I Finally Got a Bike Yo!
I’ve been talking about getting a road bike for over six months now and it seemed like every time I found what I was looking for it was either too small for my long legs or too expensive for my thin wallet. Honestly I had no idea road bikes were so expensive. Apparently most of the cost is in the components like gears and shifters. So then I started looking on Craigslist to see if I could find something that fit both my legs and my wallet. I found a few but they either were sold by the time I inquired about them or they weren’t really that nice. 
After giving up for a few months I started looking again at the bike stores and came to the conclusion that a “hybrid” was going to be more in my price range. From what I can tell the only thing that was really different between a road bike and a hybrid were the handlebars and the shifters. Again, the shifters added a lot to the overall price so this made sense. After starting my search again, this time with my sights on a hybrid style, I found myself in Golden Spoke Cycle Shop. They had one bike that was in my price range but felt a bit small; but I was willing to roll with it since I wasn’t having much luck anywhere else. Then the guy at the shop pulls out this black Raleigh and says “this is more your size right here”. He was so right. I adjusted the seat and hopped on and it I could feel the difference. The problem was however, that even though it was was on sale it was still way more than I wanted to spend. The guy goes behind the counter, types a few things into his calculator and comes back with $500 out the door. That was over $200 off the original price but still a little more than I wanted to pay. Then I took it for a spin around the parking lot; and that was that. Fifteen minutes later it’s in the back of my truck and I’m on my way home.
I was able to take it for it’s first official ride this past weekend and man it felt good; but damn am I out of shape. I’m really looking forward to building my endurance and strength up though because I really want to take it downtown and perhaps even ride it to work someday. Until then, I’ll continue to expand the radius I ride and I’ll keep you posted on my progress. I hope to one day be able to ride with the great Sean Bonner; the one who really sparked my interest in road bikes and inspires me everyday with shit like this.
Congratulations Clintus, the bike looks great! It’s surprising how difficult it can be to buy a bike since the options are unlimited; I’m glad you were able to find something that was a good fit.
Seems like getting a road bike is a popular thing amongst us right now. I’m doing lots of extensive research. Pretty much got it down to Giant, Trek, or Specialized. Any thoughts?