How about it. I’m in the market for a road bike. That sounds like an interesting range. A new SR TT in road config is out of that range, and I don’t ride my Road bike as often as my TT7 Tri.
For that matter, how about $1000-1500?
Check out Giant. I really like their compact geometry, and it’s fairly easy to add some clip-ons and use as an entry level tri-bike as well. My experience with them has been pretty good, and the prices seem reasonable too.
glorycycles.com Veloce build kit: $500
Sell the hubs on ebay
Ultgra hubs, mavic open pro rims, $300ish?
Then, find a nice $500-700 frame of your choosing, and your set with plenty left over.
Lots of great options at that price point. If you’ve got any dirt roads or off the beaten path routes you can’t explore w/o big tires, perhaps you should consider a cross bike. As I work for Felt, I suggest you take a look at the F1X. If it is truely a road bike you are after, look no further than the Felt F55.
This aluminum/carbon frameset is hung with Dura Ace 10 speed STI shifter/brake levers, Dura Ace 10 speed front derailleur, Dura Ace 10 speed rear derailleur, and a Dura Ace 10 speed cassette. There is a FSA Carbon Pro Compact crankset and aero Velomax wheels. It is a TON of bike for the money and won’t be held up by Shimano’s Ultegra 10 speed shortage. Nearly every other bike in that category will be unless it is Campagnolo specced. You won’t see any Chorus (Dura Ace equivalent) equipped bikes in that price rance however and would have to “settle” for Centuar. I think KHS might have a Campy bike under $2000.
Good Luck in your search, let me know if you need help finding a dealer.
Regards,
SD
The other thing you can do, if you’re handy with a wrench, is buy components, wheels, frameset, etc… all seperately online and put the bike together yourself. There’s not too much you can’t do on your own with a decent maintenance book. My second road bike I did this way and got probably what would have been a $2500 or $3000 bike for about half that. You can find really good deals online if you’re at all patient and have the time to look around a little, especially now that winter’s coming.
Thanks guys. Anyone else out there have an opinion, too?
Look for someone trying to buy market share. A couple of years back I bought a Fuji Team for about $1500. Full Ultegra, carbon fork. Liked it a lot. It got trashed this year so I bought a Motobecane Century Team. Full Dura Ace. $1850. I doubt Motobecane did anything except put the stiickers on it. Not sure who made the frame but the fork and the rear triangle are carbon. Great paint job too - if you like yellow, white and black together.
The downside of this path is that you may loose the support of your LBS. If they know you and give you good service they will reasonably expect to sell you big ticket items once and a while.
I bought a slightly used Giant TCR2 last year on eBay for $800 with full Shimano 105. The nubs weren’t even worn off the Michelin Pro’s yet. I dropped $500 on a pair of Ksyrium’s & kept the original 105 wheels for the trainer & winter riding. The bike would have been $1400 new, I got it and a pair of Ksyriums for $1300.
Buy a Giant TCR. I have two of them a small one set as a TT bike and a medium size for everyday commuting. They are excellent. Very stiff and light and you get excellent components for the price. They are very easy to set in an aero position and they accelerate like a shot. The handling is superb. I also have a Cannondale which looks to me as if it much better built and it is much more comfortable, but I had to pay for it much more. This I use for road racing and club group rides.
But if you need any more encouragement, even the greatest triathlete of all times, Mr Tibbs, rides a Giant bicycle.
Check out www.preownedbikes.com. They are owned by American Bicycle Group, the same company that owns QR, Litespeed, Merlin and Tomac. They refurbish and warranty newer used bikes. They also have some blowouts on new old stock and demo QRs and Litespeeds I bought a 2-year old Merckx from them this summer at a great price. It arrived in brand new condition.
For anyone looking for a tri-bike, they currently have a pair of nice looking '03 Kestrel KM-40s and some nice QRs.
Got that one bookmarked. Thanks.
I like my Fuji Roubaix (An '02, $1200, setup w/105). The Fuji team has an even lighter frame: way under 3 lbs to be certain and 17 lbs for a complete bike. I would bet you could get a new Fuji Team w/ Ultegra and decent wheels for $1500. -TB
I would look at the used market… tons at that price.
Best place would be roadbikereview.com in their classified section.
I would also try going to http://www.bikesdirect.com/ never bought but they sell quality bikes at low prices… might be worth it.
If you have a lot of free time I would second the suggestion about buyign used parts especially with the new DA and Ultegra 10 people are surely looking to sell off old parts, but easy to overpay in the used parts department so do your homeowrk…
I aggree with slowguy that Giant is a great company in the 1,000- 1,500 price range. alot of bike for the buck.
My local bike guy was telling me today that the new Giant OCR will be coming out in carbon for 2005. He said it looks really sweet and he was tempted to get one from himself (and he rides a Litespeed usually). Only the fork looks spec’d down, with a heavy steerer.
Don’t know what it will go for or what components it will come with, but it can’t be more than US$1500 when TCR Composites can be had for that much.
Also, the TCR Hybrid with aluminium front triangle and carbon rear end looks pretty nice. The Giant Asia Racing Team’s development team is on them now and many of the riders have said they prefer it over the all-carbon TCR Composite after being on those for a year or two.
Disclaimer: I have no connection with Giant, except the one between my butt and the saddle on my 2002 alloy TCR.
I am having trouble finding glorycycles. Is their link not as I would imagine?
www.glorycycles.com…I’m pretty sure.
Thanks, everyone. Now I have an even harder decision.