Hi all, I've been thinking of getting my feet wet in road cycling lately. Right now I'm just riding a cheap Tourney bike with slicks so literally anything would be a great upgrade from it.

My budget is around RM2000 but I wonder if it's worth it to spend beyond this for a beginner's road bike? I've searched some site for a bike of my sizing (~medium, 170cm height) and it seems that I should expect a bike around 9.5kg with Sora groupset at this pricepoint. However most forum I've seen recommend to go for 105 instead, is 105 really a huge improvement over the Sora and ideally what weight should I aim for? Also, should I try to get a 2nd hand bike or visit my LBS instead?

Lastly, any recommendation for places to find group ride? I'd love to try it out one day.

Thanks

This post has been edited by pixelrider: Mar 30 2020, 12:19 PM

Thanks for your advice and invitation! I should head to my LBS after the MCO settles down and try out some of their offering (they do provide free test ride right?), hopefully the road bike experience it's as good as I imagine Meanwhile I'll just ride the stationary bike at my home for these few weeks...

Is this too good to be true? I am looking for another bike for daily use and I stumble upon this
https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a230r...ns=1&abbucket=9



It probably will cost me around RM800-900 in total to get this bike shipped to Malaysia. It has 10 speed in the back, sensah groupsets, and a straight fork so it means less issue unlike cheap suspension. Looks like the only downside is the brakes but I plan to do a hydraulic brake swap anayway. I wonder what else could go wrong though? Usually a hybrid with these features would probably cost 1.5k or more.

I really like the feel of hydraulic brakes so that's a plus to me. Anyway I bought a cheap straight fork MTB to use for now since I really need a bike for exercising and whatnot, and it will take ages for this to ship here.