Top 10 Road Bike Brands For Beginners [2025 Edition]

Another amazing thing is this bike is consists of all matching parts. This is amazing to see, and not some average poor-quality components. We are talking about full Shimano Drivetrain, Shimano derailleurs as well as Shimano brake levers. This just explains that all of its parts are guaranteed to be compatible and work with amazing synchronicity.

Tommaso Fascino is a lightweight bicycle and made 100% from aluminum. This is perfect for an entry-level cyclist. Even though it’s an entry-level, we also see that this bike provides a rider with a 21 gear shift. These shifting gears are plenty for an experienced rider.

2. Diamondack

Location: Kent, Washington, United States
Popular Models: Century
What We Like: Founded in 1977; 44 years ago
What We Don’t Like: The frame is primarily matte black and luminous green/yellow/orange in colour.

Frame, and it’s in the mid-range territory for beginners to more advanced level riders.

This Diamondback Century 2 bike comes with a full Shimano sora groupset, and that’s a piece of amazing news for people who are knowledgeable in this field. At least, within this price range, this is amazing.

Tektro disk brakes and sora components, making it a beast, effortlessly breaking it is a great feature. This is why this bike is mainly suggested for beginners.

3. Marin Lombard 2021

Getting a bike within a thousand USD sounds better in 2021 compared to 5 years ago. The price and quality gap have been finally reduced after So long. Marin is truly a brand that you can count on.

This helps many recreational and beginner riders to get a road bike within 3 digits.

This bike is built on a 6061 aluminum frame coupled with a 2×9 speed drive train from Shimano sora. Tektros mechanical disk brakes and Marins own aluminum-made double-wall rims. 

Men in features one to go on long rides with ease and even in intermediate climbing. However, it’s nowhere near any mountain bike.

4. Cannondale

Location: Wilton, Connecticut
Popular Models: Quick Disk 3
What We Like: Not afraid to do things a bit different; lightweight aluminum frames.
What We Don’t Like: The quirkiness can be polarizing.

Best cheap hybrid road bike carrying a flat bar.

Quick Disk 3 doesn’t have recognizable drop bars like other road bikes. They have all the other attributes of any other drop bike. Still, if having drop bars matters to you, then you can add drop bars.

This bike comes with a lightweight aluminum frame and an incredibly comfortable steel fork. This does not make the bike heavy but makes all the difference you need according to smoothness in imperfect roads.

The bike’s great 700x35c Schwalbe tires are wide enough to tackle tough bumper roads, so if you live somewhere like this, it’s a great choice for you.

5. Retrospec

Location: Los Angeles
Popular Models: Drome V3
What We Like: Not afraid to do things a bit different; lightweight aluminum frames.
What We Don’t Like: The quirkiness can be polarizing.

Cheapest and also an amazing-looking single-speed road bike.

You might have heard that it is impossible to find a decent road bike for around $400. Well, now you’ve got all the information to prove them wrong. Retrospec Drome V3 is a decent-looking bike that comes at around $400. 

This is the best-selling entry-level bike on Amazon. Most people reviewed that this bike is very good-looking and stylish. This bike is slim and sleek with comfortable riding features. This bike also comes while being 85% assembled.

6. Giant

Location: Taichung, Taiwan
Popular Models: Contend AR 3
What We Like: Extensive manufacturing experience and very competitive prices.
What We Don’t Like: Not a leader at the high end of the market; some of their designs have dated geometries.

The company “Giant” is one of the biggest manufacturers nowadays. Many elite racers ride these Giant bikes.

Giant Contend AR 3 – is super lightweight because of the raw material it uses. This bike uses ALUXX grade aluminum and an Advanced-grade raw carbon fork.

The biggest difference in this bike is its components. This model comes with a Shimano sora groupset. 18 speeds on a 2×9 Drivetrain. Another worth mentioning thing is the Tektro mechanical disk brake. Their own made The Giant S- R2 wheelset and 32mm tires will give you the real experience of a road bike.

