Buying my first road bike

dahdum

I am looking to buy my first road bike, but having a hard time deciding which one to pull the trigger on.
I am getting a special price on the Émonda and the Scultura as you can see, so I might get more bike out of the money than the Zoncolan. The Scultura got Force, and the others got Ultegra but I guess this is only a personal preference?
The Émonda got pretty cheap wheels, but the others ones got decent ones.
Please take a look at the specs and tell me what you guys think, which would be the best bike? which one is best value?
I would appreciate the help alot

These are the three bikes im thinking about:

Gavia Zoncolan SR3 - 2,315 EU / 2,650 US
http://gaviabikes.no/bike/gavia-zoncolan-2/

Trek Émonda SL 6 - 2,142 EU / 2,452 US
http://www.trekbikes.com/no/no/bikes/ro ... nda_sl_6/#

Merida Scultura 6000 - 2,141 EU / 2,452 US
http://www.merida.com/en_int/bikes/road ... -2224.html

KevChallis

Welcome to the forum, you could put links up, but ultimately, as its your first road bike it doesn't matter what the spec is to some degree, the very best thing you can do is go to a shop and try them, sit on them, look at them, stare at them if you wish, if spec is similar, then choose the one that does best and that you like the look of most

dahdum

Thanks! I put some links up, but it was bugged so i put em up again. They should work now. Thing is, I dont have the chance to try them out. Do you think it is a neccesity before buying?

Sutton_Rider

Would you buy a car without at least kicking the tires?

dj58

If it is your first road bike, then yes you need to go and look at them and try them for size, otherwise you may buy something that does not fit you and/or does not meet your expectations.

larkim

But how do you know what "fits" if you've never ridden one before? And particularly if you only really get the opportunity to try it out sat on a stand. You don't have enough experience to know what is comfortable, what feels long, short, compact, cramped, stretched. You don't know what small adjustments you might want / need to be able to make to improve things. Something might feel right in the store, but 15 miles in to a ride on the types of road where you live things might feel very different.

If I had that amount of money to burn on a new pursuit, I'd buy a bike the one I own (B'twin Triban 3), ride it for a while to get used to the "road" experience, and then take some time trying out (on the road) other bikes so that I at least had some idea of how different they felt.

ai_1

larkim wrote:

But how do you know what "fits" if you've never ridden one before? And particularly if you only really get the opportunity to try it out sat on a stand. You don't have enough experience to know what is comfortable, what feels long, short, compact, cramped, stretched. You don't know what small adjustments you might want / need to be able to make to improve things. Something might feel right in the store, but 15 miles in to a ride on the types of road where you live things might feel very different.

If I had that amount of money to burn on a new pursuit, I'd buy a bike the one I own (B'twin Triban 3), ride it for a while to get used to the "road" experience, and then take some time trying out (on the road) other bikes so that I at least had some idea of how different they felt.

I agree. It seems unwise to me to spend that sort of money on a bike if you're new to cycling. There's no need either as you can get very decent bikes for much less and you're unlikely to notice the difference between a €800 bike and a €2200 bike anyway until you've got some experience.
I really enjoyed my first bike which I got 2nd hand for about €400 (would have been about €900 new) and still ride it sometimes but when I came to buying the second one (with a similar budget to you) I knew exactly what I wanted. Had I splashed out on day one I'm pretty sure I would not have spent my money wisely!

Better to start with something more modest and get a feel for it. There is a period of adaptation for the first few months at least, when your position on the bike will change. There's no way to judge a bike by feel on day one and a fitter will have less to work with too. Besides, how sure are you that you'll actually keep it up?
In my case I started off with a high and long handlebar position that avoided neck and shoulder pain. I gradually got significantly lower and then switched to a short stem with a 20 degree drop and put on narrower bars for a more compact position. All relatively cheap modifications (bars =€25, stem =€40ish, spacers adjustments =free). When I then bought a new bike it had that dialled in position from day one without having to resort to odd stems or replacing handlebars. I got a bike that suited me. There's no way I could have enjoyed riding my current bike as a beginner. The geometry simply wouldn't be comfortable. However, even if I could have ridden it, I wouldn't have bought it because I didn't know it was what I wanted.

skooter

Hi there..
As the other posters have said go and try a few out as the market is full of good bikes and to be honest its easy to change a stem if its too long and you have adjustments fore and art on the saddle so you can make lot of changes to any bike.
But road bikes come in two main types for you and they are Race and Endurance bikes ( as your not looking at time trial I don't think )
So each has its own style, the endurance being more comfy, the race being a bit more hard core..
I have just got the model above a SL 8 Dura Ace (as I don't like Sram stuff )and its an awesome bit of kit, its that much faster I have just put a new 52/36 chainring to help.
As for the Bontrager stuff on the Trek its good gear I can't fault it really but I have upgraded the wheels but most people do anyway at some time?
Its a good idea perhaps to but a cheap bike first but that's for you to decide but good luck it your choice..