Leonard Barnes is like many newcomers to cycling. The 40-year-old wanted to get more serious about fitness, so he set out to buy a good, entry-level road bike.

“The first question I asked was what kind of riding he wanted to do,” said Greg Hodges, the salesman at Revolution Bicycles in St. Petersburg, Fla., who helped Barnes with his purchase. “Once I figured out that he wanted to get out and do some serious riding, that put him in another category.”