If you're looking for your first road bike, the amount of choice available to you can be extremely daunting. What I'm trying to do in this post is demystify the process of choosing a bike, so you can get out there and enjoy riding it instead!
Let's have a quick look at the anatomy of a road bike before we start.
The first decision to make is your budget, take into consideration the fact that you will probably need to buy yourself some new gear too, things like cycling shorts, jerseys, base layers, jacket, helmet etc.
If you have a modest budget you can buy yourself a brand new bike for around £275.
Some points to consider if buying a new bike:
- It will be heavy
- Have the lowest spec gears, brakes etc (this can be tricky if you need to replace a single faulty part in the future, you may have to replace the entire thing if it's a no-brand fitting)
- Being brand new it will usually come with some sort of guarantee
- It won't be worn at all, so easy to keep on top of cleanliness, maintenance etc
With the same budget, you could purchase yourself a second hand bike that perhaps retailed originally for around £800 - £1000.
Some things to consider if buying a second hand bike:
- It's likely to be much lighter
- It will usually have much higher spec gears etc
- If you're lucky the previous owner may have even upgraded certain elements.
- The owner will usually be more than happy to give you lots of advice and show you how to work it.
- Some people buy a high spec bike with the best intentions, but never give it much use, in this case you will have a great bike with hardly any wear, just make sure it had been properly maintained.
- Serious cyclists often have both a summer & winter bike. The winter bike is used in cold, wet conditions where grit may have been spread on the roads, and the summer bike is ridden in lovely dry conditions. I wouldn't recommend purchasing a second hand winter bike, but if you can get your hands on a second hand summer bike you are normally onto a winner as it will have been meticulously cared for.
- Be prepared for wear & tear
The first thing to note, is that there are considerably fewer choices of female specific bikes out there, than male or unisex. This can be good if you get overwhelmed by choice, but most of the time the bikes are more expensive, with lower spec & are often pink...
Men & women differ in their body geometry. Women have longer legs, and shorter torsos, and men vice versa. This means that even if you are both the same height, a woman can usually go to a slightly bigger frame. There are all sorts of online calculators out there than can help you work out what frame size you need, but it's not just about the height, you also need to consider the reach from the seat post to the handlebars, this is something that can vary widely between frames, even if the height is the same size. The best thing to do is get out there and try some out. It's not really a case of one size fits all, and you can always make little adjustments that can tweak the fit once you've got the frame.
I think if you can get onto the frame comfortably, there is room to move the seat post up and down a little, and you don't feel too stretched out or upright when reaching for the handlebars, you're onto a winner.
Ok so you've got your bike, you've set your saddle height according to THIS LINK taken it out for a good ride, but it doesn't feel quite right.
- are you saddle sore?
- are you pushing yourself forward or backward in the saddle?
- are you resting your hands naturally in a position a bit closer or further away from you?
- do you feel you're leaning too far forward or upright?
- are your knees coming up too high?
- is there pain in your hands from reaching for the gear levers or engaging the brakes?
These are all things that you can easily do something about!
I will be explaining how to tweak the things that will make your road bike fit you better in the parts that will follow this post.
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