so after spending my life out in the sticks and riding mtb’s i have bought a house in a town and will now have the oppertunity to ride to the shops, train station and maybe do some road rides.

I have never ridden a road / commuter bike in my life and dont know anything about them, having just bought the house i have little to no money to spend on one so heres the challange………

beg borrow and steal my way to a ridable road bike using things like ebay and the classifieds, will be looking at somthing pretty old but that doesnt phase me i can always strip it down and repaint / rebuild.

so STW what do i need to know about road / commuter bikes?
brands?
technology?
gearing?
frame material?
drop bars or flats?
etc etc

GOOGLE!

you ever tried google’ing road bikes and in particular old ones!

you either get nothing at all or so much info that its nuts

was looking to use the STW collective as a filter

No idea.

However, I too sometimes feel like I would like to take a road bike out for a thrash, just to see how fast I can go on one…

…there. I’ve said it. I feel slightly awkward now.

Some choices to be made first:

Race bike or commuter

Steel, ally or carbon

Gears, single, compact (two front chain rings) or triple

and budget ?

Race bike or commuter……..isnt there somwhere in the middle..”fast commuter”

Steel, ally or carbon……whatever is cheapest

Gears, single, compact (two front chain rings) or triple…..was thinking single up front and cassette out back

and budget….full bike less than £200..i know im talking scrap here but im wiling to put the time in to refurb any bike

This is a good buy

ebay Bianchi

How tall are you? You need to know what size you need. I ride small/16″ mountain bikes but medium/55cm road bikes.

For your budget look for an old steel or slightly less old alu frame I reckon. An 80/90’s steel frame Raleigh or Peugeot or something would be great as cheap commuter. A little tlc to get them up and running sweet and its probably less likely to get knicked.

Something like this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Peugeot-56cm-racer-Reynolds-531-frame-/180693596292?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item2a122d7884

Have a look at the last post here, I’ve got it boxed up to sell but still haven’t got round to it! 😳

Doesn’t need much doing to it apart from a little touch up paint (see here) and the spec is a bit funny (mix of shim and campag), but a pretty thing and lightweight for steel (actually weighs less than my alu bike, although that one is poo tbf)

It’s a 56cm, if you’re near FoD/Monmouth you’re welcome to have a look.

Make me an offer I can’t refuse 😉

Pics: clicky

I ride small/16″ mountain bikes but medium/55cm road bikes.

😯

I ride 18″ and 52cm..

Asking someone to tell you about road bikes is exactly the same as asking someone to tell you about mountain bikes. Where to start?

so STW what do i need to know about road / commuter bikes?
brands?
technology?
gearing?
frame material?
drop bars or flats?
etc etc

What do you need to know? Aesthetics are everything. The rules would be a good place to start.
There are lots of brands, yes. Italian ones are the best.
Technology? Electronic shifting exists. As do bike computers.
Gearing is good, unless you want SS. Best to go for a compact or a double, depending on how fit you are/where you ride, and IME a cassette of some sort at the back is nice.
Carbon is best for road bikes, but ti is pretty and bling, aluminium is wallet friendly and can still be quite good, and steel is real.
Drop bars. Flats are for hybrids (which suck).

Don’t bother with steel, there’s a huge premium for anythign steel with horisontal/foreward faceing dropouts as the fixie crowd buy them up. I picked one up in 2004 for £20, an identical bike went on ebay a month or so back for £210!

Set a budget (I’d recomend £300-£400).

Stick to the big brands (better re-sale value/easier to sell if you don’t like it and less need to research as theyre generaly all pretty good).

£300-£400 should get you a 3 year old entry level raceing bike (~£1000 new)like a cannondale or a trek. Cannondale are generaly thought to have the best frames at that level, specialized and trek generaly have a better spec (and consequently cannondale are about 1lb heavier and significanlty cheeper as Lance doesn’t ride one).

Don’t wory about flat bars, drops are more comfortable once you figure them out.

Don’t wory about commuters/race bikes, mines been fine for years of abuse. If you want more comfort or arent very flexible, stick a spacer under the stem.

well im 6ft 3″ and currently ride a large enduro as i quite like throwing the bike about, I know i should really be riding an XL

300-400 is a no go situation to be hounest the 200 budget was a bit of a stretch haha

Stunned that no-one has whinged their arse off about you calling it the dark side.

i dont really know what else to call it haha ive always seen it as a world full of lycra, butt butter and being obsesed with times rather than having fun

but it makes sense now living in town to have a tarmac bike to get about on

whatnobeer you mentioned raleigh but i always thought that was a bit of a kids brand of bikes??

being obsesed with times rather than having fun

Hmm, that about sums it up! If you’re spending £200 I wouldn’t worry about brands. Just scour ebay. I got a Peugeot a few years back for about £250 and it was great (commuting only for me though).