Just bought my first bike

[jackwidman]

I'm new to cycling. I just bought this from ebay:

Trek Madone 5.1 Carbon Road Bike 2 x 11 Ultegra 6800 Bontrager RL 56 cm / L

It hasn't arrived yet. Anybody know anything about this bike? I paid $1250 for it. Looks like its in very good condition and it does have a 30 day return policy. Any thoughts?

[John Nettles]

Welcome to the ACA Forums.  Nice bike.  Not that suitable for touring (which is mostly what ACA is about) but a very decent road/club bike.  Congrats!

[jackwidman]

Thanks for the quick response!

[Inge]

Welcome!

[ray b]

This is a good bike for relatively short, fast rides.

The tiny contact patch of the tires at pressure will make you feel like you're flying. (It's pretty close to no contact, so be careful.)

Did my first cross-country trip on my racing bike.... Of course, I was young and limber back then.

If you are truly new to cycling, consider spending a little money to have a pro check your fit to avoid pain and injury that will lessen your enthusiasm. The positioning on a race bike is not very forgiving, and everything from cleat placement to head position are important. Most of us learned what hurt and what didn't through experience and folklore. These days, a few bucks will put science to work to efficiently get you a pain-free position and the off-bike exercises to maintain it.

You'll also want to find a good bike shop to guide you through your development as a rider, keep your bike safe, and help you develop your mechanical skills to handle break downs on the road. You might want to check with Trek to see if they have specific recommendations in your area.

If truly new to cycling, a little work on basic bike handling and survival skills with your local cycling advocates might also improve your enjoyment on the road.

[hikerjer]

Nice bike.  Ride often, ride safely, ride joyfully.

[jackwidman]

Thanks for your answer!

[DaveB]

You are starting out with a bike pretty near the top of the cycling sophistication spectrum.  As noted this is a "race/performance" bike, not a tourer or casual rail-trail bike.  BTW, if the frame is badly mis-sized, there is pretty much nothing you can do to fix it and a different bike will be needed.  I hope you picked the right one since apparently you didn't try it before the purchase.
Also, depending on how hilly your location is and how fit you currently are, the gearing may not be low enough for you.   

I make a few recommendations:

1. If you have a knowledgeable friend or a local bike club member or a good local bike shop have them go over the bike with you be sure the size is close to right and to adjust the saddle height, bar position etc to fit.  As noted above a professional fitting would be ideal but costly.  Also, your best position will change as you ride more and adapt to the riding position. 

2. Learn elementary mechanical skills.  At least learn how to fix a roadside flat tire, do minor shifting and brake adjustments, chain lubrication, etc.  A book covering modern bike care and feeding would be a worthwhile purchase and YouTube has a bunch of good (and not so good) tutorials on the subject.

3.  Get a good floor pump and plan to use it before every ride or every two days if you ride a lot.  Narrow, high pressure bike tires lose air a lot faster than auto tires or wide low pressure bike tire and have to be topped up frequently. 

4. Enjoy the bike and ride it a lot!