New rider here...I need advice.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I've been talking to the people that I'll be riding with, and their advice is basically "get a road bike." This makes sense, as both of them will be riding road bikes and I don't think I want to completely wear myself out trying to keep up with them. On the other hand, I'm not sure I want to sink that kind of money into it just yet. (I don't know what I mean by "that kind of money", to be honest. Just that the low-end road bikes cost more than the FCR3.) That, and I have a feeling that the posture that road bikes put you in would kill my back and shoulders.
Thoughts?

Sounds like you need to go to a couple of bikes shops and test ride different kinds of bikes so you can start getting a feel of the differences.

[Owlie]

Sounds like you need to go to a couple of bikes shops and test ride different kinds of bikes so you can start getting a feel of the differences.

This will occur, once finals are done.

[ZenSojourner]

A really good thing to have is a portable pump. Most everyone here's favorite pump is the Topeak road morph.
it's lightweight and even I can use it to pump up my tires.

Definitely, I've had several other pumps, none of which ever lasted very long and at least one of which disintegrated in my hands the very first time I used it.

I've also had at least a couple that I wasn't strong enough to actually use. Magilla Gorilla could pump his tire up with one of those, but I didn't have a chance.

Some frame pumps lack a pressure gauge, or the one they have breaks or is inaccurate. Hence the separate pressure gauge I carry in my seat bag.

I've had the Topeak for a long time now, and I can actually pump my tires up, it doesn't mangle the stem, it's giving no sign of breaking, and the pressure gauge is still accurate. In fact a lot of times I'll just pump my tires up with the Morph pre-ride instead of going and finding the floor pump.

[Owlie]

Total newbie here, so for what it's worth I'm in the same predicament as you are. The person I will be riding with most of the time has a road bike. I also don't want to sink "that kind of money" into a road bike, but also don't want to stay behind. I ended up buying a hybrid. If it turns out that I really like cycling and stick with it, then I'll 'graduate' to a road bike. I suppose I can always sell the current bike or maybe they do trade-ins? I've no clue about that.

Water bottle, of course.

What did you end up getting, out of curiosity? As it looks right now, I'll be borrowing a friend's mountain bike for a little while...

[Skierchickie]

IMHO:
1) Helmet
1.1) Pump
1.25) Tire levers
1.255) Patch kit
1.256) Spare tube
1.28) small multitool (hex wrenches, etc)
2.) Sunglasses (you may be able to find a shield-type that would fit over your glasses, and there are some that accept prescription inserts)
3.) Water bottle

The bottle is only 3rd, because every bike I've ever bought (which is, let's see, 8) came with a free bottle.

Numbers 1-2 are all pretty important - difficult to rank (hence the decimal places)..

It looks like a lot of stuff, but not much of it is expensive.

[Fujichants]

Another useful thing to have is Road ID. Not necessary, but having it puts my mind at ease should something happen to me while out on my bike.

[Owlie]

Can anyone recommend a few decent "entry level" road bikes?

[ZenSojourner]

I liked Trek back in the day, even though I ended up with not one, but TWO bikes from them that Did Not Fit.

However if you don't have a problem riding a "men's" frame, they made good bikes.

For awhile I was being told (by Trek) that most of their frames were being made in China, but apparently that is no longer the case. I've noticed at least a couple of manufacturers who were having frames made in China have switched back to US manufacturing facilities. Probably due to quality issues, as I have heard about things like ugly welds and cracks developing in head tubes, etc.

You might consider a Trek, if the frame is not made in China.

[Ana]

You can check out the Editors of Bicycling's Choices for 2009 Road Bikes here.

[elk]

a little notebook and pen/pencil for identifying scoundrels and promising cafes.

[Skierchickie]

Hee hee - identifying scoundrels! I like that!

[Zen]

What's your budget?

[Owlie]

I'm giving myself to $800-900, depending on how much of my stipend gets eaten up by taxes this summer.

[Owlie]

I might be getting myself a Defy 3. I'm waiting until I get back to Cleveland to buy, as the bike market around here seems to be monopolized by a store that charges prices way above MSRP.

[LoriO]

Fuji beat me too it but for me my Road ID is a must have when I ride!