wrote:


Here is my OPINION.

If you have no money, then finding or borrowing or stealing or buying
an old bike and enjoying bicycling is great.

Assuming you have some money, have an interest in riding more than just
around the block, not particularly enamored with being your own
mechanic, and have no preconceived bicycling biases, get a new bike.
Most new bicyclists fit into the description given. Biases and
mechanical ability come after you are a bicyclist. New bikes work
great without much fuss and last very well. They are easier to shift
(Ergo or STI) than the older bikes. And have better gearing (triples
and wide range cassettes).

Ride your borrowed bike to a shop and test ride some new bikes. Entry
level new road bikes start around $600 at bike shops. The main thing
to compare is how easy it is to shift with new bikes. And ride up a
steep hill and try the really low gears new bikes have.

It is possible to change your old borrowed bike to modern gear. But by
the time you buy the parts and pay a mechanic to do it, you are
probably half way or more to the cost of a new bike. Even if you learn
the mechanics yourself, it still costs a bit for the parts. Unless you
are starting with a valuable old bike, or one that has some sentimental
value to you, it isn't economic to upgrade run of the mill old bikes
with new components.


Thanks. I'm looking for OPINION. I figure that for my first bike, I rely
on others' opinions and then after riding a while, I'll have my own. I
don't think it possible that a new guy like me can have much of an
informed opinion. For example, riding a bike up and down a parking lot
gives me a rough idea of how it fits, but not how I'll feel after 40
miles. Also I learned that I can mess with a bike to make it fit me
better. For example, when I got the borrowed bike, I could only stand
being on it for .5 hr. I switched the seat with an eBay special,
adjusted the whole thing, played with it a while and now I have no
seat/ass issues at all. I can ride 3-4 hours at least enjoying the ride
100%.

You have addressed and solved a complete bafflement for me on the old
bike. It has 45/52 chainrings and a very small cluster (wd for rear
sprocket grouping?). I guess the bike is geared for going downhill
because that's the only place I use the 52 ring. So it's a new thing to
have climbing gears.

I have three motorcycles so my fiddling urge is satisfied with them. I
really want to just ride everyday and not screw around adjusting this
and that which is what I've been doing. I bought a book by Zinn on
fixing bikes and have been banging away on this bike some, but now seem
to need about $140 in tools such as cone wrenches to continue.

I will say that the bike has Dura Ace gear train, but it doesn't really
shift any better, or stop any better, than my mountain bike which has XT
and XTR components.

Do you experts really just take a new bike around a parking lot and then
decide to spend thousands based on that short ride? There MUST be more
to it.

-paul