sure which is your hardest job; convincing the wife or choosing the bike? I’m not going to give you advice on the wife as this will get me into trouble, but here are my suggestions on the bike.

Trek:

There are many good bikes from Trek, but probably the best thing you should do is go to your local shop and see what deals they will do on a 2010 bike. Looking at the 2011 Treks; I would say the 1.5 Compact at $1099.99 is the best bike for your pocket; it has an Aluminium frame with carbon forks and built up with Shimano Tiagra and Bontrager parts, nice bike at a good price.

Specialized:

Have a check round for a 2010 Specialized Allez Sport Double; they seem to be selling at around $900, if you can find one that would be a bargain bike. Shimano Sora and Specialized components make this a good bike for a first road bike.

Scott:

The Scott Speedster S50 comes in under your price range. It has a mix of Shimano kit and Scott’s own brand equipment, the frame is alloy with a carbon fork, bargains can be found if you look around.

That is only three bikes and most bikes at that price are very similar, as I mentioned before check out the internet and the local bike shops for a bargain. This is probably the best time to search as next year’s bikes are starting to come through to the shops. The shops probably still have a few of this/last year’s bikes that they need to sell to make room for the new models.

The bikes at under $1,000 will all have either Shimano Tiagra or Sora with a mix of the manufacturers own brand bits, these are usually of a fair quality, but you will probably find that they will be the first parts to wear out and need replacing before the Shimano parts. For a first road bike this is not so much of a problem as you will probably want to change things as you get keener, or lose interest, which I doubt!

Tell your wife it too keep you fit, healthy and in good shape for her!