Entry class is recommended!
Road bikes run the whole gamut. There are road bike for beginners less than $1,000 to road bike to professional $10,000. If you think of a car, it might be like a Ferrari.
Those who ride in the race and are seriously riding are different, but for the purpose of moving the body at the weekend for about 1 to 2 hours, if it is the purpose to ride a bicycle, you can get an entry level road bike of $1,000 or less I recommend it.
I would like to think about why an entry level road bike is recommended, frame material, lifetime, and components.
Contents
Aluminum bicycle is easier to handle
Entry level road bikes seem to have a frame often made of aluminum material and a fork made of carbon material.
As a professional rider, there are many full carbon bikes. Weight is also as light as 6 kg, excels in vibration absorption. However, the price is also expensive.
Recently, full carbon road bike has become available for about $1,500. However, full-carbon road bikes of this price range are both good and bad.
First of all, there are many people who do not advance full-carbon motorcycles in cheap price range compared to aluminum bikes, due to poor power transmission. I think that it is probably not enough rigidity. After all, even if you look at other blogs, you will see some people returning to aluminum.
Next, full carbon is bad for maintenance. When tightening the screw, you need to tighten the full carbon motorcycle with the specified torque using a torque wrench. Even in the case of aluminum, the prescribed torque is actually set for each part, but in the case of a carbon frame bicycle, there is a risk of the frame breaking when torque is over.
If you make it a full carbon motorcycle, it will not be easy to maintain it. This is also to lose another enjoyment of the bicycle, mastering maintenance.
It is more likely that you will be scrapped and disused than longevity
How long can a road bike continue to ride?
There are various opinions on its life, but I think that there is no need to worry if I conclude it. In general it seems that there are many theories that Aluminum bike has shorter life expectancy. I do not understand well, but according to the people who are going to race, it seems that it will come down to about 10,000 km in degree. However, even with an aluminum bike, there are people who have been riding in long ride purpose and riding 40,000 km or more. It might be said that if you ride a 20 km weekend, both aluminum and carbon will have almost permanent.
It is more likely that the bicycle will be bad by dropping off rather than continuing to ride and reaching a lifetime. In case of dropping, there is no possibility of aluminum or carbon, it is highly likely to become a scrapped bike.
For example, if the frame breaks when you ride on $ 3,000 road bike, are you ok?
How about this road bike of about $800? If it is at least the same budget, you can buy another one.
In consideration of the above, it is better not to extend life expectancy by high bicycle but rather to consider cheaper entry-level classes considering the risk of scrapped vehicles.
8 speed component is the ideal component
First, let’s choose a road bike that uses Shimano components as a prerequisite. Shimano and other manufacturers are completely different. Road bikes that use all the components of Shimano are rare, but at least STI choose a road bike that uses Shimano’s ones.
Shimano components’ grade ranges from 8 speed Claris to 11th speed Dura Ace. Claris is used for entry-class road bikes, and Dura Ace is used for high-end models.
8 speed Claris is the most recommended component.
Roughly speaking, the difference in component grade is the number and lightness of the gears, the easiness of braking.
As the gear becomes 11th gear of Dura Ace naturally the gear shifts smoothly, but only the top side gear used to run 40 km to 50 km speed will increase to the last. Actually, the number of gears used when running at ease is almost the same between 8th and 11th gears.
Rather, the higher the grade of high-end, the beginner-friendly wide gear like 11-32 t will not exist. Because it becomes a combination of gears of the race specification, it is not suitable for everyday use.
When I visited a bike shop, I got explanation that the high-end grade has durability commensurate with the price, but this is also suspicious. Rather than that, the thickness of the chain and the thickness of the gear teeth will become thinner as the number of gears of 10th and 11th gears increases, so actually the durability is also higher for entry classes.
Will it be much faster when using the high end Dura Ace? Differences in lightness may be effective in ranking in a comma in an environment like a race, but in a daily ride it is about the level that is absorbed by signal waiting.
9 speed to 11 speed will be disappear someday soon. Especially the 11 speed is the specification which made it by force. On the other hand, the 8 speed is spreading and it is advantageous for long ride because chains are sold to any bicycle store.
Given the above, 8 speed Claris is the most recommended as long as you do not join racing.
Summary
To start a sports bike, you can enjoy it with an entry class of $1,000 or less. First of all, let’s get used to riding and maintenance with an entry-class bicycle.
