first bike

I am sure that if you are patient, you will find a great buy in the used market. One thing that could ruin the whole bargain, is that you have the risk of plonking cash for a bike that doesnt fit you.

Perhaps your local bike shop might be able to assist in fitting you with a used bike or advising you of the bike size that will fit you.

Good luck in your search.

There are some good quality new entry level bikes in Australia for the $1000 mark. The Giant OCR is really nice, good frame and they look really good these days as well, a lot of people start out on the OCR. There is also Orbea Enol, Scott, Trek, Felt, Lemond has a good bike for a grand - a lot of these bike will have very similar components - mainly Alex Rims (Orbea uses Mavic), and Sora groupset but these are good solid components to start with.

When I got back into cycling after a few years off I found a secondhand Giant OCR2 for $500, it was a soild bike.

There are a lot of bikestores online where you can out out the specs of each bike and compare.

Goodluck.

Johnny, where are you?? No details in your info on the left. Aus, NZ, State, City?? We may be able to advise on local specials if we have a better idea if yuor location. 🙂

seksy_johnny3 said:

hi everyone,

my name's john, i'm 15, 5'11.5 and weigh around 80kg. i've always had an interest in cycling, and finally my parents have agreed to let me spend AU$1000 maximum on a raod bike. i obviously want to get the best possible, and so was considering ebay/trading post. does anyone have any other ideas? or perhaps know of a better way to go about getting a new bike?

cheers,

john

PS>

i live in S.E suburbs, does anyone know of any relatively good and close climbs that could be done on a sunday afternoon?

At this time of year, you may be able to get an "end of model" deal on something like a Giant OCR2 (normally around $1400) or some other bike with Shimano Tiagra components for around $1000.

i just picked up a Giant OCR1 that was fully kitted with Ultegra brakes, gears, cranks, etc for $900 on ebay so the deals are about if you look hard enough.
i've also seen a new OCR3 advertised on another forum for around $800 with $300 worth of accessories thrown in.
PM me if you want me to let you know which forum that is...

btw, make sure you know what size bike to look for before you begin hunting too! then just visit your LBS to tweek the fit for you.

hi everyone,

i live in melbourne, australia, in the SE suburbs

thanks for all of your advice

john

ps. i read in another post that there's a place that recycles bikes or something called bike recyclers... does anyone know about it?

Quoted post said:

ps. i read in another post that there's a place that recycles bikes or something called bike recyclers... does anyone know about it?

531Aussie would've mentioned it:
Bicycle Recycle, 672a South Rd., Moorabbin.

wow this is amazing

how many pepole actually consider buying a bike for that amount of money off ebay

f$%^ing amazing what happened to walking into your bike shop

i suppose walking will be no use in the future youll probably buy that off ebay as well

just saw it on ebay walking to the shops for you and now trying to sell you a bike for 99 cents openening bid (WHAT???)

im not saying ebay is abad but why do so many novices think that this will be there saviour

how will i service my new/used/58th hand bike

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

i know ill take it to the bike shop and infuriate the livng bejsus out of the owner when it cant be fitted with anyting other than a huffy halogen😠

no offence who purchase off ebay for there goods all power to them but why would you bother spending $000's at ebay on a carbon bike or mtb

sorry ill return to my cave now!

you own a bike store or something???

what's the difference between ebay, trading post, or website classifieds?
just a second-hand market isn't it...

i picked up a decent cheap road bike to last me til i've saved up for the several $000 bike i've lined up at a store. made sure that re-sale will not be a loss come the time to get the new one...

i guess to answer your question

no

why have a bike shop dude??

when i can open my ebay site and sell a rebranded huffy

im maknig the point that if your seeking proffessional experience then why not walk into the lbs and ask ?

like i said before im not crit anyone that uses that site im just saying that as we progress further down the track we will find more and more questions like what bike should i buy and the like

my reply is why not drive up to a shop and ask ?

The problem with going into a bike shop and asking is that you get the salesmans opinion of what they think you think you want. asking the question here just gets more opinions on the table and most of the answers are "whatever is the most comfortable" with no particular brand being mentioned.

Ebay is just another tool for purchasing bikes and should not be mistaken for a LBS. Those with little knowledge of bikes are better off going to a LBS as they offer better support than Joe Bloggs on Ebay, but if you know what you are doing it is not a problem IMHO.

smartie said:

The problem with going into a bike shop and asking is that you get the salesmans opinion of what they think you think you want. asking the question here just gets more opinions on the table and most of the answers are "whatever is the most comfortable" with no particular brand being mentioned.

