Best bet for $1000?

Pottsie

I am looking to buy my first road bike. I want to spend around $1000. I will probably ride NO MORE than 100 miles per week. What are my best bets? I was also told not to buy any bike with less than Shimano 105's on it. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

mongooseboy

if you want FULL 105, your gonna pay probably closer to $1500 unless you find a steal, OR buy used. if your in the states, try www.craigslist.com for used bikes, i have seen some darn good used bikes, mostly specialized and trek around me, for good money.

Otherwise, the specialized allez elite comes with mostly tiagra components, but a 105 rear derailleur and retails for $1100. Or, the Trek Pilot 2.1 comes spec'd with mostly 105, but with an ultegra rear derailleur (better) but retails for $1500. Im sure other companies have similar offerings, but personally I like to stick with Trek or Specialized, having experience with both and no other brands...

i agree 105 is a good group, i have mostly sora with a tiagra rear, and dont seem to have any problems but im only riding maybe 50 miles/week at most...I want to bump that up but i ride some bike paths with my mountain bike so my roadie doesnt get all the action One of these days im upgrading to either 105 or campy veloce, not sure which yet

lbraasch

If you're riding around 100 miles a week, I'd definately recomend going with 105 or above. Sora and Tiagra have a lot of plastic in them, which wears a lot faster than the 105 and up components which use metal parts.

Have you looked in to old model year bikes lying around in the show room? 08's are about to roll out, and if you can find some lingering 06 bikes, I'm sure the shop would be willing to slash prices to get rid of it. My shop had an 06 Fuji Roubaix RC (full ultegra except for the tektro brakes, and Ritchey parts) for $1200.

oldbobcat

Look for something on sale. I paid found a Felt F5C for $1000 last spring. Pedals and bottle clips not included, of course.

capwater

Good time of the year to pick up last year's model at a fantastic price. In addition to great used stuff on craigslist, you can check out performance bike shops. They have a generic brand of frames loaded up with Shimano groups for very attractive prices.

FriarTuck

I had the same requirements as you and just found a good deal last week.
I'm not sure where you are and what stores you have available to you, but as others have said, there are a lot of good deals to be had at this time of the year.
I just picked up an '07 Trek 1500 for just under $900 (after 20% end-of-season discount). It has full 105s except for the breaks. I was also considering a Lemond Tourmalet, which is very similar and was still under $1000. Some other similar options that would fit your needs at the price range (if you find it on sale) may be Cannondale R700 or a Schwinn Fastback Comp. I saw those for under a grand as well, but they didn't have my size in stock.

Good Luck.

rparedes

Look at Giant OCR1; all 105 components except brake calipers, You should be able to buy it for around $850-$900 on sale. Cannondale CAAD8 or Synapse are good ones also.

STXR814

I don't have much experience with bikes but I purchased a Specialized Allez Elite for $935 out the door a few months ago and love it. It's the 07 white one.

J5311

i am buying this little bike... 06 trek pilot 2.1
http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bike...archive/pilot21
its going to be my first REAL road bike, now practicing/training on a 1990 12 speed schwinn traveller... w/ levers... i dont like them much... but it looks good, yet has a small den which = another price drop... $1300

Lionfish

http://www.amazon.com/Cadillac-Elit...9236753&sr=8-19

Shimano 105 w/carbon fork seat post & seat stay. I've owned this for about a year & absolutley love it. VERY smooth; VERY fast.

jojoma

I am a Specialized fan. This is a nice deal for under 1K
http://mikesbikes.com/itemdetails.c...ogId=39&id=1085
A mix of components but a very good bike.

Another route you could take is...
I bought my first bike on eBay brand new for $450. It wasn't that great but was enough to determine if I liked cycling, which I did. So I sold that bike 3 months later for nearly what I bought it for, and leapfrogged up to a $1700 bike which was like night and day.

It seems to me (and someone correct me if I'm wrong) there are 5 buckets of bikes
$400-500 - cheap but functional
$800-1000 - low end of the high end bikes
$1700-2000 - High end frame with mid-range components thus a few lbs. hefty
$3000 - Fully functional high end bike
$5K and up - Negligle added performance benefit, but serious bling

iphone_jared

I just bought my first road bike. I got a Giant OCR1 for 949. 07 Model. I really love it. The main thing that sold me was the 105 group (although it could have been sales hype). I feel that I got a pretty good deal, although not stellar from what I have read.