Buy "New" Road Bike or Mod Old One?

**Poop Loops** · Posted On: 7/15/2007 5:12pm

Started riding my bike about a month and a half ago. Great exercise and real fun. But now I want to ride it to the bus stop when I go to school/work. Have to go through some busier streets, yadda yadda.

Anyway, I have an old road bike that I had been riding, on the lower handlebars of the curly handlebars. (so bent over a lot)

Gave me real bad tendonitis in my left elbow. So I switched to my old mountain bike. Much better on the elbow, but a lot harder to get up to speed and keep on up on the road. =/

So I decided to get these kinds of handlebars:

http://www.trisports.com/ovaeslex.html

Except cheaper and they clip on to your current handlebars.

But, that wouldn't be enough. I'd have to get new gear shifters, because these are the kind I use:

Those are pretty cheap, so I'm not too worried. But also, I only have 2 gears in front and 5 in back. These range from "normal" to "hard" pedaling. There is no small gear in front and only a slightly large one in back. This is bad because my area has a LOT of steep hills.

I'm not sure if it's worth trying to upgrade the parts and keep the gears the same or just get a new bike. =/

**MEGA JESUS-SAMA** · Posted On: 7/15/2007 5:17pm

I think you should drive like everyone else.

**Abusivemelon** · Posted On: 7/15/2007 6:07pm

If you have the money spare and think its worth it then go for it. I'd lean towards a new bike. Over here you can get a custom Mercian for £600, built to your size.

http://www.merciancycles.com/

New bike + warantee > old bike + repair costs + greater chance of injury due to brake failure etc

**Poop Loops** · Posted On: 7/15/2007 6:07pm

I was thinking $100 max from a pawn shop or Craig's List.

**poidog** · Posted On: 7/15/2007 6:37pm

Originally Posted by Poop Loops

I was thinking $100 max from a pawn shop or Craig's List.

Dude, Craig's List is the place to go. I bought a great used mountain bike for about $80 on CL, plus got to check it out and test ride it before I bought it. The previous owner was a bike nut (in a good way) and had taken wicked good care of it. If I'd paid double, the bike still would have been a steal.

Aloha, PoiDog

**Nid** · Posted On: 7/15/2007 7:55pm

$10 from garage sale (for both):

Sears Roebuck house brand. C. 1980

Probably put 150 miles on it this year.

Point is, lots of great vintage crap out there. Often free, or darn near.

**kwoww** · Posted On: 7/15/2007 8:51pm

Originally Posted by Kein Haar

$10 from garage sale (for both):

Sears Roebuck house brand. C. 1980

Probably put 150 miles on it this year.

Point is, lots of great vintage crap out there. Often free, or darn near.

True that, but if you have money to burn a truly new bike is totally worth it, these things weigh like 6 pounds fully loaded.