$1500 for road bike for former boss: what to advise him to get?

[H1449-6]

I haven't bought a new bike since I bought my Spectrum, and have no intention of ever buying a new production bike again. Accordingly, I've not kept up with the off-the-peg market, really.

Old boss likes to mountain bike and would now like to get a road bike for $1500 or so.

What should he buy? He'd ride 50 miles a week at best and is a pretty fit mid-40s guy.

Thanks for any tips.

[bkboom123]

tell him to give you the $1500.

Go through the forum and hunt down as many parts as you can

Whatever you don't find, head to ebay to buy.

Build him a way better then he ever could buy stock in a bike shope

Pocket the leftover cash :beer:

[thwart]

Depends on his flexibility of 'new' vs 'used'...

But the bike market is so soft right now that you can buy a killer used bike for that amount of cash.

Just peruse the classies here, for example...

[H1449-6]

He's more of a buy it new kind of a guy.

[Steve in SLO]

Specialized Roubaix?

[vqdriver]

Specialized Roubaix?
+1

[rnhood]

Another vote for the Specialized Roubaix. It rides very good and is easy to handle.

[dekindy]

He has probably ridden a stell bike so watch for one of these in his size. You might be able to stay within budget but if a slight increase in budget is needed it would be well worth it since the used bike market is so soft now. If I had some extra money right now I would grab one of these as a backup bike.

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=61155

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=60661

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=61096

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/bik/1243367761.html

[BengeBoy]

If he's interested in a bike that will take fenders, bigger tires, and a rear rack (commuting? light credit card trips?), the Salsa Casserroll Complete is a good choice in that price range.

Along the same vein, a Surly Crosscheck Complete is about $1,000.

Or if he goes to a Specialized dealer to look at the Roubaix, he could also try a Tricross.

[caleb]

Another vote for the Specialized Roubaix. It rides very good and is easy to handle.


Wow, the Roubaix as turned into quite a nice bike at a good price. If he belongs on a "tall headtube" bike, send him to a Specialized dealer.

If he belongs on a bike with a shorter headtube, I'd direct him toward a Fuji Team. Spec is similar to the Roubaix, but the Fuji is more of a "go fast" bike. (Yes, those are some big generalizations, but in real life I think they usually hold.)




http://suwaneecreekbicycles.com/community/includes/FCKeditor/upload/Image/Team.png

[palincss]

If he's interested in a bike that will take fenders, bigger tires, and a rear rack (commuting? light credit card trips?), the Salsa Casserroll Complete is a good choice in that price range.


You can also build a terrific Kogswell P/R or Rawlands Sogn that will do all that (and more) for the same sort of money.

But this does raise an interesting point: what does a "road bike" mean to him? How does he intend to use it? His concept of road bike could be a lot closer to a Rivendell all-arounder or one of dbrk's randonneurs than a road racer. Or not. It'd be worth finding out before starting the search.

[Polyglot]

A friend of mine is selling this bike: http://velospace.org/node/20088 He wanted a bit more than $1500 but might go for close to that amount. The bike is built up of almost all NOS components and won't likely lose any significant value any time soon if looked after properly. It will also outdraw almost any new production bike when parked at the local coffee joint or ice cream joint. :D