This is great beginner bike. All the brands have similar options. https://www.cannondale.com/en/USA/Bike/ProductDetail?Id=ce2864c9-c919-4ecb-82f0-b42f80f23434

You can go cheaper or more expensive but this bike is right in the sweet spot.

A 2-3yo Giant Defy/Specialized Allez or similar would be ideal. If you have a Bike Co-Op near you, this would be a good option. Fit is very important, spec less so

Personally I would get one of the road going /track bike options and then get proper gears later.

But that's just my advice is a cyclist.

look at endurance or touring framed road bikes. These tend to have a more relaxed geometry suited for longer rides.

Aside from that, hard to recommend anything. "Something in a budget", what's your budget. Where do you live?

Honestly it’s all about fit. Road bikes are very unforgiving with regards to bad fit.

Also I think you can get away with spending even less than 1k- older trek madones are in the sub 1k (usd) range and are just fine for a beginner.

Trek Domane AL2, Specialized Allez, Giant Contend.

Not sure which country you're in so can't recommend specific stored to look at but I found that it is very easy to find tiagra specced bikes under 1k from brands like cube or orbea(mine was 800 a few months ago). I would avoid the CAAD as it is race geometry. Mabye the contend AR dor the extra tire clearance. Allez are generally charging a premium so not great value but excellent bikes. It also can't hurt for you to go to in person stores that take trade ins and ask if they have any that you could take off their hands

The advantage to buying a used bike is you may be able to buy a better bike than you could afford if it were new. I emphasize may, because you do need to know what you are doing. This being your first bike my advice is to shop bike shops not bikes. Ask around, talk to other riders and talk to the people at the shop. Once you find a good shop tell them what your needs are, and they can steer you in the right direction. All of the major brands offer bikes at different price points and similar priced bikes from different brands will be more similar than not. Whether you go with a Trek, Giant or fill in the blank. Getting a great deal on a used bike is worthless if it’s the wrong size. Fit is king, so make sure to get fitted on your new bike. Good luck!

My first road bike was. CAAD12 and I still have it 8 years later.

If you buy sub-standard as an entry point, you lose money flipping, so better to get the best you can afford now.

I was scared to buy used, so bought new end of year sales (which is about now) so had a 30% discount off RRP. Used is great way to get a high spec bike at a great price however some sellers are in total dream land with asking prices.

Here in UK, there are some shops that sell used bikes of high quality. You pay more than you might with private sales but they will be fully serviced, so no need to worry in the short term about wear items like chain, bearings, etc. If I were doing it again, I would take that route and get a higher spec bike like a CAAD12 or SuperSix Evo or other similar brand / geometry.

If Decathlon is not present it is going to be problematic until you learn more about road bicycles to be able to buy used.

If M17 is 17, you could check on single speed,  fixie with drop bars.

Bottle holders are mounted on frames with provisions for them. 

Comfort and road bicycle is not the same. 

Do you really need gears? Look at Wabi for a single speed.

Second hand is your best bet.

Best road bike for a beginner is a decent used bike off Craigslist or similar place.

I might be wrong but the base specialized allez seems to be around that price

What is your budget bud? And in what currency?

You are much better off buying second hand for that budget. But if you only trust new, the Cube Attain Race is awesome and costs € 1249. The Cube Attain Pro has a lower end groupset but is also good and costs € 949.

You will be able to find a carbon bike with a good groupset from about 6-8 years ago for that budget though.

There’s a new canyon (check their website) that was just released - could be a good option

Used Craig’s list

Decathlon Triban 520 is a great budget pick if you don't have a local bike shop. But if you do have a local bike shop, I recommend you ask them for a bike on that budget. Even if it's not as good a deal, having a good relationship with your local bike shop is worth it in the long run.

Another vote here for used.

You can get new road bikes in that budget (i.e. Triban Gravel Bike Shimano A050 - RC 100 from Decathlon) but it's got outdated tech even compared to a used bike.

I bought an old used road bike for 200€ recently. You can find pretty reliable old bikes. From what I know try to look for and old road bike which has ultegra gearshift attached to the bar and not the frame and make sure that the height fits. If it looks a bit used and has sone scratches it is probably a bit cheaper so I wouldnt try to buy a fully new bike for 400 CAD

I’d look for a 2nd hand aluminum frame with a shimano 105 rimbrake groupset.

Used. Make sure the size is right for you and that it hasn’t been sitting in a shed for the last 10 years. For 400 bucks you won’t get anything spectacular, so just make sure it runs well and that it has been maintained pretty well and used recently. If you find a carbon bike make sure there are no cracks, check for gear wear as that is quite expensive to replace.

For $300-400 the best you were finding in 2010 was a cheap fixie. Or used. Today, I think your only choice would be something used from a bike co-op.

Edit: Or that very cheap Triban from Decathalon with the crazy shifter.

Carbon fiber is stronger than alloy and Aluminum but fragile at certain points which can crack the frame when dropped at certain points. Care is needed for Carbon bikes, if your requirement is commuting, better to get alloy frame as carbon frames requires careful parking space and should not be exposed in sun for longer hours.

You kind of want competing interests. You want a bike that you can toss around a little, but that's generally not advisable with carbon frames - although they're not fragile by any means, cracks are not fun. Also if you don't have a safe spot to store it, there's a very good chance a 3k carbon bike will attract more attention than the bike that already got stolen.

You might want to look into an aluminum frame with a carbon fork, like the Canyon Endurace Allroad - if you can find stock, or something similar.

Look for a good rode bike on Amazon market place. That is where I found my last bike and only spent $400 plus about $150 to tune and move stuff from my previous broken bike over. It is cheaper and you can still save for a $3k bike. Mine is aluminum and is only about 20 lbs (9kg).

what's your budget

I'd look into an endurance bike like a Roubaix, defy etc

since you have a Giant, you can try to buy a used Giant TCR, they are fairly priced.

or Chinese brand bike, like Winspace, Seka, Pardus.

don't ask me about detail, I don't really know the market and the price outside of China.

If you're looking to road ride, you can get a decent to pretty nice endurance road bike from most big brands within your 1k-2k budget, there's plenty of choice depending on your location so you're best looking for "Best Endurance Road Bike under $XXXX" articles, and then when you find a bike you like you can consult reddit, forums and youtube for more in depth rider experiences.

My best advice to you would be to focus on getting a bike that fits properly, learn how bike frame measurements vary, what sort of anatomy you have and look to spend some money getting the bike professionally fitted and perhaps replace some of the contact points for a better fit.

Felts are good bikes but between the 3 it really depends on the componentry and age. if it’s in your budget I would look at Liv Cycling (new/used).

They all look like good bikes from what I can see. The last one looks like it was ridden hard. Second is a good value, but offer 300. first one with disc brakes would probably be best for a lot of fast riding. Probably worth closer to 650 in my area

If you are not experienced cyclist, especially if new to SPD pedals and could fall down when trying to unclip, you may wish to avoid carbon bike. Carbon has much less room for error compared to aluminum.