Which new bike?

**good4nothing** · 05-27-2009, 02:48 PM

Not a hardcore rider by any means, but i try to get at least 50 miles a week in here during the summer as we have a sweet system of bike paths that I can get on about half a mile from my house, mostly as a fitness thing/ski maintenance workout.

I have a basic bike setup now Giant ocr3 or equivalent from previous year that i'm just too big for, and have been looking for something in a 58 cm frame. I figured that i would just get the bigger version of the giant, but after poking around there seem to be a ton of subtle differences in derailers/crank bearings/shifters/etc between the major bike manufacturers.

I have no idea if I should give a shit about external bearings, tiagra vs something better, thumb/index vs index/index shifters, or any of this other fancy shit. Durability makes some sense to me - i've definitely smoked a bunch of spokes on the current ride - but as far as light goes, it seems like i can knock 10 pounds off of my fat ass for much cheaper than 1 on the bike. 20% off the scott cheap-ass whatever-the-fuck basic model at REI is looking pretty good right now.

I'm trying to spend <1K on this thing, and would love to hear opinions on whether or not this shit is worth an extra couple of hundred bucks.

**Dudley** · 05-27-2009, 02:57 PM

I just bought a cheap-ass Scott roadbike for hammering around the city on. I scored a S60 flat bar speedster new for $420 (classic) off of the local CL and love it. Compared with the nearly 3K I spent on my mountain bike, it shifts just fine. Sure the brakes are a little weak but thats why we wear helmets. Not sure if I can be of help but shoot me a pm if you want, I did a good bit of research and found the Scott to be exactly what I wanted. I had NO clue how much fun city riding would be and I was way off base assuming it would be boring. I conservatively avg. two o-shit moments a ride...

**nick > jesus** · 05-27-2009, 03:15 PM

for 1k you should be able to do better than tiagra, at least 105

**The Reverend Floater** · 05-27-2009, 08:17 PM

Buy my cross bike...best of both worlds, better than that Scott piece of shit for sure and under $1000! BAM!

**mtnbikerskierchick** · 05-27-2009, 08:48 PM

Don't really have much advice to give about your ride except that you should go 105 over tiagra for sure, but glad to see you're able to get out and have some fun! I'm limited to the road biking world now as well until my knee full heals- which will not be until September.