General Road bike thread

Greenbean

Greenbean

Posting Machine
I'm hoping to get a cycling thread kicked off. I'm in the market for a road bike and I haven't ridden since childhood. I have some questions for riders.
 
A friend recently got into it and let me take one of his for a spin. I liked it. He convinced me it's probably better for my knees than running.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a starter bike that I won't want to trade up in a year? I am looking at two different styles. One of them a fitness bike and one a road bike with drop down handle bars. I took both for a short spin today and preferred the fitness bike for comfort. I want the road bike but I'm worried if I drop a grand on one I won't ride it because it's not comfortable. Here is the fitness bike I was looking at....

The fx 3 gen 4

FX3-24-40819-A-Portrait


Here is the road bike that was recommended

Trek domane al2 gen 4

DomaneAL2-24-41587-A-Portrait
 
I've enjoyed my Canyon Endurace AL for the past couple of years and I don't really see any reason why I'd need to trade up any time soon. I ride about 25 miles at a time on a local paved trail. I was riding a Trek FX 2 Disc for years prior to trading up and there was a night and day difference.
 
Greenbean said:
Please explain.
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The Endurace is a much faster bike, it's also lighter and the drop downs allow for more riding positions so it's more comfortable over longer distances. I also went from pedaling in flip-flops on the FX 2 to proper clip-in shoes; that made it feel like I was cheating. I still take my FX 2 with me when we go to the beach, but the Endurace is what I ride everywhere else. I put gravel tires on the Endurace because I do take it off road from time to time.

I ride in a few fun rides here in South Carolina throughout the year; Bike the beach, Tour De Plantersville, etc. and some of those routes have sand and gravel stretches. I've had no problems whatsoever on the Endurace on those surfaces.

If you're not sure how much cycling your going to do, go with the FX, you can always trade up later. If you're sure you're going to stick with it, I'd go ahead and buy a proper road bike with drop downs. I considered going with a model that had a full carbon frame, but I'm a retard and figured I was going to wreck the bike sooner or later, so I went with Aluminum. Thankfully, I haven't laid it down yet.
 
Greenbean said:
Does anyone have a recommendation for a starter bike that I won't want to trade up in a year?
Click to expand...
any bike fits that criteria is you quit before a year is up

but that is a tough balance if you intend to stick with the hobby. buy something cheap, you'll want to trade up. or buy something quality and risk quitting before a year. your best bet is to visit a local bike shop or two, ride a few different bikes. most sell used bikes and you can find some good value there
 
Fan_of_Fanboys said:
any bike fits that criteria is you quit before a year is up

but that is a tough balance if you intend to stick with the hobby. buy something cheap, you'll want to trade up. or buy something quality and risk quitting before a year. your best bet is to visit a local bike shop or two, ride a few different bikes. most sell used bikes and you can find some good value there
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Yup. I visited 3 today. I wanted to look at used but the first shop only had one used mountain bike and said as soon as they have a used bike it gets sold. The second shop didnt have any and the third was a wasteland of used, incomplete bikes. I've also been looking at Facebook marketplace for a couple of weeks and I don't know enough to not get ripped off and buy a complete piece of shit.
 
Greenbean said:
I've also been looking at Facebook marketplace for a couple of weeks and I don't know enough to not get ripped off and buy a complete piece of shi
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Yeah, that's the challenge when you're new to something. safer to buy new when you are new to the sport. I started mtb earlier this year and I still know almost nothing about the various brakes and shifters etc that are out there. Like what is bad, good, a good value, etc
 
Uncle Tom Doug said:
The Endurace is a much faster bike, it's also lighter and the drop downs allow for more riding positions so it's more comfortable over longer distances. I also went from pedaling in flip-flops on the FX 2 to proper clip-in shoes; that made it feel like I was cheating. I still take my FX 2 with me when we go to the beach, but the Endurace is what I ride everywhere else. I put gravel tires on the Endurace because I do take it off road from time to time.

I ride in a few fun rides here in South Carolina throughout the year; Bike the beach, Tour De Plantersville, etc. and some of those routes have sand and gravel stretches. I've had no problems whatsoever on the Endurace on those surfaces.

If you're not sure how much cycling your going to do, go with the FX, you can always trade up later. If you're sure you're going to stick with it, I'd go ahead and buy a proper road bike with drop downs. I considered going with a model that had a full carbon frame, but I'm a retard and figured I was going to wreck the bike sooner or later, so I went with Aluminum. Thankfully, I haven't laid it down yet.
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Damn, Doug not only remembered to steal the manual too, he actually read it.
 
Fan_of_Fanboys said:
but that is a tough balance
Click to expand...
Best bet is local bike shop, trade ins and/or last years model. And demo a bunch of bikes.
That's how I got my last mtn bike (demo'd the prior year for a day and found "my bike", got it for a big discount).

And you want a shop thats cool with demos or rentals and the like, not a place that is pushing something on you. Walk out of those. Its good to have a relationship with a cool shop... they'll get you sorted on appropriate gear and more importantly fix your bike. A great shop will teach you how to do it if you start asking.
 
Got a Surly Midnight Special about 5 years ago and still love riding it.

Got into this guys videos around Covid when things were locking down.



Carlo talking about the Midnight Special.

 
MountainMedic said:
Best bet is local bike shop, trade ins and/or last years model. And demo a bunch of bikes.
That's how I got my last mtn bike (demo'd the prior year for a day and found "my bike", got it for a big discount).

And you want a shop thats cool with demos or rentals and the like, not a place that is pushing something on you. Walk out of those. Its good to have a relationship with a cool shop... they'll get you sorted on appropriate gear and more importantly fix your bike. A great shop will teach you how to do it if you start asking.
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All 3 shops I went to were surprisingly helpful, not pushy and encouraged test rides. Is it frowned upon to negotiate price like a car? Or is it this is the price take it or leave it.
 
I pulled the trigger on the trek FX 3 gen 4. Just got back from a ten mile ride. Local trail that I'm used to running with lots of hills. I seriously underestimated the hills. Like massively underestimated. I thought the down hill speed would carry my momentum up the next hill. It did, but not as much as I thought. I'm whipped.
 
Greenbean said:
I pulled the trigger on the trek FX 3 gen 4. Just got back from a ten mile ride. Local trail that I'm used to running with lots of hills. I seriously underestimated the hills. Like massively underestimated. I thought the down hill speed would carry my momentum up the next hill. It did, but not as much as I thought. I'm whipped.
Click to expand...
Is your grundle sore?
 
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