Welcome to TE! I cannot be of a lot of help, since i am new to biking. I did however discover that one can indeed buy a very nice road bike for well under $1,000. I bought a Trek 1000 which I love (it was about $650). I looked at 3 other models and all were under $1,000. Yes, there are bikes I drool over, but my budget only allows me to drool, not actually buy.