Here’s a recomendation for you:
http://www.giant-bicycle.com/us/030.000.000/030.000.000.asp?range=204
I almost got one of these for my sister. She decided that she wouldn’t use a bike, so I didn’t. The last model on that page is a good entry bike for ~$200.
Go to a bike shop and see what they have. You might get a sale.
Well, why shouldn’t they? Bicycling is an aerobic excercise, and it doesn’t really matter which muscles you use. If you want to build muscles, you should be weight training.
True, except recumbent bicycles are even more aerodynamic than upright road bikes. They were banned by the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale, who sanctions all major bike races) in 1935 because second-rate riders on recumbents started beating the top celebrity racers.
Are you saying you don’t feel the least bit sore after a week of touring 50+ miles a day? I’ve been on such rides with experienced riders, and many of them start complaining of saddle sores a few days into the tour.
Yes, they are comfortable. And your point is? You seem to be implying that the painful process of getting used to a road bike is somehow beneficial, but you haven’t explained how or why. What’s the reward for learning to tolerate a road bike? The only one I can think of is that you get to race in UCI-sanctioned races (which isn’t a concern for 99.99% of bicyclists out there) or just look like Lance Armstrong.
IMO road bikes make no sense as practical transport. You’re leaning down on the handlebars so you tend to look down at the asphalt instead of further down the road or the traffic around you. Your center of mass is so high up and forward that when you do an emergency stop, there’s a real danger of flying over the handlebars and landing on your head. (On a recumbent, the worst that can happen in an emergency stop is you lock the wheels, the bike slides out and you land on your butt.)
I’m not saying anything like that.
Firstly, I’m saying that a road bike isn’t painful at all. It just takes a little getting used to. When you do, it’s a comfortable, efficient position that you can remain in for hours on end. If you couldn’t, then I would suggest you were doing something wrong.
Second of all, if you 'bents spent as much time riding as you do criticizing uprights, maybe you wouldn’t be the Area 51 of cycling.
I still haven’t found one to test ride, but the claim is the ability to stand on the pedals (something you can’t do on a true recumbent) is an advantage when climbing steep hills. The theory is that standing on pedals brings different muscles into play, and alternating between different positions allow you to rest some of your muscles.
The recumbent position doesn’t really have a “power advantage.” The seatback does allow you to pedal harder, but this is very bad for your knees and is not recommended. Besides, human legs are more efficient when spinning at 90 RPM than mashing pedals at very low cadence. The main advantages of recumbent bikes are comfort and aerodynamics.
Guys, let’s not hijack this thread on the merits of whose better, etc. Zsofia needs good dope on how to shop and what to look for, and she’s been given some good answers. We should stick together, since the real enemy is the THE CAR.
Since almost everything else has been answered, since you have more than one bike shop to choose from, feel free to walk away. I’ve been treated horribly dismissively by some bike shop owners and salesmen, as have some of my female friends. It’s like the stereotypical car buying experience, but with bikes.
If you end up liking it, you’ll be sitting on it quite a bit. It should be the bike you want.
Also, I’ve never been comfortable on a recumbent (probably wasn’t fit to me properly. I’m a nightmare to fit on an upright, a recumbent is probably the same). And over the long run, a big squishy seat is less comfortable than a smaller, harder feeling, but made for riding seat.
I’m pretty new to cycling myself. My husband is the cyclist of the family, and he’s slowly getting me hooked. Right now I have 2, a mountain bike (Gary Fisher) and a hybrid (Bianchi Boardwalk.) I ride the hybrid everyday now (I’m training for my first century ride, a mere 7 weeks away now), and I’ll be riding the hybrid on that ride.
For a beginner I recommend a hybrid, but, take my recommendation with a grain of salt, since, like I said, I’m a beginner myself. The hybrid just suits my comfort level right now.
I’ve been looking at road bikes recently, and I’ll probably buy one before next summer. The most important thing for me is a good fit.
As for clipping in to pedals versus regular pedals versus toe clips; I just had a pair of clip pedals put on my hybrid last week, before that it had toe clips, and my mountain bike has just plain old pedals. So far, for me, clipping in is amazingly more comfortable. I’d feared the concept for so long for no reason apparently. When you go to the shop see if the salesperson will let you try clipping in to a bike mounted on a trainer. You might be surprised at how comfortable you are. I feel so much more efficient now when I’m out riding.
