help with buying a new bike

[salba80]

Hi There,

So I'm pretty much a total noob and I'm looking at moving on from my giant upland and getting a road bike. The thing is, I live in bombala and canberra is the closest place there are bike shops.

The run down is... I'm 163 cm tall (5'4 in the old speak) so apparently average for a woman but on the short side when looking at bikes. Carrying a fair bit of extra padding but on the downward slope and riding up to 36km on rolling hills a few times a week. The roads around here aren't the greatest and if i can duck across 5 to 10km of dirt sometimes there is a lot more variety in the rides I can do but it's not essential.

I have about $1500 to spend and don't want a full carbon bike even if I could afford one. I'll probably need the triple cranks to manage the hills around here and I won't be buying until at least after the tax return comes back but would be willing to wait a little longer for specials.

I've never riden a road bike so would like to test a few but was wondering if the stores in canberra would have bikes in my size to test and also what would be a good time to look at going because the last thing I want to do is drive for 2 or more hours and find out they are too busy or can't help me.

I would appreciate any suggestions
Thanks
Sal

[Ross]

A good place to start would be Lonsdale St in Braddon as there are three bike shops in close proximity and another a short walk away in Civic, suggest you give them a call and and tell them what you have told us and they will be able to tell you for sure what they have in stock and what they reccommend for you. Probably best to try and come up on a week day as weekends seems to be bike shops' busiest time.

Below are the contact details for the Braddon shops, there are another three in Phillip area, three in Fyshwick, a couple in Tuggeranong, one at Belconnen (two if you count Cycle Surgery in Florey) and one each in Lyneham, O'Connor, Dickson and Queanbeyan.

Ride Shop
(02) 6162 1299
U2/ 4 Lonsdale St
BraddonACT2612

Lonsdale St Cyclery
(02) 6257 7885
5 Lonsdale St
BraddonACT2612

Bike Shed The
(02) 6257 2171Braddon
28 Lonsdale St
BraddonACT2612

Onya Bike Civic
Bicycle Retail & Repairs - Giant
(02) 6230 0044
75 Petrie Plz
Canberra CityACT2601

Alternatively you could look at second hand ones at places like allclassifieds.com.au

[vinvin]

And go on a week day if you can?