Newbie looking at these bikes...
Brantel
Posts: 5
I am a newbie road cyclist wan't to be who want to get a decent bike out of the gate but cannot break the bank doing so.
I am 5'9" and around 200lbs. I am a slow runner that has completed 6 half marathons and 2 full marathons and dozens of other races (5,8,10 & 15K) in the past 2 years. I have lost over 135lbs as well but at 45 years old, it seems to lose more weight and to get faster running is going to beat up my body so I have been looking at getting into road cycling.
My goals for a road bike are simple: Outdoor low impact aerobic exercise to help me lose more weight to improve my health. (I forgot to mention that I am also a cardiac athlete with 3 stents in my heart. 2 in 2008 and 1 in 2015...)
I have been looking at these bikes:
http://www.diamondback.com/bikes-road-bikes-endurance-century-series-century-1
http://www.raleighusa.com/merit-3#
After some research I am under the impression that the Shimano 105 setup on this bike is like the gold standard on this class of bike.
The rest of the specs seem to also be good for a bike in this class as far as I know.
This area is not road cycling friendly. I live in rural East Tennessee. Most of my friends that bike have the first reaction to my queries like " You do know that road cycling is very dangerous?" or "Road biking is treacherous!" or "3 near misses last year on a short ride" or "3 of my team members got hit last year, 2 are gonna recover, 1 is in bad shape, 2 of the 3 were hit and run!"
That being said, there is not a bike store on every corner and good used road bikes are not easy to find here. That is why I am just planning to start out new.
I realize the bike is just the beginning and then there is some proper clothing, shoes, pedals, water bottles, bike computer (I am a tech geek) etc....another reason I can't break the bank out of the gate with just the bike.
I am 5'9" and around 200lbs. I am a slow runner that has completed 6 half marathons and 2 full marathons and dozens of other races (5,8,10 & 15K) in the past 2 years. I have lost over 135lbs as well but at 45 years old, it seems to lose more weight and to get faster running is going to beat up my body so I have been looking at getting into road cycling.
My goals for a road bike are simple: Outdoor low impact aerobic exercise to help me lose more weight to improve my health. (I forgot to mention that I am also a cardiac athlete with 3 stents in my heart. 2 in 2008 and 1 in 2015...)
I have been looking at these bikes:
http://www.diamondback.com/bikes-road-bikes-endurance-century-series-century-1
http://www.raleighusa.com/merit-3#
After some research I am under the impression that the Shimano 105 setup on this bike is like the gold standard on this class of bike.
The rest of the specs seem to also be good for a bike in this class as far as I know.
This area is not road cycling friendly. I live in rural East Tennessee. Most of my friends that bike have the first reaction to my queries like " You do know that road cycling is very dangerous?" or "Road biking is treacherous!" or "3 near misses last year on a short ride" or "3 of my team members got hit last year, 2 are gonna recover, 1 is in bad shape, 2 of the 3 were hit and run!"
That being said, there is not a bike store on every corner and good used road bikes are not easy to find here. That is why I am just planning to start out new.
I realize the bike is just the beginning and then there is some proper clothing, shoes, pedals, water bottles, bike computer (I am a tech geek) etc....another reason I can't break the bank out of the gate with just the bike.
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Comments
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Hello Brantel,
You might be waiting a while to get any meaningful responses as this forum is (generally) populated by Brits - as far as I am aware, neither of these bikes is for sale in the UK.
Dreadfully sorry old boy."It must be true, it's on the internet" - Winston Churchill0 -
The Raleigh is cheaper and better spec.
Raleigh easily wins it for me if I had to have one of those two (unless there was something freakily wrong with the frame of course).
I would avoid mechanical disc brakes personally, but out of the two I think the TRP's are much better.
The Diamond Back oddly has an alloy fork, rather than the road buzz absorbing carbon one on the Raliegh.
Its odd to see a 105 groupset on an aluminium bike without a carbon fork here in the UK.
The Raleigh has thru axles too.0 -
Found another bike here in the states that looks like it has much better pricing for similar components.
I am not familiar with the Fuji brand.
What do you think of this one?
http://www.fujibikes.com/bike/details/sportif-13-disc2#0 -
You could probably still catch the year end clearance for Specialized, Giant and others.. I picked up a 105 full carbon Roubiax for 1,500.0
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Brantel wrote:Rollett wrote:You could probably still catch the year end clearance for Specialized, Giant and others.. I picked up a 105 full carbon Roubiax for 1,500.
Contacted all LBS within 100 miles and none have any last year models that would fit me in stock....
Bummer...
That's a real bummer
I got really lucky Eugene, Oregon is super saturated in bike stores so there was plenty of options. 0 -
Well I just put a deposit down on this bike:
http://www.fujibikes.com/bike/details/sportif-13-disc2#bk_desc_tab
The specs look great for a newbie and I like the looks of the bike. Getting a Shimano 105 groupset was important to me as the more I read about road cycling, the more I assume that is the gold standard in this class of bike.
I plan to use these pedals:
http://www.amazon.com/Shimano-PD-A530-Sport-Dual-sided-Pedal/dp/B0014UG3WE?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A3CFE8KIJUOW5H
Looking forward to getting the bike and getting out on the road!0
