Question about Road bike?

[Ben]

I live in a very hilly area and have been riding a moutain bike for a while i have a few questions about Road bikes as i'm intrested in getting a road bike.

1. Can you stand up on the pedals when going up hills on a road bike , and how hard is it to go up a hill?

2.there are some parts of the road i just can't go on, because the road is poorly maintained and there is lots of traffic , thus i must go on the footpath , but some on the entrences to the footpath can have 5+ cm gap between the road and the path , would the bike be affected by going over this gap?

3 how do they handle on road that is poorly maintained ie cracks , loss gravel, putholes , ect

4 , i'm probaly not going to go on a dirt road , but how do they handle on dirt roads?

5, and what should i be looking for in a road bike, when i buy one , (i won't pay much more then au$1000 )

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it is to freezing outside right now to ride the bike