You will need to wear a helmet. Another lesson I recently learned:
Spend a few extra dollars for a good helmet at your bike shop. For the past 2 years I’d been riding with a helmet I picked up at Toys R US for $10 or so. It was awful. It served its purpose, but it didn’t fit, it flopped around from one side to another, and it was uncomfortable. While out riding around, the helmet from hell was just a distraction and a pain in the butt. But, never having worn a good quality helmet, I figured it was just part of cycling. A month ago or so I purchased a nice Trek helmet at the bike shop, with the help of a salesperson, and now I hardly even feel the thing on my head. It fits like a glove, is light, aerodynamic, and comfortable.
Like Dag Otto said, a basic repair kit, water bottle cage, and pump are things you’ll need. You might want to look at bike computers, too. I love mine, it’s nice to see your stats after a ride, makes it a little more fun.
pedal definitions:
Keep in mind that “clipless” pedals are the kind you clip into.
“Toe clips” are the brace and strap that connect to a flat pedal that you strap into. The absence of the “toe clip” is why the pedal you clip into are called “clipless”.
The “flat pedal” is commonly called “platform”.
Now, I really want to get off the 'bent debate, but this part is just bad advice. . .
No sense as a practical transport?
First of all, try getting a 'bent for $300.
You’re not leaning down on the handlebars looking at the asphalt. It’s just another extreme representation that the 'bent guys make. Let’s say it this way: you’re propped up on the handlebars, with your head in a position to look up, down, and over both shoulders.
Your head is up high, at least as high as the roof of a car, so you can see in traffic. It’s easy to look over both shoulders, which I’ve heard isn’t true on a 'bent. There’s no way I’d expect a messenger or a commuter or even a city-guy who does his errands to ride a 'bent.
On top of that, you can’t “hop” a bent and if you’re using your bike for practical stuff, that comes up a lot. (speed bumps, manhole covers, train tracks, glass).
And, a 'bent is not as manoeuverable because of the longer wheelbase.
And, if you’re going over the handlebars when you’re emergency stopping on an upright, you need a couple more lessons in riding your bike. Just another extreme criticism of an upright.
They have bike computers now?! The last one I bought, the coolest thing I could get was streamers and my mom wouldn’t let me have them. (I don’t suppose I could put streamers on a $300 bike, huh.)
I really appreciate all the advice you guys have given me. I’ve just gotten a new (teeny tiny) job, and I’m thinking maybe a bike is the treat I’ll buy myself with my first few paychecks in a month or so. If I get one I’ll be sure to post a picture!
Oh, and does any female have some advice for the “getting used to it” phase? I took one (ONE!) spinning class a couple months ago, and I had bruises on very delicate parts of me for weeks. Do the padded shorts help?
You mean you are criticizing an entire category of bicycles which you have no personal experience with?
After I became an avid recumbent rider, I listened to the likes of you and decided to give road bikes a try. I put at least 1000 miles on it before giving it up. Yes, they can be comfortable enough and fast enough, but I really didn’t see any major advantages.
Recumbents are less “maneuverable” in some ways (e.g. you can’t jump over logs), but if you’re routinely pushing a bike to its limits you’re doing something wrong. The key to safe riding is predictability - that means riding with the flow of traffic and not making sudden moves. Emergency stops on a recumbent takes very little skill, while emergency stops and evasive maneuvers on road bikes require more practice. Looking over your shoulders is indeed more difficult, but with a proper mirror there’s no need to look back. And the view is so much better on a recumbent - your face naturally faces forward.
I’m not criticizing them.
I’m defending uprights from your extemist statements.
I’ll criticize the cult of people who ride them, though.
The only things I’ve said that were critical were “I’ve heard you can’t look over your shoulder” and “you can’t hop them” and “they’re not as manoeuverable”.
All true. And the point wasn’t that you’re pushing your bike to its limits all the time. The point is that as “practical transport”, sometimes you need that manouverability.
What about “Don’t get a recumbent”?
OK, I’ll stop now.
I’m not female, but I find they do help on road bikes. If you don’t like the look of tight Lycra, you can get padded liners which you can wear under normal shorts. Also, try putting as much weight as possible on your feet and hands - this takes weight off the seat. Which reminds me - proper padded gloves are essential for upright bikes, especially road bikes. (Actually they are useful on recumbent bikes as well - it can save your skin if you fall down and you instinctively break the fall with your hand.)
Padded shorts help (PS - don’t wear underwear with them, and take them off immediately after your ride), but the best way to overcome the ‘pain in the butt’ is to just keep riding.
My first bike ride this season was a short one - 7 miles or so, and the next day my butt was pretty sore. Since then I’ve been riding almost everyday, and doing 20 - 30 mile rides on Saturdays and Sundays. With every ride, and with every increase in mileage, my butt gets *less *sore. Go figure.
