2010 Merida Road Race, for REALLY cheap! AS NEW!
Become the super commuter and quitting will get easier. Oh, and that nicotine gum is sh*t, don’t bother.
some of these:
some mks esquartz pedals with christophe clips
one of these
some of these
and one of these
Those entry level merida’s really punch above there weight great bike for the money and handle really well.
i mean this particular bike you speak of isn’t built, so the FOA decision on whether or not its worthy is a long way off
Pfft FOA can suck my aerospokes.
So I have read. I was looking at bikes 3-5 years old with 105 or Ultegra groups for my first roadie ($600-$900), but when I saw this near new (still has most the tread on it’s original tyres and 2 cosmetic scratches) Merida 903 (tiagra) for pocket change I did some more research and came to the conclusion I’ll start on a nearly brand new entry and then work my way up! I only got it today, and only pushed 5ks (on bike track) but it is comfortable and I look forward to training on it!
Also for it, I just purchased
x2
Also, I need some advice on pedals and shoes! At the moment I’m running cages (because I had them laying 'round), but I wouldn’t mind getting some 105s with some Shimano cleats or something… I dunno
speedplays 
or maybe some Garmin Vectors?
105 pedals are rad and cheap i use em on my fancy carbona thing
My next (major) bike purchase will be some Sidi Dominators and Tima ATAC’s. Fuck getting shoes you can’t walk in.
You looking at commuting in the city or riding in the 'burbs? Looks/Shimano are something of a pain with single side clips. In saying that I only run Looks on the road bike & road fixie (brakes & drops) The super commuter (MTB & rigid fork) and commuter fixie both run SPDs with trainer type shoes.
This… Except the supercommter is a roady with SPDs
For your roadie? You’ll regret making that decision.
Clipless is great but the difference between road and mtb for riding is noticeable.
Yeah you walk like a duck, but its not like you dont have different bikes to ride/bags to use/baskets to carry things in if you know you need to wander post-ride.
Really?
I’m using old Time shoes and Look Delta’s… not really a fan of either. I hate clipping in and out of them. They’re fine for long(er) rides, but other than that, I don’t liek them at all. Was looking at getting ATAC’s for the roadie after Simon’s recommendation.
City riding with Looks it’s great. And I sometime has issues switching between Deltas and SPDs, especially going from SPDs on the super commuter to Deltas on the fixie roadie.
The Look Keos are better as they have a softer plastic/rubber section of the cleat so are less slippery. The wife has these on her roadie and prefers them to the Deltas she used to have.
If I’m out on the roadie I’m generally riding for 1-3 hrs and avoid as many lights as possible.
I run SPD SL’s on my roadie but do love the Time Atac Alium pedals I use on my fixed commuter. Easy to clip in, feel very comfortable and no issue’s unclipping by accident. I picked up the pedals/cleats and shoes on sale from wiggle.
Depends how serious a roadie you want to become. If it’s just recreational, SPD MTB shoes are fine. If you want maximum power transfer however then yes, SPD-SL’s are much better.
[quote="“horatio,post:7938,topic:40772”]
Depends how serious a roadie you want to become. If it’s just recreational, SPD MTB shoes are fine. If you want maximum power transfer however then yes, SPD-SL’s are much better.[/QUOTE]
Not super serious, occasional 100+ km rides (like maybe twice a year), but that’s it really.
thats to start with 
I use spd sl on my roadie and track bike. Love them, but can’t comment on others rather than Time Atacs did not suit me at all.