Honestly since you have to deal with crappy roads at some point in your journey, you are better off investing in a cheaper sport bike initially. If you are not looking for mission critical speed, you'd be surprised how long a cheap wal-mart sports bike can go; besides, those are far easier to replace and cost 10% of your budget.

That said, if you are looking into a serious racing bike, by all means check biker friendly forums or even look into a central park bikers group on meetup.com.