I had a bunch of time to kill yesterday afternoon so I went to a local bike shop and looked at some bikes. I’ve gone in several times up until now to casually look at bikes but since I’m kinda in the market for one I went in looking for specific price points and component setups. Here’s what I found at one particular shop.

$500-$850

These were clearly your beginner level bikes with all of them featuring 8-speed Shimano Sora and Tiagra component groups. I have a 7-speed now so moving up to a 8-speed doesn’t seem like that much of an improvement. All of them had no-name brakes and the shifting mechanisms aren’t nearly as functional as something with Shimano 105 or above shifters. Bikes in this range included the Trek 1.1 or 1.2 and some of the low-end Specialized Allez. Like I said, these looked to be beginner level bikes and not something I wanted to get.

$1000-$1500

I would classify these as intermediate level bikes and most likely the price point I’ll be targeting if I have to buy brand new. Most of these bikes came with at least 105 components with some variances here and there in shifters, brakes, or derailleurs and were all aluminum frames with carbon fiber forks. For instance, you may see a bike with 105 shifters, derailleurs, and cranks but no-name brakes. Or 105 everywhere except perhaps an Ultegra front or rear derailleur. The hard part was finding the combination of components I liked on a bike that was the right size and color. I found what I thought was a great deal ($1199) on a Specialized Allez in Saxo Bank colors with 105 everywhere except the brakes.

$1600-$3000

The bikes in this range are what I consider geared towards advanced level riders. You start getting into carbon fiber rigs with Ultegra or better components and nicer wheel sets. Personally, I think when you’re paying this much money you’re paying for weight savings more than anything and with somebody like me riding one of them I just don’t think the extra cost is worth it. If you know what I mean. Granted these are some nice bikes but I believe these are out of my price range and, truthfully, think that I probably weigh too much to be riding carbon fiber.

$3000 ++++

Either Pro level bikes or bikes for folks with too much money who think they’re Pros after watching the Tour de France. You name it and these bikes had it. I actually caressed (?) a Trek Madone 6.9 and just had to shake my head at how light it was. There’s no doubt it weighed less than the bag I take to work everyday. At $8,000 for the one I fondled I’m not surprised they aren’t flying out the door in today’s economy. They had a nice group of ten or so that were just standing there for show.

That’s certainly not a detailed synopsis of what you get for the money but I think you can basically see how it’s broken out by price. It seemed to me that you got more for your money with Specialized than with Trek (at least in the intermediate level price range). They had Cervelos but I can’t even afford to walk down that aisle.

This particular shop did have a used/demo section that had a nice Bianchi with a full Ultegra setup for $1,350 but for some reason I just can’t get over two things with Bianchis. First, I hate the traditional green color most of their bikes are painted in (makes me want to gag). Second, is that I can’t help but think ‘woman’s bike’ when I say or see ‘Bianchi’. I don’t know why. I don’t even have an ex-girlfriend called Bianca.

Call me picky but color is somewhat important to me. The low-end beginner bikes featured a lot of red (on the Specialized) and Trek has some funky looking bright color schemes I don’t like. Not until you get into the $1000-$1500 price point do you see some imagination with the paint jobs like the Saxo Bank setup on the Allez I liked or an awesome blacked-out scheme on another Allez that totally blew me away. Even at the intermediate level I still didn’t like the Trek paint jobs.

Here’s two questions for my readers:

1. What did you look for when you purchased a bike (components, colors, prices, etc.)?
2. What is the big difference between 105, Ultegra, and Dura Ace? Is it weight?

Well, yesterday was my first chance after getting back from Jacksonville to get back on the bike. I had to go by the Performance Bike store first to pick up some new cleats. I’m too embarrassed to say how long its been since I bought new cleats. Let’s just say I was long overdue.

