What type of bicycle should I get?

[Ella123]

Hallo!

I've been into bicycling for about a year now. In the spring I began to go for rides up to 60 km with my very old and terrible ATB Supercycle, with no back brakes and tires with the tube showing through. I recently took a Brodie Infinity on a 10 day, 1000 km bike trip through the Rockies. It had straight handlebars, and after a few days I could barely use my hands to button a shirt or hold a pencil, they were so strained. I'm a light packer, I just used a schoolbag to carry my stuff.

I am now in the market for a second hand bike. I want something with slick tires, curved handlebars. I plan on doing fast half day rides, more overnight trips, and perhaps some amateur racing.

I am thinking I would like a road bike that can be fitted with a rack for a bag. My only concern is that along the roads around here, I am often forced to cycle on the gravel shoulder, sometimes needing to move off the pavement onto it at rather high speeds. Can a skinny tired road bike handle that, or will I skid?

Thanks!

Ella.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Sounds like a touring bike would fit the bill for you. They can be pretty sporty and fast (though not racers), yet have rack braze-ons and their brakes and forks can handle slightly wider tires. They also tend to have a wider gear range which is handy for touring over hilly terrain. Touring bikes can do just about anything a hybrid bike can do- but in general they tend to be lighter weight (unloaded), and way more comfortable for distance riding.
In my humble opinion, you'd do well with a bike with rack braze-ons, drop bars, and the ability to handle a 25 to 28 mm wide tire.
Jumping on/off gravel shoulders would be hard on very skinny racing tires.
But you could do it just fine on puncture-resistant or Kevlar belted 700 x 25 tires or even 28's. Those tires are not unduly heavy and wide, but are way tougher than racing 23's. You wouldn't believe the sharp grueling gravel I routinely grind over on my flat-resistant 700 x 25's. Yet they don't look that fat and don't weigh a lot like knobbies.
I agree that with your longer riding drop bars (the curvy ones) are definitely in order.
If you have a small rear rack that you can put a medium saddlebag on, I suspect you will be vastly relieved to not have a backpack hanging on your back for hours at a time.
All of the above is just one person's opinion- others will likely give you different great advice too.
Congratulations for taking the new step! And smart of you to carefully plan what you need. :)

[sfa]

+1 on everything Lisa said. I love my touring bike and know that it can handle just about anything--I've used it for heavily loaded touring, for commuting, for charity rides and next month I'll be riding it in a triathlon (o.k. it's not ideal for that but I can't afford another bike so this will have to do!). It's not as light and zippy as a road bike, but it sounds like it would fit the bill for the roads that you are on regularly and for the types of riding you have in mind. The only problem you'll have is that finding them used isn't easy--they aren't the most common type of bike and in my experience people who get them tend to keep them. I've seen them from time to time on eBay and Craigslist, but you might have better luck letting local shops and clubs know what you're looking for so they can help you look.

Good luck!

Sarah

[KnottedYet]

How much money do you have budgeted for a bike? I'd bet lots of folks can give you ideas of new bikes that might meet your needs AND your budget. (when you have a specific type of bike in mind, it can be hard to find the perfect one used)

$1,000 or so (or less!) can get you a perfectly good touring bike in steel.

$750 or so can get you a perfectly good touring/cyclocross bike in aluminum. For example the http://www.konaworld.com/09_dewdrop_en.cfm The Kona Dew line has lovely stable "do it all" geometry. The Dew Drop is outfitted for road.

(Oh, and do take a look at cyclocross bikes. Some of them are running around as tourers and commuters, too. My utility bike is a cyclocross bike, Surly Cross Check.)