Newbie Advice

Welcome aboard. 😎

You definitely did the right thing by going to your LBS to get measured, a road bike that fits poorly will cause poor performance.

To answer your question about speed, the gearing on a MTB or a hybrid is different from that of a road bike - mainly the size of the chain rings (bigger on roadies), so on a hybrid you'll have to pedal faster in most cases to go the same speed as someone on a roadie. Also, your tires will make a big difference - if you're using knobby tires made for dirt, those have a lot of rolling resistance on pavement, which will ultimately make your legs feel like Jell-O after a ride - I speak from personal experience on that... :eek:

I bought my current ride from someone on Craigslist, you might also want to check out some shops that do rentals - many of them will sell their rentals at the end of each season and buy new ones for the following season, if there are any in your area, you might want to check them out and see if they have any models from last season leftover - you could score a bargain there, and prior rentals are likely to have been well-maintained so they're less likely to have problems.

Again, welcome aboard and good luck in your quest. Let me know if I can be of any other help.

P.S. You might want to reconsider posting your e-mail address publicly, this can lead to you getting SPAM... :eek:

jblpsyched said:

Hi All,
I am starting this thread as a new member of CyclingForums.com and a newbie road cyclist. I don't even own a road bike yet, which is why I'm writing in.

Yesterday I rode in a charity road ride in southwestern Wisconsin. The route I chose was 44 miles long and in the middle of the route we had 1-2 hours of pretty much consecutive hill climbs. There was a stiff wind in our faces and I was on my trusty Schwinn CrissCross hybrid. It was a wonderful but fairly brutal experience.

I made it to the end and felt great about my accomplishment, but am also the type of person who tries to learn from experience. During the course of the ride I noticed many people, younger and older than I, zooming by and looking much more comfortable than I was, especially climbing hills. I'm mentally tough enough not to feel bad about myself in comparison, but the truth is that I'm 47 years old, in pretty darn good shape (work out regularly), and those other folks simply cannot all be in better shape than me.

So my conclusion is: the difference is that they were all on road bikes.

I'm ready to see the light and begin researching road bikes, particularly used ones so that I can stay on budget and learn what I really want over the next year or so before I trade up.

I have begun reading around the internet and searching my local Craigslists for used road bikes. I also went to my local bike shop today and was fitted at 54 cm. (I'm 5'9", 141 lbs.) on a Trek 2.1 that I test rode and really enjoyed. It's $1250 new and that's more than I'd like to spend. I found a Trek 1.2 for $650 and it looks good, and a Raleigh R700 for $525 that caught my eye. I know that I need to test ride a bunch of bikes and see what I like and what feels good to me, but does anyone out there with experience have any sage and wise advice for this enthusiastic Newbie?

My budget for the bike purchase is around $500-600, with another $250 available for clipless pedal upgrade and shoes.

Thx in advance for your help. 🙄

Jason Lassner
Iowa City, IA
[email hidden]

don't judge a book by its cover. people train and ride at home and in the gym you have riders of all ages with enough miles under their belt to beat out any other riders on hills. A road bike will help you but you have to put in miles its the only way to get better. My first road bike was the trek 1.2 and its a great bike but since then i have learned that other manufactures give you more bang for your buck. I would check out the specialized Allez double,felt 95 team and Fuji roubaix 3.0 the price at the store is a lot less than the price on the web. I can't stress enough the importance of finding a bike that fits try out everything and see what bike fits you best then look at price and manufactures. Nutrition is very important on long rides make sure you eat energy bars,gels and drink your favorite sugar free sports drink. put in your miles on your new bike and you will do 40 miles rides with no problem.