The Best Strategy to Buying a New Road Bike!

5 minute read.

ROAD CYCLIST IN THE WOODS ON FIREROAD

New Bike Day

To begin the journey toward selecting your new road bike let's start with a few questions.

  • What type of riding style are you into now?
  • What type of riding do you intend to grow into long term?
  • What is your budget for the new bike?
  • What is your budget for essential riding gear?
  • What is your level of experience with cycling?

The Road Bike

Purpose

Road cycling, where pavement, rubber, and rider become one. Riding a road bike is an amazing way to get around whether casually commuting or training for your next crit race. We carry a wide selection of road bikes to fit any riders style, goals, and budget. We hand select what models we carry and strive to deliver best in class performance whether you grabbing groceries or going for podiums.

Design

Road bikes are engineered for maximum performance on pavement. From your local weekend roadies to next years Tour de France prodigies, road bikes fit the bill when you want maximum performance on the roadways. Over the years road bikes have improved in design and technological advancements continues to develop rapidly. New road bikes are lighter, stronger, and provide a more comfortable ride than ever before.

Styles

Within the road bike niche you can opt for an endurance designed model, suited for long distance riding. Alternatively you can opt for a race inspired design, focused on max output and high speed. Each rider has a unique skill set, body type, and riding goals.

Choosing the right road bike can help improve the cycling experience and allow you, the rider, to get the most out of your upcoming rides and your new bike. Let's find out what road bike is the best for you!

endurance road bike cyclist

Endurance Road Bikes

Endurance inspired road bikes are designed to provide more comfort while allowing you to tackle the toughest climbs, adverse weather conditions, and the roughest road surfaces. While all road bikes share similar design, styling, and characteristics the endurance specific models feature subtle changes to bring more enjoyment to the rider on those long days in the saddle.

Examples of endurance bike specific design include the ability to run wider tires, offering a more upright riding position to prevent upper body fatigue, high power disc brakes, and shorter top tubes. Endurance road bikes typical selling points include maximizing comfort, reducing fatigue, and providing a high quality, efficient, road ride.

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Race Road Bikes

A race road bike is going to be your ultimate speed machine. Often built with top tier carbon fiber frames and components these bikes are designed to be the fastest and lightest possible, with a focus on allowing the rider to exert maximum power.

Race inspired geometry is going to place the rider in a much more aggressive and compact position. What the geometry lacks in comfort and ergonomics it makes up for in power output and efficiency. A race road bike is the best choice for anyone at a competitive level, or those riders that want to push their personal records every time they're on the pavement.

CYCLIST CLIMBS HILL WITH OVERCAST SKY

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Triathlon Road Bikes

Similar to race road bikes, but on a whole another level of focus on compact positioning and aerodynamics. Triathlon bikes are common for time trials and triathlon races, where max speed is the only goal and everyone is out there to get their new best time.

Tri bikes feature aero bars that allow the rider to achieve an even more aerodynamic position than on a road bike. In addition they often feature integrated hydration systems with straws, to eliminate the need to stop or slow for water. For race-ready aerodynamics and performance, choose the perfect men’s triathlon bike to suit your individual needs. Engineered for speed, comfort and fit, tri bikes can help you clock a new PR today!

TRIATHLETE ON TRI BIKE SPRINTING

Gravel & Adventure Bikes

Take the road less traveled with a bike purposefully built for adventures. Adventure bikes typically have wider tires to take on a variety of terrain like gravel roads and trails typically trafficked by mountain bikes and hikers. Gravel bikes often offer a wide gear range to help load up with cargo for a day out adventuring. With plenty of room for racks and water bottles and comfortable geometry for spending all day exploring by bike.

GRAVEL BIKE ON FIRE ROAD IN THE WOODS

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Recreation Road Bikes

Recreation bikes are great for rides around town and longer weekend trips. Benefiting from technology passed down from the race circuit now's a great time to hit the road.

WOMEN RIDING RECREATIONAL ROAD BIKES 

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Urban Bikes

Meet your friends for happy hour or a coffee in style. It’s the little things that make your neighborhood, and it’s the attention to detail that makes your bike. We’ve got the perfect bike for your city, your fitness, and your style.

URBAN CYCLISTS AT SUNSET IN THE CITY

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Electric Road Bikes

Everything you love about road riding, with an added boost of pedal assist. These cutting-edge road electric bikes help you conquer tough climbs and extend your ride. Now you can ride farther and faster than you ever thought possible with an electric road bike.

E-bike rider

 

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The Groupset

What is a groupset on a bicycle? The groupset or "gruppo", refers to the mechanic components that are installed onto the bicycle frame and fork. This includes the brake, drivetrain, and gear systems and common groupset parts include shifters, levers, calipers, derailleurs, crank sets, bottom brackets, cassettes, and chains.

When purchasing a new bike the groupset is the most important factor in the performance and longevity of the bike after the frame itself. The groupset and the integrity of the frame set will determine the overall value of the bicycle depending on the price tag.

The two most popular groupset manufacturers, that you'll find on nearly all bikes, are Shimano and SRAM. Here's an intro to both companies, and the culture behind their products.

SHIMANO

SHIMANO road bike components respond, backed by a long history of innovative research -- from aerodynamics to ergonomics. This results in smooth, precise, shift changes, a drivetrain system with loss-free propulsion, and a braking system with high reliability. Together, they let the rider concentrate on the ride, for stress-free enjoyment. SHIMANO components are designed for people who love the road, in every part of the world.

SRAM

Paved or not, racing or racing home, exploring new roads or new limits, SRAM’s mission is to provide purpose built, elegant solutions to bring you there. Our brand of advancement is grounded in taking away what’s in the way of the experience and being the antidote to complexity. From eTap AXS to SRAM 1x to HRD, these advancements invite you to new pursuits for anything you’d call road.

Shop All Road Bikes

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