Best road-bike bang for buck?

The bike you linked to represents a lot of bang for the buck. In 1992 when I bought my first serious road bike (a Trek 1200) it cost more than that Tomasso. It had downtube shifters and an aluminum frame with a chro-mo fork. Fast forward to 2005, and you're getting a similar aluminum frame with a carbon fork and integrated brakes/shifters for less money. I looked at your profile and I see that you are in Ashland which is really a cycling town (UBI is there, Third Hand/Loose Screws, etc). You might find a great bargain on a used bike. The entry level bike I liked most was a Burley tandem ($1,500, a song by tandem standards) that we rode for seven years with absolutely no trouble at all. The parts were a mixed bag of Tektro, Sachs and Shimano, none even close to top-of-the line, and it held up just fine.

eBay is your friend here.

When I was 15, I saved my cash from my after-school job to get a road bike. I paid $400 then (1990) for a Specialized Sirrus with full Shimano 105 components on a steel frame. The Sirrus at the time leaned toward racing more than the sport image that model has now. It was white (not my first choice) but the price was really decent. I got it home, rode it a few times, then put it up for the winter. I couldn't wait for the snow to melt. Fast forward 15 years... I've ridden that bike thousands of miles all over upstate New York, raced it, and done all of the repairs and upgrades myself. It's been a great hobby that allows me to geek out with math and tools and maps, but also supports a healthy lifestyle, a deep respect for gravity & wind, and personal achievement. Anyway, I made sure to buy at the end of the season, and I made sure to ask if they had bikes in my size they were trying to close out. Ebay wasn't around then, but I could be persuaded to buy a bike if the price was right. I probably wouldn't build a bike piecemeal. Lots of people inflate their shipping charges on ebay, which eats into the savings very quickly. Oh, I just remembered: If you have a local cycling club, *join it*. Members in my bike club get a CD with great local ride maps, schedules of group rides, other people to ride with, but most relevantly significant discounts on bikes and accessories from a couple of local shops.

i like my jamis satellite, its my first 'real' bike. i use it for some cross training and getting around a little, and im really happy with it.

Like everyone else, secondhand is great. I got my Canondale for $AU700 and it would cost ~3 times as much new here. The thing I'd add is to be patient. I watched eBay for 3 months before the bike I bought popped up. With the amount you save you can upgrade or fix anything that needs to be fixed. Still, a guy I ride with sometimes bought his bike, a medium range Avanti, for $100 and a new one would cost about 10-15 times as much. He got really lucky and found a friend of a friend who was selling a bike his size and just getting rid of it.

In a prior lifetime, I spent a year burning holes in CrMo and Ti tubing for a boutique framebuilder in northern CA. I've slung a leg over some very high-end stuff; past a certain point, you are spending money on a decal. (I used to say it was a decal and a paint job, but environmental costs have pushed everyone to powder coat) When the time came to buy another road bike (as a civilian) I chose a http://www.raleighusa.com/items.asp?deptid=5&itemid=91&va=1 over something 'cool'. The bike is every bit as good (build, geometry, comfort, gruppo) as the doctor-bike sticker-stud stuff, and was half the price. I love it to pieces. I suspect it would sell used today in your price range or below, and it's a fantastic bike. Within your price range - buy used, buy something that was high end a few years back, but don't overlook the plain brand (oem buying power = better parts spec) and find something that feels right to YOU. The wrong size frame with the right decal on the downtube is a ticket to misery. And it's ok to trust your snap judgement - Of all the bikes I've ridden, the ones I liked best I knew it within 3 blocks of climbing aboard. Don't talk yourself into a bike that doesn't speak to you. The good ones whisper "faster... longer... harder..." directly to your soul.

$700 is plenty. Beyond that, what you're paying for is shaving off grams at the wrong end of a diminishing-returns graph :-) I'd say go for a second-hand bike so you have plenty of money left over for some accessories, as buying those new all at once, the cost racks up so quick - road bikes seem to come with nothing stock, stripped to as low weight as possible. This is another reason to buy used - the acessories have probably already been added to the bike (y'know, stuff like lights, lightweight/quick-release mudguards/fenders/whatever you call them, drink bottle, pump/repair kit/spare tire, blah blah). Actually, just ensure someone else in the group is carrying a pump and just carry a spare tire and cheap plastic tools, you don't need help there :-) Since you're a mountain bike commuter, something you might not have needed until now, but I find very important is a presta-to-car-style valve adaptor, so you can use gas station air. They're $2. Bike pumps suck :)

For an actual bike selection, I chose a Specialized Allez Sport when faced with similar parameters. I've really enjoyed it, and the only real drawback is the aluminum frame (which is fine, but I found out that I really like steel once I bought a Bianchi Pista). I went up to that model (next-to-last of the line, rather than last) because it had a carbon fork and seatpost, which are great on the aluminum frame, and I went with Specialized vs. the other companies because they usually upgrade the rear derailer relative to the rest of the component set (that is, I got a Shimano 105 rear derailer with otherwise-Tiagra components), which struck me as a good thing. The comparable bike (Allez Sport Triple) in their 2006 line is retailing for $910 I see, a lot more than I paid, but you can probably find one for less than retail, especially at the end of the model year. Their low-end model (Allez Triple) has Sora components + Tiagra rear derailer, but is $710 and includes a carbon fork and seatpost, so it's not really a bad deal, and I think you would be really happy with it for anything less than racing. Good luck making a choice!

Being middle-aged, tall and large, and having found that most bikes (even when used as a primary form of transportation) have never really been comfortable, I fell in love with my short-wheelbase recumbent. Massively comfortable, I can ride much farther with less pain and fatigue. The trouble with recumbents is that they tend towards the expensive. One maker, though, sells them cheap: Actionbent. Manufactured in Taiwan, you can get them with great components for half the price of other recumbents. I wouldn't have any other design than a SWB, underseat steering. If you don't mind putting it together yourself, http://actionbent.com/JSUS2.html. I was told that my $1000 bike from them would cost twice as much anywhere else- and the guy who told me sold recumbents. Check out the actonbent website, and then note that you can get the same bikes cheaper on ebay from the same guy. Be sure to ask Randy (the proprietor) for add-ons/extras (seatbag, rack, etc) . Hit him up and he often adds them free. One caveat: The factory tends to leave stuff out- at least it did a year ago.. Let Randy know if something's missing and he'll make good... I like mine.