Need help buying a cycle

[ghost1243]

Hi,
I live in Melbourne and am planning on buying a bicycle for fitness (primarily) and recreation purposes - it'll mostly be used on road surfaces. I've cycled somewhat but I have virtually no knowledge on bicycles.

I'm looking at the Reid Granite 2 which goes for around $649 on sale time. My budget is $1000 or less. Do you think it's a good cycle? If not can you recommend one for me?

(Also, do you know any guides or books that teach the basics of bicycles from gear to tyre to maintenance?)

[10speedsemiracer]

Reid have shown some really good improvement in the quality of their bikes over the past 18mths>2 years, although current pricing of $850 makes it less of a value proposition, At $650 it's much more viable, however is marketed as a gravel/adventure bike...is this the sort of thing you're after? Or would a flat bar road bike or something similar be more appropriate?

[opik_bidin]

for a beginner, any new bike around 500 (400-600ish) is good. just make sure you get it fitted and ride before you buy. Also take the one day test. Test ride many bikes of the store that catches your eye, then wait one day to decide.

it's also a test case, would you just stop there? where will you branch (mtb? road cycling? touring? cyclocross? time trial?)

your bike of choice is more of a cyclocross type, so good for road and can do a bit of gravel/off road too.

don't worry, many will suffer from upgraditis, so if you have a sight on something new, you would change your bike within 6 months.

for bike maintenance, just go to youtube and look at these Channels:
https://www.youtube.com/user/parktoolcompany
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Eqd9ku ... DXj1q0Ooyy
https://www.youtube.com/user/shyflirt1

[Mububban]

Hi,
I live in Melbourne and am planning on buying a bicycle for fitness (primarily) and recreation purposes - it'll mostly be used on road surfaces. I've cycled somewhat but I have virtually no knowledge on bicycles.

I'm looking at the Reid Granite 2 which goes for around $649 on sale time. My budget is $1000 or less. Do you think it's a good cycle? If not can you recommend one for me?

(Also, do you know any guides or books that teach the basics of bicycles from gear to tyre to maintenance?)

Does your $1000 budget need to cover helmet, lights, water bottle etc? Or just a bike?

I test rode the Granite when I was looking for a commuter bike, if I'd bought it just for that purpose I'd probably have been very happy with it. The frame will last forever and the Shimano gearing won't let you down either.

But I knew I wanted to do group rides, so I ended up buying a "proper" road bike, but with the relaxed endurance geometry (more upright, like the Granite) rather than hardcore bent over racing geometry. The roadie handles the commute just fine, but also enables me to go faster and further than I'd probably want to on the Granite.