On 1 Oct 2003 10:08:34 -0700, (Tanya Quinn)
wrote:
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

Since you're doing well now on the MTB, your balance
should be improved to the point that a road bike will
be OK. I doubt the width of the tires affects your
balance, but the different position on a road bike does.

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

Reach is difficult, especially on your first road bike.
Make sure it's good before you buy, rather than buying
and then adjusting.

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

You will need a better place to test-ride. If the store
won't accommodate you, you'll need a different store.


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

Yes, they are very easy to get used to.

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.

The lower position, over long rides, takes some getting
used to, as it puts more weight on your hands, arms,
and shoulders. That said, it is still a major improvement
over flat bars (even with bar-ends) for having so many
choices.

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

You shouldn't buy a bike that you haven't fallen in
love with, anyway. You'll ride the bike that excites
you more than the one you bought because it was
there.

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)

Don't buy anything other than the perfect size,
no matter the price.

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.

The big ring may be an easy upgrade; the shop should
certainly do it cheaply to sell the bike.

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

I'll have to defer to others' opinions, but I'm guessing
the tourer would be fine. I went the other way and
bought too aggressive, and really would have been
better off if I hadn't.

mountain bike anyway) The R400 did not have a place for front racks -

You will absolutely enjoy the difference from the MTB.

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.

Components are easy to test. Just use them -- shift a
lot on your test ride, brake a lot. Note not only how
smooth and quick the shifts are, but also how the
controls feel. Also note that some models have different
positions for the shifters -- Sora, for example, has one of
the shifters on the side of the hood.

--
Rick Onanian