I've had my hybrid just over a month.. already want a road bike!

[Miranda]

Here is an idea for you when / if you decided to buy used... or in general for the roadie...

Contact a local bike club. Preferably one NOT associated / sponsored through a lbs (biased opinion)...

Ask whose the best fitter in your area... sworn by all members of the club, who resolved pain issues riding, etc. Seek that person out for your correct frame size, and ideal geometry.

Research and ask around about what your needs are. Maybe there might even be a way to post a "wanted ad" with the local club? Peeps a lot of times want to upgrade and need $ to fund new.

Hopefully a bike from a local who dearly loved it would be in good shape, honest seller etc.

I could have very easily sold my too big of old road bike to my best GF. Who is also my size. She didn't think riding it too big would be that big of a deal since she wasn't going to ride as long as me etc. No way could I do that to another biker. I hope my thoughts are shared in the world for someone like yourself buying.

Btw... I *almost* bought that Trek FX. Actually, a couple pals kept pushing and pushing it on me. Something was not right. 20+yr vacation from riding a bike for me. When I finally found a drop bar road bike to ride... I felt just like a kid again on my old steele 10speed. THAT was what a bike was suppose to feel like to ME.

Good Luck... OH, and yea... you can never have too many bikes (being a TE member that is)!

[sarahspins]

Here is an idea for you when / if you decided to buy used... or in general for the roadie...

Contact a local bike club. Preferably one NOT associated / sponsored through a lbs (biased opinion)...

Thanks.. I have actually found one near me (I've been seeing cyclists pass right by my house for ages on the weekend.. always wondered what they were up to, and now I know!) and hopefully that would be a good lead to a used road bike if I do end up buying used.

I did try a couple of road bikes before I bought my 7.2fx and none of them felt right - they all felt "weird" for lack of a better term, but I do find myself wondering now if some of that wasn't just inexperience.. I'm not exactly unhappy with my bike, it just has a few things that I think could be tweaked - much like going through a few saddles to find the one that was "it" for me, I don't think it's unreasonable to try different handlebars too.

[TxDoc]

Is it crazy to consider another bike so soon? Should I wait longer and possibly save up more? If I bought now it would have to be used... but I'm the impatient type. The advantage I see to buying used now, is that I would have one to ride now, and figure out what I like/dislike about it, and I could still save and buy something better later, and just resell whatever I bought used for close to what I paid (I hope). It sounds reasonable in my head, anyways.

I guess you already know that no one here will talk you out of buying a bicycle, right?
Anyway - actually buying a used bicycle is often a better deal than buying a new one. It's like buying a used car, you get 'more car' for the same money: for the price of a new toyota you can buy a used jaguar. So if you buy used you can actually afford a better bicycle than you could afford new.
The downside is that sometimes you do not know what happened to that bicycle: we don't have carfax reports on bikes so you would not know if the bike has been crashed - unless the damage is evident. Thankfully, most sellers will be honest and tell you if they have crashed the frame - or at least I would and hope others do too.
Anyway, my advice would be go visit bike shops and test ride road bikes. Don;t worry about their price right now - you are test-riding to learn what fits you, so feel free to test-ride bicycles that are out of the price range (when new). I would be straightforward with the shops you visit, and tell them that you are trying to figure out what bicycle fits you best - but you are not planning to buy in the immediate future. You can also ash the shops about used bikes - some shops take trade in's, others sponsor clubs and teams and could know if a member is selling a bike.
So really the short answer is: test ride many different road bikes, and find the kind that is a good fit for you. Once you know what to look for (and which size), then you can safely buy even on ebay or craigslist.
Good luck!

[MsBelle]

I too had a Trek hybrid and longed for a roadbike after about three months into my hybrid. Mine was a 7.6 FX. Anyway.... I was able to get a great price on a new 5.1 Madone WSD last May ('08 model) because the paint had been chipped on her in two places in the LBS and they marked her down. I dabbed a little fingernail polish on the two places and rode happily everafter. This was "THE" bike!!! Lighter, faster, more gears for hills! Get you a roadbike when you can... you'll be amazed at the difference.

[Running Mommy]

lots of good advice, just going to add a couple of things..

Save up and wait until you can afford something that is not considered entry level. You will not regret it. Sometimes patience really is a virtue.

Be careful about buying misc parts here and there unless you REALLY know what you are buying.
We get people in here all the time with their "scores" that end up to... well... not be. Not compatible, wrong size, speed- whatever. We see it all the time.

[txred9876]

Mostly is the extra hand positions with drop bars... being more aerodynamic and faster would be nice too, but it's not the big thing for me right now... I don't think I ride fast enough (yet) for any of that to matter a whole lot.. but I'll get there

I just went from a nice hybrid to a really nice road bike for some of the same reasons you mention. I am not skinny but getting in much better shape these days. I am going quite a bit faster just moving from one bike to the other. I love my new bike. I found a lbs that does their layaway a little strange.....25% down and three more monthly payments and you walk out the door ....for just the 25%. ride and play or something like that they call it.