Because of the trip to the bike store, and traffic getting home, I didn’t have much time for a ride. In fact, I only got one loop in around White Rock Lake for a total of 9.2 miles. I intentionally tried to take it at an easy pace because its been a week since I’ve ridden. There was a little wind out of the South as well which made a couple spots difficult. I managed the loop in 39 minutes which is an average of 14.1 mph.

For me that’s pretty good. Especially since my legs felt like cement blocks all the way around. On Monday I spent about 10 hours in my yard in Jacksonville taking care of spring lawn care that had gone neglected since I’m not there. Stuff like trimming the hedges, banana trees, and palm trees, pulling weeds (seven trash bags full), mowing and edging. It was a long day. The next day I could hardly move my legs because my hamstrings were so tight. I think I was still feeling some of those effects on my ride last night.

Having the new cleats felt weird. It’s been so long since I had changed them that I think I became accustomed to them being worn down. I use the Look Arc Delta cleats (red) and picked up the ones with the teflon coated surfaces for easy in and out. They feel a lot different than what I was used to but did the job. I just need to put in the miles and I’ll get accustomed to them.

After work today I’m driving up to my Mom’s in OK and it looks like the weather is going to be nice this weekend so I can take my bike. There’s some good roads accessible right from her house that I can ride on and I’d like to get 30-40 miles in on Saturday morning. Monday evening I’m meeting the Team Bikin’ group at their Monday evening circuit training session where they work on conditioning and individual/group handling skills on a .8 mile circuit. Reminds me of a criterium circuit. I’m really looking forward to the group training session so I can ride with a group. I know I won’t have the skills or fitness to hang with them for the entire session but it’ll be good for me.

Finally, to all those who sent the nice emails/tweets during my wife’s surgery I appreciate it. She’s at home recovering now. She’s still in a lot of pain from the surgery but we hope that will start to subside soon. Total recovery time is about 6 months.

I decided today that I needed to go to the bicycle shop and pick up a couple of tubes and some more CO2. I decided to head up to the Richardson Bike Mart since I had heard so much about it. It’s owned by Jim Hoyt who sold Lance Armstrong his first bike.

When I walked in this place I couldn’t believe it. It looks like they took over an old grocery store and turned it into the mecca of bicycling. One side of the store was nothing but clothes and the other was nothing but row, after row, after row of bicycles. I was totally blown away.

You name it and they had it. Top of the line Trek, Specialized, and Cervelo road bikes of every configuration and color. On racks, on stands, hanging from the ceiling. Everywhere I looked there were bikes. Obviously, I had to look around thoroughly before getting my tubes and CO2.

I casually strolled up and down the isles trying not to drool too much. Then I started to notice something. These things were expensive. I didn’t look at every single bike so I’m sure there are some that are affordable but I saw way more above $2,000 than below and saw many above $3,000. There was one bike, practically setup on a pedestal, that was $11,000. It was some kind of time trial bike. I called my wife and asked her if I could buy a bike for $11,000. You don’t need me to tell you how that conversation went.

Seriously, do people actually buy bikes that expensive? Do folks just walk in off the street and ride out on a $5,000 to $8,000 machine? Maybe they do. I guess I’m just ignorant to that sort of stuff. I guess my 15-year old Cannondale is just going to have to last for a few more years.

I headed over to the clothing side of the store and they had a huge selection of stuff. I saw Astana team kits as well as some from Rock Racing. The ones from Rock Racing were labeled, “Requires Second Mortgage On Home”. I’m just kidding. I didn’t even look to see how expensive they were.

After about five minutes of looking around I came to the realization that I didn’t see big boy clothes. If there were some they weren’t readily visible. Maybe they had a Clydesdale section that I didn’t see. Everything I did see looked like it would fit an 18 year old. Those were the days.

Well, after spending way too much time looking around I paid for my tubes and CO2. I got everything home and went to re-pack my seat bag when I realized I bought shrader valve tubes. I guess I was too googly eyed to get the right kind. That just means I’ll have to go back and look around some more….I mean exchange the tubes.

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