The purpose of this blog site is to provide informative reviews of entry level road bikes, from a budget minded, yet performance orientated perspective.
It’s our view that far too often, ‘bike snobbery’ distorts an objective view of the worth & wisdom of choosing lesser priced road bikes that in many cases, are the near or full functional equal of their LBS (local bike shop) purchased brethren !
So, this forum will be our way of communicating the features & benefits, pros & cons of any Road Bikes, sold by big box stores (Walmart, Target, Sears, etc) or from Online Retailers.
We’ll draw the line at bikes that are priced at or under $ 1000. Why this number ?
In most Local Bike Shops, the majority of Road Bikes offered are well above this $ 1000 mark, many in the $ 2,000 – $ 4,000 range, even higher occasionally.
So it makes perfect logical sense to review the bikes that are sold without the support inherent of the ‘Bike Shop / Major Manufacturers’ industry paradigm.
(It’s probably pointless to ask who ‘fixed it’, my guess is consensus & economic reality – as long as that decision is voluntary, I don’t really care – we’ll just operate outside the ‘bicycle industry’s shared assumptions & conclusions’.)
Then, in deciding to purchase a bike from either mass market stores or Online suppliers (BikesDirect.com, Nashbar.com, Bikes4Families.com, etc), the consumer is frequently left with little guidance and less mechanical support.
Certainly those with large families (and thus several children to purchase bikes for) are doubly in need of obtaining quality bikes at a price which they can afford.
(Ask the author of this Blog how he knows this first hand !!)
Our hope is that this blog can help ‘bridge the gap’ so that more support is available to those who choose this route.
Most of the road bikes sold in these ‘non-LBS’ venues, will meet the ‘under $ 1000′ price window.
What about vintage bikes ? Yes, let’s include them, especially considering most of them can be obtained at a very ‘under $ 1,000 price’.
One final note:
Please don’t let this perspective we offer be misunderstood to convey a derisive attitude towards any Local Bike Shops you may have in your local area.
We are actually, strong supporters of our Local Bike Shop, in many ways: Those key Accessories that are needed suddenly, and expert mechanical advice & repairs. Just because we lack income to buy their most expensive models for every bike need our family has, doesn’t mean we don’t frequent & support them by our occasional purchases & needed repairs.
Please contact us with any suggestions about what bikes to review.
If you’re a retailer of bikes online & would like us to review one of your bikes, please contact us for more information about this possibility.
Let the reviews begin…..cheers, David Alan in Texas
affordableroadbikereview 
There are several Vilano bikes that fit into your requirements and at least look good based on their specs. The Schwinn Prelude also fits into your requirements.
Gregory:
Thanks for the suggestions. I wholeheartedly agree with you.
Guess what should be here any day, and will be reviewed asap ?
It’s a Schwinn, and it’s a part Carbon Fiber Road Bike, that much I can tell you.
(It’s a Christmas present for my son, so review will take a few weeks to appear….)
FYI, I did see a Schwinn Prelude at Academy Sports two days ago.
From all appearances, not a bad ride at all.
In fact, The Schwinn Prelude, at $ 249, maybe a better bet than the GMC Denali as it had several upgrades that would have cost more than the difference in price: brakes, handlebars, pedals, shifters, crank & the 25c tires.
One can spend a ton of money on upgrades, so it really pays to add up the cost beforehand. And the Denali has quite a few ‘cost compromised’ parts that each add up to more weight / less than ideal componentry. Not so much that the price of $ 159 isn’t quite fair.
Truth is, about the time I was buying the Denali, I was over at Academy
Sports (a large Texas based Sporting Goods chain if you’re not familiar) asking ‘where are your road bikes, duh….you guys have like, 20 styles of Mountain bikes, and not a single road bike…hello.. ?”
[Editorial comment: I think large corporations are like governments: they too often reflect the owners / controllers opinion of what should be sold / pushed, rather than the real world needs of the buyers / citizens in their aisles…Free Market, not so much…Go Ron Paul, if you catch my drift…hence my ‘out of the box’ blog lines up with my politics….]
If Academy Sports had the Prelude on hand that day, my first review probably would have been about it.
Of course, I can only review bikes that I can get my hands on, so that presents the main limitation to my (very humble) endeavors here: I can’t afford – time or money wise – to buy every bike I could review, nor do I have the ability to warehouse every bike I’d like to review…..
Nonetheless, I will try to get in touch with the guys at http://www.RoadBikeOutlet.com – the dist & mfr of Vilano & Gavin bikes. They look like a serious road bike at a great value price point – I think their very presence on the web puts the hurt on the LBS, which is why they seem to be either savaged or ignored on the ‘bike forums’ frequented by mainstream road bike enthusiasts, some of whom display a ‘bike snob’ attitude.
Similar for Motobecane, Liberty & Gravity, but they get more respect, though muted somewhat, as bikesdirect.com has slowly gained respect (or is it ‘less animosity’ ?) amongst the ‘bike forum’ crowd.
Take Care, Ride Safe !
David / EastTexasRider
I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your website. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more enjoyable for me to come
here and visit more often. Did you hire out a developer to
create your theme? Outstanding work!
David, thanks again for taking the time to measure those handlebars and reply to me.
Although my road bike doesn’t fall in your under $1k guideline, I feel my $1.5k Motobecane Century Pro from BikesDirect is a great value. Full carbon with a very nice component group.
Regarding the Viaggio, tandem, my advice is to just buy one. I haven’t taken the time to do a review on it, but wordpress may be the perfect avenue to do so. We’ve only had ours since Fall, and have only it ridden about 100 miles, but we’re very happy with it so far. The component level on it is bottom-of-the-barrel, but as many of the reviewers on Amazon have pointed out, the frame is worth upgrading. I’m in the process of doing that now, so a blog here might be a good place to chronicle those upgrades.
Haibike Allmtn 7.0
Affordable Road Bike Reviews……….under $ 1000 | affordableroadbikereview