I looked for used but got a nice 08 for a really good price and it was brand new.

Tina

[sarahspins]

Save up and wait until you can afford something that is not considered entry level. You will not regret it. Sometimes patience really is a virtue.

I think this is my plan.. if I am looking to buy, it probably won't be until spring at the earliest because it will take me that long to save up enough.

Be careful about buying misc parts here and there unless you REALLY know what you are buying.
We get people in here all the time with their "scores" that end up to... well... not be. Not compatible, wrong size, speed- whatever. We see it all the time.

Oh, I agree.. and I am worried about getting the "right" parts if I do anything significant. The bars I've ordered (Soma Sparrow) should work with the MTB shifters/brakes that are already on my bike, and the stem is the same size too, so it should just be a matter of switching out the bars. At most, I see myself possibly swapping out the stem if I feel like I need more/less reach with the new bars... but that I won't really know until they're here.

[PscyclePath]

Sarah:

Just be careful... You bring one bike home, and fall in love with it, and the next thing you know, it gets lonely. So you bring home a companion to keep it company...

Now, you're in for it... It doesn't matter whether you anthromorphosize your bikes as male, female, or maybe one of each. They are bike-sexual, and they'll start to multiply until they fill the space you have to stash them in.

As Zen and others have noted, don't say you weren't warned

[Kano]

Hmm, PsyclePath, so THAT's how we suddenly have three little bikes in the garage besides our grown-up ones -- DH's and mine are reproducing!

Karen in

[sarahspins]

Bars are here!

After a few test rides up and down my driveway and along the road in front of my house, I'm 99% sure I have the brakes/shifters where I want, so I went ahead and taped them up.. I will really get to test them out when DH gets home from work, but they already feel WAY better, both being narrower and putting my hands at a much more comfortable angle



My only disappointment is that my light blue tape is much lighter than I expected (I was expecting more of a medium-light blue, not pastel blue)... but tape is (relatively) cheap, I can replace it later if I want (and maybe do a better job of taping the bars, too!)

The tape isn't adhesive so I can pull it back gently and still get to the screws to tweak the angle of the brakes and shifters a bit if I need to... they are as far "up" the handlebars as they will go, since once the curve starts on the bars, they won't go any further.

[sarahspins]

Well I'm not sure anyone REALLY cares, but my 7.6 mile test ride was a success... MUCH more comfortable overall, and is it my imagination that it feels like I'm working slightly different muscle groups now? I felt it in my triceps/upper arms and more in my quads than usual... not in a bad way, just in a "hey, we're getting more of a workout now" way Could that be because I'm in a bit more "forward" in position now? The reach is fine and I'm not uncomfortable at all (my hands and upper body are lower, of course).. and I got no numbness in my hands, though I did get a cramp in my left thenar muscle (palm), but that tends to give me trouble from time to time anyways (I nearly sliced through that muscle completely with an ice skate 15 years ago, and it's never been the same since) so I'm not sure I'd call it a problem just yet. It could be a glove issue.. I dunno. It didn't happen until about a mile from home. I'm not too worried about it just yet.. I'll take a cramp I can feel over numb hands!

[Cataboo]

Sarah - yes, if you're leaned over more, you use a slightly different set of muscles than you do upright...

The sparrows look really neat - let me know in a month or so how you like 'em and maybe I'll stop being cheap

[sarahspins]

I will! After just a couple of days I'm amazed at the difference.. NO hand cramp yesterday, much much much more comfortable than the stock bars.. just hope it stays that way.. or continues to feel even better

I think I ride a little faster now too, but that could be my imagination since my average isn't really up that much

[Cataboo]

If it feels like you're faster, I'm sure you are... Just if you go faster, then you get tired a little bit more, which slows you down a bit to compensate till you adjust. Or something like that.

You sort of did the same thing as aerobars - I'm definitely faster & more efficient if I'm on aerobars, just certain parts of me & the saddle don't tend to get along when I lean that far forward. Part of it's the aerodynamics and I think part is which set of muscles you start using.

I was riding my surly the other day and think I really wanted to change the handlebars for something, or I at least need to change the stem. They're not happying. I've got it set up with 8 speed mountain bike components, but I now have bar end shifters, so I could put mustache style bars on (the ones I originally bought for it that didn't fit mtb shifters) and bar end shifters and convert it to a 9 speed...

[Zen]

Sarah, do you have any photos of those bars from a different angle? I can't tell a whole lot from that one shot.
I'm considering different bars for my 7.6 as well but I have no desire for a "real" road bike.