Big lad beginnner

I was a lot heavier and an inch shorter. For that limited budget id get a langster , negotiate a discount on the '09 as the 2010 comes out this month and keep the extra £200 as the start towards your next one. The 32 hole deep section undished wheels on the langster are indestructable and will make for trouble free riding. I regularly do 70 mile rides on mine despite the other 4 far more exotic bikes that now adorn my garage wall! Second hand is a gamble for the larger guy and much of the other kit within that price bracket will have nasty bits on it. Cheap chains, chain rings, cassettes, seat posts and saddles will all die quickly when you are larger and the replacement costs add up! The langster is well specced i have only had to replace the freewheel at a cost of £16 and i killed the rear hub bearings after 5000 miles. I replaced that but just re-spoked the same very durable rim.

Yes its a single sped. Can be run freewheel or fixed. As for benefits well they can be divided up realy.
1) They are very low (almost zero) maintenance - no messing around with cleaning gears/cassettes etc. There is nothing to go wrong.
2) All bikes are built to a price point. In buying a geared road bike for say £500 a good portion of the budget goes on the crappy entry level groupset. This means you get a cheaper frame, seatpost, saddle, stem, handlebars, wheels, rubber etc. As there is no groupset on a single more of the limited budget goes into the bits that matter.They are also much much lighter than other geared bikes at this price point.
3) A single builds a more graceful pedaling action and also leads to faster strength and fitness gains as your body has to adapt to enable you to push that gear up the hills. I have had back problems for years and the single works all of my core muscles and i saw an improvement in my condition very quickly. I have never had to push the bike up any hills despite going up some real steep ones and i can now spin the 42x16 gear up to 24 mph for prolonged periods an 30 in a sprint.
4) I find that having bolted on wheels and a simple looking bike means its safer to leave in town with a single lock and im not so precious about slight damage. Knowing that it isnt too high value they are great to take out in really shitty weeather without the fear of damaging the precious steed.
5) Fact is im a bity of a bike snob and i would much rather be seen by other cyclists on a langster or pearson touche (if you want to spend the extra £200!) than a shitty carrera.

As i say i have other carbon exotica but the langster is such fun i ride it most of the time when im not racing or testing. Others will praise tiagra and sora groupsets but frankly its shit. You want to have the feeling of speed, the fitness benefits and handling characteristics plus the looks of a road bike on a limited budget - go single. Quality for less cash.

If agni's avatar can ride a road bike, then so can you