Any one new to bike fun, should start with somebody's $6,000 bike, that has been sitting in the garage collecting dust, because they saw the Tour de France, one July evening on Versus, and bought a really nice bike, but after they rode it a couple of times, they realized its hard, and decided to get too serious.

You can buy a great used bike for $2,000. Something that is two seasons old, will get you in that ball park.

If you are going to race, buy a bike that was designed for racing and not a comfort bike. If you want to be comfortable on a race bike, get a proper fit from a good bike fitter, and run wider tires with lower tire pressure. I am loving 25mm, run at about 100 psi (I'm a Clydesdale) with a pair of the new wider channel rims available (Easton, HED and others offer these rims now). Very comfy ride with my 'properly' fit setup, on my race bikes.....

For new, check out Cannondale CAAD10....Aluminum and nice quality race bike. You can probably find a 2014 around that price

J

Just wait until the end of season clearance sales start. I bought my CD0.1 last yeah in the beginning of November. List price was 5k+. Clearance price was 3200. Then I got another 25% off and it ended up being $2400. With Reynolds Strike wheel set. The wheels alone retail for $1500 so I was pretty happy.

You'll have to do more research and be open to multiple brands to make sure you can get your size but this is the best time to start thinking about it.

Love Ridleys.

In my opinion this would be hard to beat.


http://www.competitivecyclist.com/...skidn=RID000Y-BK-XSM

I went with the Allez. Ultegra 6800. Solid bike. Had a carbon bike before it and was nervous going to aluminum but this bike is better and snappier. Power transfer is great and I like the ride. I don't notice the 'harsher ride' people talk about. Also not as worried doing crits on it. Was looking at the CAAD10 too but liked the Allez. I'd say you are good to go with either. Honestly, after getting this I really don't see the value for me spending double on something else unless I have money burning a hole in my pocket.

CAAD10 with Sram Rival 1800 and everything you will need. I am racing the cat 3's right now and this had been more than adequate, also i am at 9000 miles so far this year and its very comfortable and have zero complaints. Just know that if you are trying to get really low it will take some work on this bike. The CAAD10 is nice because rival is incredible performance for the money and cannondale tends to spec bikes fairly for the price.

Also i would consider the following:

- Cannondale Supersix base model
-Felt F5
- Cervelo s2 ( i have seen some at shops that are around 2000-2100 for last years models)
- Cannondale synapse basic carbon model
- Van Dessel makes some very nice Aluminium bikes at well right at your price point that should not go overlooked.
- velo vie (direct to consumer but i have seen a few recently and they seem to hold up to some serious racing)

From a value standpoint i would stay away from trek and specialized

CAAD10 Rival again...could not be more pleased with this bike...

The CAAD10 is great. Ride it back to back with a Cervelo R2 (or S2) just to be sure.

Fuji... This is a great bike and even better when measuring bike per buck

http://www.performancebike.com/...56_-1_400315__400315

+1. I'm on a 12' CAAD10 full 105. Plenty $ left over for a set of Flo's or another set of wide cc's. Can always upgrade components later.

CC

I'll jump in and add another vote for the CAAD10. It really is a fantastic bike. A lot of people that claim an aluminum bike is too harsh have probably never ridden a good aluminum bike. I'll typically do 80 or 90 mile rides and have logged a couple of 130 milers and the CAAD10 is perfectly comfortable.

Bikesdirect.com has a cheesy website, but great bikes if you can find them in your size. You may get grief from people for the fact you're not buying from your LBS, but you LBS will probably be happy to service it.

I had a CAAD 10 in 2011 and a crack formed at the headtube/top tube weld with 1 season of use and no racing. I am 65 kg, never crashed or dropped. I think I got a bunk ride.

I am riding a 2004 Specialized s-works that I built up with with used parts. It's 8kg right now and I built it up for under $1000. It climbs super well and I've heard it sprints well too... but I need to work on that to be able to notice it. These frames can be had for cheap and you won't worry about laying it down or anything. Silver paint doesn't show abuse either.

https://docs.google.com/...Jl2AEGK9E/edit#gid=0

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

You can get a Kestrel RT-1000 w/full Ultegra for about 2k. It's geometry is more "endurance bike".

+1 on the Allez, love mine.

Canyon bikes if you have someone in europe that can take delivery for you.

Not sure that there is anything that comes close to value for money to it - certainly in europe

I've seen a Giant Propel Advanced 1 for around $2500 NZ dollars...am thinking about going for that.

Bikesdirect.com has a cheesy website

A lot of their builds are cheesy too. But I noticed this one. I'd swap the bars and saddle, and of course the wheels ;)... but it's a solid spec... Decent carbon frame, Ultegra 11, Ritchey post, bars and stem, Gossamer crank, for $1399.

http://www.bikesdirect.com/...int-cf-pro-blk-5.jpg

I just sold my 2010 Cervelo S3 w/ sram red for $2100 and it was the best bike I've ever owned. I highly recommend picking one up.

Dont buy new, it's really a waste of money. You are paying out of the ass just for the fact that it's new and it's this year's model. As with cars, bikes dont tend to change that much from year to year. Yea the frame might change, and they might upgrade from the 6700 to 6800, but in terms of performance, little changes from year to year. You can get a great deal on Craigslist. It's not hard to get a used bike that's two years old on C List for around 50% MSRP. Bikes last a really long time. I have a mountain bike I have ridden the shit out of, it's 15 years old, and it still works great. The lifespan of a well-maintained bike is quite long in most cases.


So to answer your question, the best value $2k bike is going to be used and on C List or eBay. Rather than searching for a specific model, I would look at everything on the ads and find what is the best value for you. I have seen S2s go for $2000, which is only a bit under MSRP, and I have seen P5s with race wheels go for $3500. Some deals are better than others.

If you see the real value in a trainer as durability with a good drive train then you cannot go wrong with a Bikes Direct rig for half or less than what you are looking at paying and brand new. If it makes you feel that it's 'ok' to ride alum I have a pal in Indy who upgraded to Cat 2 last season after riding a SRAM Apex equipped Bikes Direct alum rig to rack up points on his way to a Cat 2 team and a new bike. No power meter, no carbon, no electronic shifting. He rode it from 4 to 3 to 2 and put a sick amount of miles on it, still runs great and is a dedicated winter road/indoor trainer rig now.

Sometimes I really like cheese. I picked up the Le champion red last year, got run over by a car, replaced it this year with the 22 red version. The sets and pedals got swapped out quickly last year, this year I tried the Ritchey saddle for about a month on the trainer before replacing it with a Cobb.

My LBS sells Surly and 'urban' bikes, but they're good mechanics and think the cost of motobecane is ridiculously good.

Jack, what's the criteria for the "performance" of the bikes? It looks like the most "value" might be found in a $3K aero road bike that is a year or two old, and that's definitely on my radar.