Quote Originally Posted by Velocivixen View Post
For me, I started with an aluminum hybrid and fairly quicky decided I wanted a steel road bike with drop bars.
Thanks for the reply! I'm actually curious. What made you want to go to a Steel bike after riding an aluminum bike?? I would think that you would have went the other way and upgraded to Carbon or something? Isn't steel going downwards in quality and performance? I'm new and not very knowlegable so I'm sorry if I'm way off. I just want to know all my options before I buy.

While money IS an issue, if I like the bike and it's comfortable, I'll want to get out there and ride. If I don't like the bike, it won't be fun and I won't use it as often. I will think of it as a wasted $700 vs. a well spent $1400-$1800. I also like buying quality items. I don't like getting something and saying 2 months down the road...."Oh man, I could've bought that for only $X more. What was I thinking!"