7. Marin

Location: Petaluma, California, USA
Popular Models: Merin Gestalt 2
What We Like: Marin Bikes was founded in 1986 during the earlier days of mountain biking, and today offers a complete line of mountain, pavement and kid’s bikes.
What We Don’t Like: The frame is primarily matte black and luminous green/yellow/orange in color.

This bike gives a great entry-level performance. You are starting from 6061 aluminum frame coupling with 2×10 Shimano Tiagragroupset. Mechanical disk brake and tubeless rims with rack and fender mound give it a huge amount of versatility. So if you are looking to keep a bike for a long time, this is your bike.

8. Trek

Location: Waterloo, Wisconsin
Popular Models: Domane AL 2
What We Like: No-nonsense company with an expansive range of models and build kits; lifetime warranty on their frames.
What We Don’t: Not as innovative as many other brands on the list.

This bike looks like a million dollars but costs very little. This bike has a Shimano Drivetrain and a lot of gear (16). Imagine someone going downhills at a decent speed; Its dual-pivot brakes will take good care of that person’s safety. This gives a person enough confidence to corner harder than before.

9. Raleigh Merit

Raleigh is one of the brands that take good care of both its male and female customers.

This bike comes in Black/ Red color, and they use an AL – 6061 heat-treated Aluminium frame and a fork. Shimano took care of the shifting with Claris groupset couples with Tektro Calipers. This comes with flat pedals, but for harder training, do use clipless pedals.

10. Ridley

Location: Belgium
Popular Models: Road Race 26
What We Like: Not afraid to do things a bit different; lightweight aluminum frames.
What We Don’t Like: The quirkiness can be polarizing.

This is the best road bike for kids within three-digit. The components Come with Shimano Claris. This bike’s frame and fork are made with durable aluminum.

The geometric framework helps a kid to reach the next level.

What is the best bike brand? – Recommend one and tell why best 

 We recommend Diamondback to be the best brand. According to us, it was within the three-digit price range. You can get it within $950- $1000. 

This bike has the complete Shimano sora groupset. Comfortable frame for long road traveling. You can use it from beginning to advance level riding. This is why we think it’s the most certain choice.

How To Choose A Road Bike For Beginners

People keep saying they all want a road bike for beginners, but they all have different needs and affordability in reality. One very important thing is to set your expectations before you start. You know a $1000 bike will be better than a $700 bike; a $2000 bike will be better than a $1000 bike. 

Well, you can even see there will be bikes exceeding the price of your car. That’s up to you if you want to fix it or not. Even you have cash, and you need to get optimal quality for the lowest price possible. There are some basic but most important things to consider before getting a bike.

(i) Frame

For beginners, it’s better to get an aluminum bike. Even though if one can afford carbon, we still suggest you get an aluminum frame. Carbon bikes are a lot lighter, but they are less resistant to cracks. When a beginner buys a bike, it’s destined to get in some trouble. 

For the price differences between these two metals, you can get better components. You’ll hardly see and notice as a beginner, so why bother paying more and just stick with a solid one.

(ii) Wheels

It’s recommended for beginners not to go with super-narrow tires. You should figure out where you are planning to ride. Wheels like 700c or 28c would be better and way more versatile in overall condition.

(iii) Components

It’s an important factor, and you need to be extremely careful with this selection. Some manufacturers can lower the price by installing poor-grade components. You might think that you are winning, but actually, you’ll be losing from the start. When it comes to brands, we suggest Shimano. 

For components, we suggest Claris and more high-level sora lineups. If there is Tiagra, then it’s even better though it’s not necessary for starter bikes.

Now, we will mention to you some sets which will be easy to maintain or replace. This will also get you great performance. You’ll rarely find Campagnolo group sets in bikes sold in the USA. Xenon lineups are great, and you’ll have to order them from abroad. Another manufacturer is SRAM which does not have any beginner-level components. 

Conclusion 

You pretty much got the concept of what we tried to explain here. We also gave insight information and what the bike consists of for your ease to select a bike for you. 

Hopefully, after evaluating these top 10 Road bikes for beginners, you’ll be able to choose your suitable option.