Good entry level road bike? Budget? Clubs?

I was doing my research some 1/2 year ago, as to compliment my road-biased MTB’s with a road bike.
Preferred a Taiwanese bike, and didn’t really fancy a foreign brand.

IMO, you can’t go wrong with Giant or Merida, but you just see them a lot / maybe too much.
I ended up with Primavera Bikes in Taichung, went for the mid-level Starna (full Tiagra), and am happy ever since.
First of all the best people in business I have ever met, besides the bike is very neatly built, and their light weight Vico wheels are a nice alternative if you don’t want to go for a carbon set.

Ended up buying an other one some 2 months ago for my son.

http://primavera-cycles.com/

Oh, now you’re opening up a whole new world of possibilities.

Off the top of my head there’s Merida, KHS, Performer, AXMAN, HASA and many many more. Merida would be my first choice out of those, but it does come at a premium price due to the name brand.

Stepdragon is a local brand that I wouldn’t really suggest. Momentum is a line of bikes from Giant that are geared towards the leisure rider and commuter. No road bikes there.

I know the guys at the Merida shop in Neihu (on Rui Guang Rd.), they have a few bikes on sale/clearance if you want to go check it out. Tell them I sent you.

Nonetheless, if it’s your first ever road bike, I would just look at budget and color of the bike. The only way you’ll ride the bike, is if you like it!

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I personally wouldn’t touch a road bike that’s under 10k (or buy it online). The reason behind it is, I would start to question its build and start to wonder if I’m safe on it if it was that cheap. I wouldn’t buy it online because there’s zero follow up from a bike shop. If anything breaks, you may end up paying good money for the local shop to fix it.

Normally, if you buy from a shop, some minor maintenance fees and check ups aren’t charged.

Is the under 10k budget because you are paying for everything? Or can the gf pitch in a little?

I would prob be paying for most of it.

Lol, where I come from 8000-10000 is a lot of money -_- and you start mentioning safety concerns with a bike in that price range makes me slightly worried.

I was in the same boots as you about 2.5 years ago. I dropped 20,000NT on my first road bike. Thought I was crazy for spending that much on a bike, but ended up falling in love with the sport.

I’m just trying to help future Zapman out. If future Zapman and Zapmana get more into the sport, he won’t have to spend more time and effort to sell the cheap bikes and buy new.

Tbh, if it’s just slow, leisure, stop for pictures and a picnic, that Momentum will fair. However, if your idea is want to use it as another form of exercise, I would think about spending at least 10-15k. You can get something used for in that range which previously retailed for 20-30k.

This is just for reference, but check it…

Second hand. Lightly used:
http://goods.ruten.com.tw/item/show?21702119581119

Brand new:
http://goods.ruten.com.tw/item/show?21633330601660

Haha yeah appreciated! :smiley:

Do you ride mountain bikes at all??

I want to, but just don’t have room for another bike at home. The cost of buying something decent AND maintaining it is probably twice the cost of my new bike…and that’s saying a lot.

However, if I was going to ride mtn bike, it would definitely be downhill mtn biking. That looks like so much fun.

For that budget, I’d look at second hand bikes. Plenty of good bikes in that price range, I paid 11k for my Defy but they usually sell a bit higher than that.

Giant also has some really cheap road bikes, I think some of them are below 10k, Of course they come with 7 speeds, heavy frames etc, but if budget is a constraint there’s not a lot of brand new road bikes in that range.

As someone else mentioned, for any serious cycling don’t go too cheap. There’s a huge difference between a brand new 8k Carrefour bike and a second hand Giant/Merida/KHS/Fuji etc bike just a few thousand dollars more expensive. Much lighter frame, better components, better wheels, better everything. Giant frames have life warranty, which is a huge bonus.

I spent 7k for my “go to work/leave at the station/go shopping” Giant Escape and 11k for the second hand Defy. The Defy rides 10000 times better, there’s no comparison.

Ps: I got the Defy at such a low price because the guy who was selling it was having a hard time finding a buyer (he lived in a small town in Yilan) and he was desperately trying to sell it because he bought the wrong size of bike and needed the money to buy a new one. I let him keep the clipless pedals and he dropped the price a bit.

What are the maintenance costs for bikes?

It’s so hard to start to put all that into perspective haha, but I’ll try…

The basics are maintenancing the parts your chain touches, changing bar tape and checking tire wear. All of which are free of charge when you buy the bike from a bike shop. The parts that you might have to change aren’t free, but the check-up and maintenance itself are normally not charged.

Bar tape can costs anything from 200-1400NT
A new chain can cost 800NT and up.
A new single tire can cost 400NT and up.
You can budget other random things for around 1000NT per month, but this depends on how often you ride. The more you ride, the more maintenance you will do.

Some of the more minor stuff you can learn yourself so if it’s a small issue, you don’t have to make a trip over to the bike shop.

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@Zapman

I highly suggest you purchase from a bike shop. Buying a road bike isn’t as easy as just paying for it and riding it.

The right adjustments and measurements need to be made to make sure you fit on the bike. For example, I’m around 174 in height, but I fall right in between 48, 50, 52cm sized bikes. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve bought the biggest size thinking, the smaller bike is too small, but normally people buy smaller sizes and extend certain parts to make it fit.

Are you guys in Taipei? New Taipei? Maybe I know a shop near you I can suggest so you don’t hit a land mine.

I am further out, in zhongli. There is a Giant shop near my house.

Thanks for the info makes sense!

Recently bought a Taokas Striker SL (Shimano 105/carbon frame) from Jesler Bicycles in Taipei (around $40k). I bought a bike from them 6 years ago when I was a student here and they just had one shop, they are great guys willing to go the extra mile for their customers. They now have five shops around Taipei/Taoyuan. I considered buying used but I’m 192cm and ride a 58cm frame, haven’t seen anything used in this size in the last few months. 58cm incidentally is about the biggest frame you can get in Taiwan via usual channels, though I assume if you’re truly gargantuan and need a 60cm or 62cm, you could probably find a way to intercept one from a Taichung factory prior to export.

Could not find much info online in English about the Taokas brand but so far I am thoroughly enjoying the bike and build quality seems great. The 105 5800 is also the smoothest groupset I’ve ever ridden. My last three bikes have all been aluminum and boy is it nice to be back in the carbon tribe. Amazing how much the prices have come down.

A substantial improvement over the YouBikes I’ve been riding for the last few months.

My friend rides the same bike, but with Shimano Ultegra 6800 on it and Fulcrum Racing Zeros. I’ve ridden it a few times and it is stiff going up/down the mountain and it’s great for flats too. I highly considered it for my second bike, but just wasn’t liking the color schemes.

Actually, the brand that I ride now, Roxycle, is mostly a B2C model and can get you 58CM+ frames. There’s just a slight lead time.

I’m 6’4" and ride 60cm. Have managed to find/purchase a couple of Ridley frames here, but not through regular retail outlets. Took a while and a bit of digging around by contacts in the trade.

I was lusting after the Ultegra one, for sure. “Only” about $15k more.

They also sell an aluminum frame Striker Lite model with 105 for $36k or Tiagra for $27k. Not bad deals, but with Carbon as cheap as it is…

Were you the chap that was featured on Jesler’s FB? :slight_smile:

You know it :sunglasses:

Don’t forget to share! :smiley:

I have a Giant bike for three years now, and I still like using it.