New Road Cyclist

Bernetini69

Hi All,

I came on here last year and get some great advice regarding a first mountain bike. I listened to the advice and have thoroughly enjoyed using it.

Now I am looking for a road bike. I have two options, firstly, to buy a bike in the sale i.e last years model, spending about 600 pounds. Or, wait until a bike to work scheme comes out and spend a couple of hundred more.

I wont be riding massive distances to start, just to and from work which will be about 10 miles each way, with a good number of climbs on the way. Obviously, will have to get some shoes aswell and pedals etc, which I havent got on my mountain, so will need ones which you can get out of easily, seen my mate come off quite a few times as he couldnt get his feet out!

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

sskelly

Hi,

I think you will really enjoy getting a road bike, it will make your riding (on the road) far more enjoyable and it may encourage you to do some extra miles. You will be surpised at how much easier it is on a road bike compared to an MTB.

Once you have learnt to ride with clipless pedals you will wonder why you never got them earlier. Set the adjustment to the weakest setting for the first few weeks and try to release the cleat before you arrive at a junction!

There may not be much between the two purchasing options you have mentioned (depending on which tax bracket you fall in). There are lots of bike shops that do interest free credit so if you want a bike for the summer(!) then you may be better off going down that route. I have used Winstanley bikes to get a fixed wheel commuter on interest free and they were very good.

You need to think longer term when buying so that you can get a bike that covers potential future pursuits (be that touring, racing, audax, cyclo-cross etc).

There are many entry level bikes available, take a look here http://road.cc/review-archive?tid=35

I use a fixed wheel (Felt Dispatch) for my relatively flat commute because it is quite a robust format for the winter weather. If I had a hillier commute I would go for something with perhaps a gear hub (for round the calendar commutes). If you intend to use the bike for weekend riding then I would go for a derailleur setup.

Another important consideration for commuting is mudguards, I have a set of full length guards fitted to my commuting bike. They may not look cool but they are a godsend. At least look for a frame with mudguard mounts so that you can fit some in the future.

Cyclo-cross bikes are becoming quite popular for commuting as they are a bit more bomb-proof than an out-and-out road bike.

Hope that is of some help.

Good luck!