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Old October 1st 03, 07:27 PM
Roger Zoul
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Default buying my first road bike

The Specialized Sequoia might be to your liking, as they have two sets of
break handles, above the drops and on the top...

http://www.specialized.com/SBCBkFami...m3go4fr.j27004

The Sequioa have comfort features built in which you may appreciate.

I'm mentioning this one mainly because I just bought one and I like it, and
I know it has breaks on the top. I'm sure there are other brands...

Get lots of gears if you will be riding on roads with lots of hills...(21 to
27 -- 3 chainrings on the front)

Make the LBS order you a bike that fits perfectly....wait on it to come...

Since I just left the website a minute ago, I thought I'd post this...

Consumer Reports recommends these models for "long, demanding road trips"

Bianchi Eros ($1050USD)
Klein Q-Carbon ($1400USD)
Lemond Tourmalet ($1100USB).

They called them "well-rounded" choices.

Honestly, I don't have a clue if you can trust their expertise, however.

Good luck and enjoy!

Tanya Quinn wrote:
:: So I've been riding around (almost always on the road) for the past 5
:: years on a non-suspension Giant sedona mountain bike I bought used at
:: the time (no idea how used). A car mashed the rims while it was
:: parked, I had the bike store fix it with whatever was cheapest. I've
:: since put slick tires on it. The gears are kinda clonky and the
:: brakes seem fairly non-responsive if the roads are wet or going down
:: a steep hill. I've become pretty enthusiastic about biking in the
:: last two years, I ride about 2000 km a year mostly for
:: transportation but like going on long day rides (130 km was the
:: highest so far, but I would probably enjoy going further if the bike
:: was slightly more comfortable) and basically exploring around on
:: weekends. I figure it is time to buy a real road bike, nice new and
:: shiny
::
:: The new bike will not likely be used for day-to-day urban riding
:: because I don't want it to get stolen - so I'll use the old bike for
:: that. I'd like to use a new bike for multi-day touring - I've never
:: tried this before, and my first trip would likely be a week long
:: minimally packed trip (stay in motels not camp). I'd like to have the
:: option of using it for camping touring though. I would also probably
:: use it for long day rides, either by myself or club rides. I'd like
:: to be able to try out racing or a triathlon, but that wouldn't be the
:: primary purpose of the bike.
::
:: Any ideas for what to look for? I've never ridden a road bike before.
:: I had a ten-speed as a teenager and the falls I took on it scared me
:: a bit from skinny tires (I'm not the world's most balanced person!)
:: but I imagine good road bikes are much more stable than that was. I
:: went to the LBS recently and test rode a Cannondale R400. I'm 5'11"
:: and female, and I tried a 56 cm bike which seemed a good height but
:: the reach seemed a bit much even though they changed the handlebar
:: stem to a shorter one for my test ride. I really didn't get to take
:: it for much of a spin, the bike store is located in a busy urban
:: downtown area, and while I'm quite comfortable riding my own bike in
:: the area I'm not so balanced on the new one (as an aside, I also
:: find I can only balance one handed on my bike with my left hand off
:: but not vice versa) Plus speed is constrained by the cars moving
:: slower than a bike would and no open lane. It totally threw me
:: having the brakes on the front rather than on the top and I nearly
:: took out a pedestrian in the intersection because I found it weird
:: to brake. Are they easy to get used to? I imagine I would like
:: better having the choices of riding positions (only one on my
:: current bike makes for sore long rides) and also the lower position
:: would be nice going into the wind.
::
:: My budget is ideally around $1000 Cdn (750 US) but I would likely
:: double it if I found a bike I really fell in love with, and would be
:: good for future touring, and was a good deal. The 2003 Cannondale
:: R400 was 999 on sale end of season, but they had a 2002 that
:: appealed to me more aesthetic wise (it was orange ) for 849 but
:: only had it left in 50 or 58. I thought the 58 would be too big so
:: didn't test ride it (they didn't have the larger one set up)
::
:: I also tried a more commuter-style road bike by Cannondale that just
:: had straight handlebars, (don't remember the model) but in addition
:: to thinking I would like drop bars if I could get used to them, the
:: big ring on it didn't seem very big.
::
:: What would be a good entry level touring bike to try out? While the
:: touring bike would be more comfortable for longer loaded rides, is it
:: more slower than a traditional road bike when I just want to go fast
:: unloaded? (I'm sure I'll notice a big difference going away from the
:: mountain bike anyway) The R400 did not have a place for front racks -
:: I'd only need back for credit card touring but front would be nice if
:: I decide to go across the country and I think the rack still
:: needed just to clamp on on the back, as well some of the bikes
:: seemed like they would be awkward to equip with fenders, which would
:: seem useful for when it rains in the middle of the tour Do clip
:: on fenders work okay?
::
:: Any tips on bike models to try, questions to ask, things to test out,
:: and what things to look for would be appreciated. I really am just
:: happy to ride and don't notice too much things like what the
:: components are so I wouldn't notice much difference between the
:: models on a short test ride.


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