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Advice on my first road bike

by ososxe
Tue, Mar 11, 2014 14:02
9

I'm fairly new to cycling, after cycling almost all my youth in the countryside and mountains north of Madrid, i stopped for many many years, and a few years back I got into cycling again, this time for commuting and doing some occasional cyclotourism, thanks to me gf.
We've moved to Belgium now (Aalst - Gent area), and I want to buy a road bike, but I'm lost with what bike should I get, new vs second hand, what pedals..
I have a 1000€ budget, I'm 40 y.o. and *slightly* overweight (but my middle section is going smaller slowly, thanks to cycling), and not very flexible, so I think I'd need something not too racing, a bit more relaxed, right?
What would be your advice? I've seen some good offers online, at the Ridley outlet (Icarus SLS) and a Moozes (Squadron), but I'm open to any advice, suggestion, pun, etc...
Thanks!

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9 comments

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ososxe | 10 years ago
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Thanks all of you, I really appreciate it! 41
My plan is to do road, some local hills that are not long but some are 13% and over, accoding to Strava, and some cobbles too, that I found yesterday that much more harder to ride than the few cobbled streets we have in Madrid (and much more painful for the lower regions of the body...)
Local brands here, Merckx of course http://www.eddymerckx.be/ , Ridley http://outlet.ridley-bikes.com/home/ have some good offers in their outlet section, Moozes http://www.moozes.com/ are an online retaier that allow some degree of customization, Flanders http://www.flandersfietsen.be/cms3/ , Thompson http://www.thompson.be/ .. probably I'm missing some other brands, but those are the ones that come to mind and that might be within my budget 105 39

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notfastenough | 10 years ago
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What kind of riding will you be doing? Many of the 'new bike' threads on here throw up the usual leading sub-£1k suspects (Specialized Allez, Giant Defy, Canyon RoadLite AL 6.0, something from Boardman etc), but when you say Belgium, I'm (probably incorrectly) thinking cobbles etc. Also, I'm unsure which brands are widely available there.

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Super Domestique | 10 years ago
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Not sure what sort of deals can be had where you are but the comfy geometry bikes from Specialized and Cannondale always get a favourable mention.

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Miles253 | 10 years ago
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Planet X and Ribble offer great value which I think is invaluable for beginners, Canyons also. Boardman also shouldn't be overlooked they have some good bikes

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gthornton101 | 10 years ago
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Take a look at Canyon. I've been riding their Roadlite for the past two and a bit years and it's brilliant. Plus you'll be hard pushed to top Canyon on value for money (regardless of budget).

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ososxe | 10 years ago
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Anyone want to give me more advice? 1

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ososxe | 10 years ago
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Thanks gdmor10 ! For conmuting I'll keep my Orbea Carpe, it has served me well in Madrid with only 8 gears, they will be enough for the terrain here. Plus, it already has fenders and rack 1

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gdmor10 | 10 years ago
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oh and for pedal stick to double sided SPDs, if you are commuting they are safer in my view and the loss of benefit is minimal.

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gdmor10 | 10 years ago
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if I was in your shoes right now I would buy a cyclo cross bike, solid for winter commuting and put some decent tyres on it then it is good for summer roads and touring etc.

I am going to get a boardman cx comp for next winter but you can probably get something a bit better in your budget.

enjoy, getting a new bike is great fun.

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