Newbie looking for a bike.

[josskend]

Hi everyone! I'm a newbie here looking to purchase my first ever road bike. I'm not wanting to spend too much on it, considering its my first bike. I found two on craigslist, one is a Motobecane Nomade 50cm Road Bike (the seller is asking $155; 27 inch tires and its a 10-speed). The other is a Lotus Brand Road Bike (the seller is asking $220; Lotus Excelle, 27"1/8 specialized tire. 23" Frame,12 Speed). Are either of these good bikes for someone that is just starting out?
Thank you!!!!!:D

[cindysmallfield]

i have had the Motobecane Nomade 50cm Road Bike for roughly a month and have over 110 miles on it. There have been no major issues at the moment. The components of the bike are solid and the brifters are awesome to use. I have no real complaints about the bike. This has been a nice reintroduction to road bike riding. At some point I will either replace with a bike of lesser weight or replace some components to cut weight on the Libero, everyone wants a lighter, faster ride.

[rebeccaC]

deja vu ??? :)

[rebeccaC]

A 23" frameset is a lot bigger than a 50 cm. How tall are you? I'm 5'7" and ride a 52 or 53 cm older style road bike. The 23" bike is a little over 58 cm's, and that is for someone around 5'11" or so.

look 8 threads down :)

[rebeccaC]

Yeah. Why do I bother?

think of it as just giving two good posts of advice :)

[Sky King]

:p Keep up the good work anyway, we appreciate you!

Two almost identical posts!

At least I'm consistent.

[omri1james]

Great To Join the Forum! Here's omri from Pheonix - great advice here