Ebay is just another tool for purchasing bikes and should not be mistaken for a LBS. Those with little knowledge of bikes are better off going to a LBS as they offer better support than Joe Bloggs on Ebay, but if you know what you are doing it is not a problem IMHO.

i wholeheartedly agree with smartie... an LBS will sell you on what they think is the best for you from their stock. and if its a dodgy LBS, they will sell you on what they think is the best for you and also the most expensive from their stock.

this is why you need to go to as many bike shops as possible, try out as many bikes as possible and weigh up the pros and cons of each bike that suits.
i ended up buying a bike by a little known small new zealand company because for the price 1)it fit me perfectly 2)the components were much better than those on a bike from a well known brand and 3)after searching around, i found a bike shop that would do me a fantastic deal on one because it had to "move them" to get more treks in (said about 90% of people that came into thr shop bought a trek). i ended up getting bike, undersaddle bag, shoes, lights, cage, pump, tubes, emergency pump and tyre levers for less than the original cost of the bike.
I shopped around, and im extremely happy for doing so!

ebay is indeed great for buying bikes and bike parts if you know what you are doing... just last year my friend went on an ebay spree and scored himself a 2nd-hand foes weasel DH MTB and upgraded it over the space of 8 months for exactly $3K. thats an absolute steal for one schmick downhiller! that said, had he bought the same bike, and same upgrades from the LBS he would have paid at least double what he did.

i would never have bought a roadbike on ebay... most people selling dont know what sizes their bikes are, and a "small" for one company could be medium for another... most ads have "full size adult bike"... well.. full size adults vary greatly in their full sizes! if you arent sure, and you have problems with finding bikes that fit, then the LBS is the way to go. just make sure you shop around!

I just purchased my first bike, Being first new buyer, I've felt the overwhelming experiences.

I believe that buying bike is like buying clothes or shoes, that fittings is very important. Hence in future after I've tried hundreds of bikes and brands, only then when I might be able to know if buying from Ebay is a good way, talking about price Vs fitting.

What I did was asking lots of questions in the forum, looking at websites to find info about the bikes, visiting LBS with some ideas already inside my head, so eventhough the LBS person has his own idea, at least I can back up with the info I've gathered.

Another thing, even with buying through LBS, one is supposed to visit various LBS to have a feel on the service they get, so it's not just buying bike that i have to shop around, I also do the same thing with choosing LBS.

Buying through Ebay, for first timer, I'll say if you can come to the seller's house and try the bike, then you'll know whether to buy through Ebay or not.

To sum up, I think to approach both internet and LBS are good way, so you'll have many info and at the same time try the real bike.

Personally if i was starting out i would be going to bike shops. You need to find what fits you best. Yes I am not doubting that ebay is a great place to pick up a bargin and stuff but you have alot of money to start out with. You don't want to waste that amount on a bike that just does not fit you or has problems with it that u end up not using it or it puts it off riding. I am only starting out in understanding all this bike talk and stuff cos my old bike was a doggy Dunlop mountain bike. Now I went to three different bike shops and i would say that is the minimum you should visit. In the end i decided on a hybrid. I did not know what a hybrid was until i went to the shops but cos i went around and looked talked and went back again to see what each shops reply to what the other told me. I was certain on what i needed and wanted in the end.

Motto of story look at shops for there advice

Beauyboy

Jeytown said:

i guess to answer your question

no

why have a bike shop dude??

when i can open my ebay site and sell a rebranded huffy

im maknig the point that if your seeking proffessional experience then why not walk into the lbs and ask ?

like i said before im not crit anyone that uses that site im just saying that as we progress further down the track we will find more and more questions like what bike should i buy and the like

my reply is why not drive up to a shop and ask ?

firstly, i'm not having a go at you or anything.
i was kidding about the bikeshop - your post just sounded VERY pro bikeshop.

anyway, i agree with what you're saying - there would be no way i'd go to ebay or the classifieds for a first bike.
i only went there because i knew exactly what i wanted and happened to find one that fit the bill perfectly.

for my first bike (that wasn't bought by my folks when i was 5), i haunted about 6 bikeshops for a several weeks before making my decision.
i listened to everyone, then tried to sort through all the info
the winner btw turned out to be the store that was always happy to answer all of my questions and also said "look, there's nothing you can do on that $2,800 bike that you can't do on that $1,300 bike. look at it later when your skills and experience will get more out of it."
the best bit was that their end of year models went on sale during all this so i ended up with several hundred $$ off a better bike that my skills & experience will "grow into" (if that makes sense)

cool as bro

i sometimes am not ofay with netiquette and have been known to inadvertantly be called a troll

alls well that ends well i say

See cellbikes.com.auproduct.phpOpen ↗
Full 20 speed 105 somponents for $1100. The 56 will fit you well.

seksy_johnny3 said:

hi everyone,

my name's john, i'm 15, 5'11.5 and weigh around 80kg. i've always had an interest in cycling, and finally my parents have agreed to let me spend AU$1000 maximum on a raod bike. i obviously want to get the best possible, and so was considering ebay/trading post. does anyone have any other ideas? or perhaps know of a better way to go about getting a new bike?

cheers,

john

PS>

i live in S.E suburbs, does anyone know of any relatively good and close climbs that could be done on a sunday afternoon?

Jeytown said:

i sometimes am not ofay with netiquette and have been known to inadvertantly be called a troll

Yea you Troll... come let me feed you... eat eat EAT !!! FEED THE TROLL ~ OR OUR HEADS WILL ROLL :eek:

11ring said:

See cellbikes.com.auproduct.phpOpen ↗
Full 20 speed 105 somponents for $1100. The 56 will fit you well.

A well intended joke ? Surely you jest ? Apart from the 105 group set the rest of the package is garbage (i'm being kind) !

Plenty of bike shops in the SE, Le Tour, Croydon Cycle Works, Bike Pro etc
Here's a link that may assist in your quest http://www.bicycles.net.au/