You need to position yourself properly, too. I’m fortunate to have my husband as a trainer, who reminds me to sit on those ‘sit-bones’ when he sees me starting to slide forward on my seat.
And I’ll second scr4’s comment on padded gloves. My hands get sore before my bottom does lately. Since my bike currently has flat handlebars, I’m limited in the positioning of my hands to break things up.
You can get a bike computer for $20 (maybe less) and it tells you your speed, ride time, average speed, max speed, and total miles since you bought it. It’s kind of nice to have.
A better saddle and padded shorts might help comfort-wise.
You sit on a bike on your “sit bones”. These are the bottom of your pelvis that you can feel on either side of your, ahem, butthole. See this image of a pelvis.
Padded shorts give you a little padding on the sit bones just for comfort, and some protection from rubbing against the sides of the saddle. Women’s saddles will usually have a low spot where your “soft tissue” is. This is actually more important for women than men even though we have dangling parts (they can be pulled up with shorts, and/or pushed to the side).
Probably women’s padded shorts have a “groove” with no padding where your soft tissue is to make even more of a buffer but I haven’t seen the inside of women’s shorts.
This is all why an over-padded seat can be bad. If your sit-bones sink in, then your soft tissue sinks in as well and you get pressure where you don’t want it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the spin class you did had an over padded seat. The ones at my gym are very padded.
The spin seats at the gym aren’t padded at all. One of the other ladies made an extremely funny remark about having recently had a baby that put everybody in the class in stitches except the male instructor, who looked real confused. 
A few items here. (I refuse to get in the 'bent v upright discussion! 
)
Helmet, yes you need one. The technical term for someone who rides and does not wear a helmet is Organ Donor. I read a link the other day that of the 28 deaths when riding a bike in Calif one recent year 26 did not have a helmet on. You need one that fits right. When on your head it should be tight and not slide around. If you grab your helmet and can move it on your head, it is either the wrong size or way too loose. Also a helmet is not a yahmaka (sp?). It does not go on the back of your head. Your forehead must be covered by your helmet.
Gloves, yes get padded gloves. The kind with the finger tips cut off generaly tend to have more padding on the palms.
Clipless pedals. Bikes in your price range probably won’t come with clipless pedals, if you really get into riding, you can upgrade later.
Shorts, and sore bits. First off the soft squishy saddles tend to be nice for about a couple of miles. After that they tend to hurt. The hard uncomfortable looking saddles tend in the long run to be way more comfortable. Saddles are a very personal item. On my road bike I went through 4 saddles before I found the one I am still riding on. YMMV. As far as shorts go, padded bike shorts are worth the money. Good padded bike shorts are worth even more. When you are first getting used to the bike you can buy padded lycra underwear. I have seen people wear these under regular shorts or even under bike shorts for extra padding. Go to the drug store and buy a can of Bag Balm. This stuff is a miracle cure for saddle sores. BEST STUFF EVER for saddle sores.
Buy from your local Bike shop. Go to several and test ride both the bikes and the shop itself. Are the people friendly, seem willing to help and listen? Good. Do you get a bad vibe? run.
Good luck and have fun
How adjustable are the saddles on a spin class bike? Last time I used a stationary bike at a gym, the adjustment were in 1/2" increments. That’s far too much. With a real bike, the height can be adjusted continuously. Sometime an 1/8" or less makes a real difference. I don’t think your spinning experience means that you’ll have the same problems on a road bike.
Spinning classes are a total different story to cycling for some reason. There’s plenty of stories on cycling boards about dudes going to their first class thinking they’re going to run the show, then winding up getting stretchered out. Here’s a classic
It was only a beginning class, where we learned how to set up the bikes and everything, and talked about class terminology and such and what the different classes were like, and then maybe a 20 minute ride. I went home and fell into bed and didn’t wake up until the next morning. I could hardly walk the next day, and that was before I found out about the bruises. It’s true, though, that the bikes adjusted in maybe half inch intervals.
I thought spinning was for weak-assed soccer moms; I see the same soccer-momish ladies go to the Hardcore Ass Kicking Interval Spin Class for Advanced Spinners Only No Pussies Allowed! every week. Now I realize they’re actually commando soccer moms who actually hunt down wild casseroles for dinner. Armed only with their teeth and fake nails. Even my mom had a lot of trouble with that intro class, and she power walks 3 miles a day and lifts a lot more weight than I do when we go to the gym together.
