Jmetz said:
also... riding on the road.... things to consider?
Traffic. Be visible. Whatever you buy, keep the reflectors on, make sure you add proper lights too. Buy a hi-vis jacket and reflective stickies for your body and backpack. The roads are never going to get less congested and almost all drivers will give you more credit for showing yourself clearly. Respect drivers as they can kill you all too easily.
Grip. You'll find that in dry conditions, the best grip on road is achieved by the smoothest tyre. (That GT Zum I just showed you has fairly smooth tyres but you could manage a canal path etc ok too.) The more rubber in contact with tarmac, the more grip. Simple. Knobs on the side do not really add grip to the road cycling, if anything they just mean you have to slow down at corners otherwise when the wheel transitions from smooth tread to knobs as you turn, it can flip out, as it were. This happened to me today although not crucially! In the wet, knobs are useless on the road. The sort of tyres with grooves cut into them sometimes help - think Formula 1 - but really you won't be cycling fast enough for them to do the same job a wet Grand Prix tyre does. Off-road and in mud, knobs are good. Anyway you were asking about road tips. Someone else said get two pairs of tyres, one for the road and one off. Good advice.
Weight. I suppose the lighter the bike the quicker it will fly on roads but really at your (I presume) budget just get one that's reliable. It's not all that fruitful worrying about the weight of the bike unless you're spending a very large amount of money and racing the thing.
Packs. I've never used anything other than a backpack but everyone recommends panniers. Have a word with your mechanic at the shop and see about getting a rack and pannier thrown in. Therefore also, make sure the bike can be fitted with them. (My road bike can't.)
Gears. Road cycling is great because the top gears give you much greater speed so add that to the reduced weight and better aerodynamics you get on a skinnier bike and you can really eat the miles. Nothing like flying down a carriageway in the sunshine. On the other side, the lower gears are considerably higher than on a mountain bike so it is harder to get up steep hills sometimes. For example, the lowest front ring on my road bike is a 30, which is about the same size as the middle ring on my mtb. The mtb's lowest ring is a 22. The lower the ring size (number of teeth actually), the easier the climb. So my mtb has a whole extra ring below that of the road bike to help with climbs. Mind you, whatever you pick will get you fit enough to do the hills you need to do, as long as you keep at it.
That should give you something to be going on with.