Before you decide on the best bicycle you want to buy, you need to ask yourself some of the questions.
1. Will you ride on the road or will you ride off road?
2. How many hours you will ride a day?
3. Do you need it for exercise or for relaxed ride or for touring?
4. Do you want it for racing?
There are a lot of varieties road bikes. Usually a good road bike will be light and will be designed to have least air resistance. Road bike come with different speeds (or gears). If you are planing for a very long ride with long hours then you may better go for a higher gears. A good quality road bikes will have a starting range of $200 for beginners. The price may go as high as $2000.
If you are planing for off road then mountain bike are better options. Usually they will be heavier than road bikes and bulkier than road bikes. The tires will be big and tough so that it can take you off the road. If you plan to ride along the steep mountain roads you have to consider having higher gears. You have to go on the least gear possible. The balance of the speed and the balance of stress on your legs depends on the number of gears the bike has and also the size of the gears. A good quality mountain bikes will have a starting range of $200 for beginners and it may go as high as $2000
There are another kind of bicycles called as cruiser bikes. Usually these bikes are designed for long and relaxing ride. These bikes also come with different number of gears. These are usually used as touring bikes.
There are racing bikes the most advanced and most expensive bike and very light weight bikes.