DescentBB

Well, since I'm moving next year, I need to look into a fairly decent bike.

Currently I own a mongoose aluminum mountain bike and an old Huffy that I plan to sell this summer.

Anyway, where I'm moving there is a lot of road bike competitions and races which my oldest brother is involved in. I will mostly be using mine to save on gas and living expenses so that I can go to my technical school and to work and back safely. It will also give me a decent ammount of strength and give me something to do with my brothers and one of my nephews who is only 5 years younger than me and is also pretty heavy into biking/running. I used to run for my local cross country team but I have been retired from it for a couple of years so I need to get back into shape so I will be riding quite a bit in order to do this.

However, I don't have a huge ammount of money to get a bike. I'm looking for at least a road bike that is a little better than what I have. Maybe $300 $400 range. My bro spends thousands of dollars on his and almost sold one to me for $300 a couple years back which I never took him up on.

Something else I was wondering about was possibly getting some sort of upgradable bike. Something with a nice aluminum frame that I could rig some decent racing tires/wheels to later. Remember, I'm looking for a road bike so I'm looking for a light and elegant bike.

Anyway, can someone recommend a brand name or some websites to check out this sort of thing?

I have a Trek (US Made) mountain bike and I love it. They do make road bikes.

http://www2.trekbikes.com/

First, light and elegent doesn't exist for $300-$400. UNLESS you get it on eBay.

You have to ask (and answer)some questions before choosing a bike.

1. What kind of riding are you going to be doing (racing or touring)?
2. Is the topography hilly or flat?
3. What is your budget?
4. What is your experience level?

and so forth.

All of these will determine the type of material the frame is made of, what type of components you get, what size frame you get, how agressive the frame angles are.

Some good American brands are Specialized, Cannondale, Serrota, and Trek. They all offer very good bikes.

There are a number of very good foriegn manufacturers as well.

I think your best bet if you don't know a lot about bikes, is to go to a local high end bike shop and start asking quesions. If they are a reputable shop, they shouldn't mind asnwering your questions even if you aren't going to buy from them, since they know you will buy accessories from them and most of those guys love talking about bikes anyway.

Once you figure what the best bike is for your needs and you know what size you need look for it on eBay first. You can get some really great deals.

Good luck and happy hunting.

My budget IS probably $300-$400 :
I understand bikes fairly well.

The terrain is flat and hilly depending on where I select to bike. I can bike on desert roads or in the canyons if I so choose. I'll mostly be biking in-town however and I might do some canyon biking for more serious runs. I don't plan on doing any serious biking right off. Just training for it right now. I don't plan to just move and start biking with my older brother in races right off. I won't have the time, money or skill to do so by then. However, I will want to bike probably 20-25 mile runs every once in a while. Most of my biking will probably take place for the first year or so between my technical college and my apartent/dorm. I may also select to bike to work if possible. My brother, from what I understand goes on one of the longest one day races in the US at a whopping 203 miles. He doesn't do touring races but he does do regular long range races.