Let me preclude this by letting everyone know I am a complete noob and do not own a bike yet, I am looking for the right one to invest my 1000 bucks into, any and all help is greatly appreciated!

Does anyone have any insight into the Fuji brand of bikes? My LBS has a Fuji Roubaix Pro for sale for $1000.00. I know that this is a good price for the bike, but I would like to find out a little more about the brand, how does it compare to Trek and Felt and all them... My other option is a Trek 1500 for $930 and a Felt F85 for 1000.00. I think right now I am leaning towards the Fuji because it is such a good deal (it has carbon fork/stays, Ultegra rear DR and 105 throughout the rest). The other two bikes have 105 throughout but lack th Carbon stays.

This brings me to my second question, what is more critical, carbon stays or a carbon seat post? The Trek and Felt have carbon seat posts, while the Fuji has carbon stays and an alum. seat post. Which will I notice the best ride improvement? My line of thinking is that I can always upgrade the seat post, but the seat stays are take them as they come...

Thanks for any help,

LT

Noone?

LT

My .02

The likelihood of your first bike fitting you in a year, if you ride it hard, is practicially nil.

Fitting you physicially....you'll stretch out as you acclimate to the bike. You'll discover your flexibility limitations or what parts of your anatomy are aggrevated by riding. You'll adjust your fit several times over the first 12 18 months

Fitting your desires.......depending on what kind of riding you find you like, you potentially will be looking at a different bike.....if you really get into it, you're gonna be ready to invest in an upgrade.

So consider this purchase an experiment. As such, the less you can spend to get a good bike (and all of those are OK bikes)

As to the Carbon stays vs carbon seatpost....you'll notice tire pressure differences more.

Len

My .02

The likelihood of your first bike fitting you in a year, if you ride it hard, is practicially nil.

Fitting you physicially....you'll stretch out as you acclimate to the bike. You'll discover your flexibility limitations or what parts of your anatomy are aggrevated by riding. You'll adjust your fit several times over the first 12 18 months

Fitting your desires.......depending on what kind of riding you find you like, you potentially will be looking at a different bike.....if you really get into it, you're gonna be ready to invest in an upgrade.

So consider this purchase an experiment. As such, the less you can spend to get a good bike (and all of those are OK bikes)

As to the Carbon stays vs carbon seatpost....you'll notice tire pressure differences more.

Len

Agreed, 99.9%

If you get well-fitted to a bike, odds are that you can adjust the saddle position and stem/bar combination to fit in a year, but if you're like most folks, you'll either go through four or five bikes before you settle down to one you really like, or you'll never settle down (turnover is pretty constant for a lot of folks).

Carbon? It's not the wonder material people think it is. While it's nice to have, it's mostly cycle bling.

You'll need to invest in the other stuff, too--jersey, shorts, pedals and shoes, and helmet. You *might* even want to look at a used bike the first time out--because of the above-mentioned turnover, you can get some good deals that way.