Hey guys, how’s it going?
I’m looking for my first road bike as I’m planning on competing in my first sprint triathlon on November. I have a very tight budget and it’s my first race so I’m not planing on winning, just to complete it (at least this time). I also want to do some super ocasional gravel but I’m just planning to buy some 35mm tires and nothing else. I’ve been looking on second hand market for weeks and I’ve come down to 3 bikes for options.
The first one is a Trek Al3 gen3 (2022 used, 700 euros) with Shimano sora and disc brakes (but the cable ones I think they’re called mechanical ) and everything is as it comes out of the store.
the second one is to save some more (it’s 825 euros) and buy a trek checkpoint Al4 (2020) with shimano tiagra and hydraulic disc brakes. In this one however, they seem to have done a lot of modifications and I don’t understand them :(. This is what it says:
“””Seatpost, powerhouse and handlebar Cannondale C3 (with flare 16) Fabric saddle.
New Fulcrum 900 wheels (brand new, disassembled from new bike), tires
Bontrager 700×32 (with some taque)
(Schwalbe Durano option of 32) wheel pass up to 700×38 or 650×45”””
The third option would be to go back on some years (perhaps 2015 or so) and look for a carbon or shimano 105 bike. I know they are not super amazing bikes but they are the best I could find for my budget and I’m planning on saving Money so I can buy something carbon or at least better in a year or two.
What bike would you guys say I should get? I went to trek to do a fit test on the bike I would buy but from this generation just to see that the used ones are indeed my size and it turns out they are, so there’s no problem with that. They are however from other parts of the country and I don’t have a car so I cannot see their state or use in person.
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