Which road bike should I choose?

nomisg said:

Well I have been looking at road bikes for about a month now, and want to spend under $500 (Australian). Due to my budget I am looking for 2nd hand bikes.

So far I have 4 options.

1. Merida Extreme 907, all ultegra parts, 52cm frame
2. Gitane [font=Arial]mach 1400 [/font], mainly sora parts, large frame to suit 6 foot person
3. [font=Trebuchet MS]Trek [/font][font=Arial]mach 1400, RSX parts, 58cm frame
4. Giant OCR2, Tiagra and some ultegra parts, large frame


Questions are, what is the best option? What would you go with and why?

I understand the Merida is a realy good value buy, but is the frame to small for me? I'm 6'2

What shoudl I look out for when I go to have a look at second hand bike, are there any tips to finding out if it is a [censored] bike which has been undermaintained.


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Try the fitting guide you can find on this website:

competitivecyclist.comcompetitivecyclist.comOpen ↗

Pureshot78 said:

Try the fitting guide you can find on this website:

competitivecyclist.comcompetitivecyclist.comOpen ↗

Cheers i just did the caculator.

The Competitive Fit The Eddy Fit The French Fit Seat tube range c-c 58.3 - 58.8 59.5 - 60.0 61.2 - 61.7 Seat tube range c-t 60.1 - 60.6 61.3 - 61.8 63.0 - 63.5 Top tube length 57.9 - 58.3 57.9 - 58.3 59.1 - 59.5 Stem Length 12.5 - 13.1 11.4 - 12.0 11.6 - 12.2 BB-Saddle Position 77.2 - 79.2 76.4 - 78.4 74.7 - 76.7 Saddle-Handlebar 59.2 - 59.8 60.0 - 60.6 61.7 - 62.3 Saddle Setback 8.2 - 8.6 9.4 - 9.8 8.9 - 9.3 Seatpost Type SETBACK SETBACK SETBACK

Gender M Inseam 90 cm Trunk 67 cm Forearm 36 cm Arm 81 cm Thigh 77 cm Lower Leg 67 cm Sternal Notch 164 cm Total Body Height 188 cm

So I gather thats the end of the merida :-(

So I see there are a bunch of measurements, french, eddy etc and c-c and c-t.

Which should I be paying attention to?

nomisg said:

Cheers i just did the caculator.

The Competitive Fit The Eddy Fit The French Fit Seat tube range c-c 58.3 - 58.8 59.5 - 60.0 61.2 - 61.7 Seat tube range c-t 60.1 - 60.6 61.3 - 61.8 63.0 - 63.5 Top tube length 57.9 - 58.3 57.9 - 58.3 59.1 - 59.5 Stem Length 12.5 - 13.1 11.4 - 12.0 11.6 - 12.2 BB-Saddle Position 77.2 - 79.2 76.4 - 78.4 74.7 - 76.7 Saddle-Handlebar 59.2 - 59.8 60.0 - 60.6 61.7 - 62.3 Saddle Setback 8.2 - 8.6 9.4 - 9.8 8.9 - 9.3 Seatpost Type SETBACK SETBACK SETBACK

Gender M Inseam 90 cm Trunk 67 cm Forearm 36 cm Arm 81 cm Thigh 77 cm Lower Leg 67 cm Sternal Notch 164 cm Total Body Height 188 cm

So I gather thats the end of the merida :-(

So I see there are a bunch of measurements, french, eddy etc and c-c and c-t.

Which should I be paying attention to?

It depends on the brand, some brands measure c to c (i.e. Look, Cannondale), others c to t, as Trek does.

If you're not sure about the size, you should try it before buying it.

Good luck