Purchasing a Road Bike

[TrekTheKaty]

I'm sure more people will jump in, but I feel most of the price has to do with components--the gears and shifting. I'm getting ready to upgrade from my first road bike. It was fine for two years, but I'm getting stronger and more aggressive on the hills, so I need smoother shifting.

I'd say the most important part of your first road bike is finding a bike your comfortable on and getting a proper fit at the bike shop.

Good luck

[Roadtrip]

I wasnt all that keen on buying an expensive road bike my first go-round either, but fell into a good deal on an older, but new stock Specialed Ruby. It was my first road bike and I was hesitant to buy to buy a full carbon bike as it was "more" then I needed, but now I am so glad I did, I love my bike. Its lightness helps me up the hills (not to mention a better ride) and it shifts so smooth and forgives my newbie stupid shifting maneuvers when I mess up.

Good luck!
Shannon

[nscrbug]

I just went to the Giant site to take a look at the "Via", since I wasn't familiar with it. While it is categorized under the "On Road" section of their site, I would not consider this bike to be a "road bike"...it is more of a cruiser or casual riding type of bike. A true road bike would be the Avail and TCR model lines...or perhaps even the Dash, which is actually a flat-bar road bike. So that would be the reason behind the lower price of the Via. The Avail 3 is Giant's lowest priced road bike at $790..which comes in below your $1,000 limit...so you could take a look at that one, but the component group on that bike is of much lower quality (hence the price). You might want to consider checking out some used bikes (provided that they fit you properly) that have a higher grade of component group (I'd look for at least Shimano 105 or SRAM Rival) on Craigslist or the "for sale" section of this and other cycling forums.