buy or upgrade? newbie has q's?

05-25-2004, 02:48 PM

I'm getting into bicycling again after many, many years. Need bike for
riding to work (15mi rt 1-3x weeekly), fun 20-30mile rides, and the
occasional sprint triathlon (for fun/fitness not competing). I pulled my
old schwinn tempo road bike out of the shed, got the rust mostly off,
tune-up, new tires, seat, chain. Started riding and realized I'm not
comfortable with the drop handle bars. I feel like I'm too far forward
and it makes me nervous to go down hills. Got a bike fit today and need
to decide whether to upgrade this bike which more or less fits, or look
for an inexpensive used hybrid. LBS guy said my current bike is a good
bike worth $900 new. If I kept this bike, I would want to put on a flat bar
($120), maybe move the shifters from the frame to the bar ($80), and
eventually upgrade to clipless pedals ($50 for shimano ms20). Any advice on
upgrading vs looking for a used hybrid that would meet my needs? Thanks
so much! melissa