re: looking to get into cycling -- bike advice

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What about clip pedals and shoes?

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I use Shimano R540 pedals, and Bontrager Solstice shoes. Neither are over the top expensive and both work fine.

NO TO WALMART BIKES!!!! WTF total garbage.

You dont need to run 3 miles before you get a bike, people with bad knees get on bikes, very over weight people with no expedience get on bikes and have a wonderful time and drop weight. Go read reddit/bicycles lots of great info for entry level. Some guys are posting how much weight they have lost since riding, its pretty amazing.

No on clipless for the first couple of months until you decide you really enjoy this.

Like I said get a bike your skill level can grow into, not a POS that will bend and break once you get stronger and start to torque on that bike. CL is a good source for used bikes but rarely do you find one that does not need a bit of work.

Have you looked at bikesdirect.com? it is a wholesale Chinese manufacturer but good frames, and good components. Many name brands use these frames with their own branding.

I have a 1987 Fuji, is it possible to replace the saddle and pedals? If so, what should I replace with?

Long trails. I value my limbs. Anything on the street will have to wait at least a year

I'm going to go check out a trek store this weekend and likely make a purchase. How does trek compare to Gian/Raleigh/etc?

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Long trails.

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I value my limbs

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i like mtn biking & road biking both but if you're worried about your limbs, you're faaaaaaaaaaaaaaar more likely to hook a tree or trip over a root than riding on a paved road.

Trek makes good bikes. You don't see as many as some of the other brands, but I think that's due to the way they price things. They appear to have entry level bikes, but their higher end stuff can get stupid expensive. For example, their aero-road bike is like $10k when their competitor will have an option at $5k. Not saying it's the same bike, just that Trek doesn't make a lower end version. They pretty much say if you want this bike, you have to get the top of the line version. They don't seem to have a lot of options in the reasonable price range ($750-$2k)

Giant makes good bikes. In fact, I think many carbon frames for bike makers are made in Giant factories.

I don't know much about Raleigh.

I'd look at those, plus Felt (at least at my local shop, Felt always has the best components for the price) & Specialized. I don't know where you are located, but I mentioned the place earlier. Performance Bike is basically like the "walmart" of bike shops. It's a huge chain. They sell Fuji. Fuji is not the best brand out there. And Performance bike is going to have some high school kids working there instead of LBS that has a guy with 30 years experience. But they have some good deals and it wouldn't be the worst buy ever for someone starting out. They are all over Houston and I know they have locations all around the US. I buy parts and pieces there all the time.

I wouldn't mind electronic shifting on my tri bike just to be able to shift from the base bars as well as the aero bars, but other than that, it's not worth it to me. I also feel like it's just more stuff to crap out on you. I'm sure it's just in my head, but mechanical shifting is pretty simple. Electronic just seems like a lot could go wrong and it'd be expensive to fix.

I almost got sram on this last purchase. There was a really good deal on a Bianchi with sram red. But I figured I'd rather have all Shimano so I can switch parts over if in a bind or something.

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I wouldn't mind electronic shifting on my tri bike just to be able to shift from the base bars as well as the aero bars, but other than that, it's not worth it to me

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to be honest, i have a spoke twisted to mount my garmin in front (so i can keep my head straight) and old school friction shifting enabled because that allows me to run 9, 10 or 11sp cassette in the back and depending on the TT course, i may want to run a different wheel.

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wrong wrong wrong.
you can always upgrade components over time.
you cant turn a shitty AL ride into a steel or carbon ride.

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I would highly suggest taking a look at Specialized's Allez Sprints. They have the aerodynamics of the older Venge and the stiffness of the tarmac. Fork is carbon so that should dampen some vibration. You could upgrade to a carbon handlebar to help that as well. It is a very affordable and performance driven bike with plenty of room to upgrade components.

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. So ready to get back on my bike at some point when life calms down a bit.

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Not missing it yet. I guess that needs to happen soon for training. I've enjoyed sleeping in and not training 15 hours a week.