£500 Winter ‘road’ bike advice 🤷‍♂️

[sevenfourate]

Needs:

1./ A decent gear range (2 x 8 is ample: for example)
2./ Drop-bar / Road bike looks.
3./ Be in the 55-57cm frame size.
4./ Able to take 32c’ish (?) width rubber.
5./ To be a bright / Solid colour. If I see any more black / dour looking bikes in my garage I’ll get even more afflicted by SAD than I am already…..

And no I don’t want to stretch the budget a little more. I already have a Winter MTB, and a decent Summer road steed. Just want something a little cheaper for the worst parts of Winter, salty roads etc. So £500 is my maximum. If it’s less - then all the better…….

Thoughts and suggestions welcomed with open arms !!

Ta.

 

[chris-suffolk]

New or used?

I was facing the same dilema as you, except I added disc brakes and mudguards as requirements to your list above. Searched for months for 2nd hand, and eventually gave in and bought new - unfortunately not in the price bracket you're looking - landing a Tifosi Rostra, which I'm very pleased with.

Good luck in your search.

 

[cougie uk]

eBay ?

 

[sevenfourate]

eBay ?

……is a fabulous idea until the fact living in darkest / deepest Suffolk means anything ‘local’ is actually a 200+ mile round trip.
Which is expensive. Especially if what you’re looking at turns out to not be as advertised. **Ive been looking though !!

 

[sevenfourate]

New or used?

I was facing the same dilema as you, except I added disc brakes and mudguards as requirements to your list above. Searched for months for 2nd hand, and eventually gave in and bought new - unfortunately not in the price bracket you're looking - landing a Tifosi Rostra, which I'm very pleased with.

Good luck in your search.

Good for you ! Now going to look yours up for reference. I’d rather go new too. And spend less if I can. Just about pounding out some off season miles - not being ‘flashy’. Or fussy 🤣

And Thankyou 😎

 

[chris-suffolk]

……is a fabulous idea until the fact living in darkest / deepest Suffolk means anything ‘local’ is actually a 200+ mile round trip.
Which is expensive. Especially if what you’re looking at turns out to not be as advertised. **Ive been looking though !!

Which is partly why I ended up where I did, and had to buy new - Suffolk isn't exactly teeming with 2nd hand bikes

 

[sevenfourate]

Which is partly why I ended up where I did, and had to buy new - Suffolk isn't exactly teeming with 2nd hand bikes

Used tractors yes. Used bikes - where ?

 

[chris-suffolk]

Used tractors yes. Used bikes - where ?

For me, wanting disc brakes seemed to be the killer. Could find rim brake bikes, but not disc ones. So if you're not fussy in that area you may have more luck. Facebook Market place was my main hunting ground. Not sure what it's like up Lowestoft way.

 

[vickster]

Look at Go Outdoors or Decathlon.
Or the Voodoo range from Halfords, they have an adventure bike
https://www.halfords.com/seasonal/t...o-limba-adventure-bike---l-frame-452950.html?
Should be some post Xmas discounts

 

[bonzobanana]

Voodoo Limba is £472 at Halfords currently although I'm not sure what you will think of the paintjob but a nice dependable bike that should take a lot of winter punishment. You can also go through a cashback site to get a bit extra off, maybe buy discounted halfords giftcards and maybe find an additional discount code if you sniff around.

 

[tom73]

Have you looked at Decathlon they have a few that may suit at your price point. Look to have a sale on some bike at the moment. You maybe limited for colour to fit your wish list.

 

[november4]

Yep, loads on ebay in budget. Triban rc520, 105, discs, ride nice
A wee bit heavy and the stock tyres are hard to remove first time (Ive read) are the only negatives.
I had one for a few weeks, liked it

 

[Big John]

I'm a bit biased here because I'm a volunteer at a local bike charity where I live but if you have a bike charity within striking distance of you then don't write off a used bike. If the charity is like ours they get bikes donated that are then serviced, repaired if necessary and sold to the public at affordable prices. Your limit of £500, for example, would get you one superb road bike if our place is anything to go by. Honestly, you'd be surprised by the quality of the bikes that are donated (but not all of them lol). The downside is that we can only sell what bikes have been donated. You may make a visit and see your dream bike or there maybe nothing that fits the bill. It's a bit like a visit to TK Max lol. However, it should come with some element of warranty (our place offers a 60 day warranty for example) which gives you some peace of mind.

 

[biggs682]

Got a couple of lightly used road bikes in my garage, but both 60cm frame size and I doubt either would take 28 tyres never mind wider

 

[Kingfisher101]

Facebook marketplace, see if anyone is selling at your local club, Halfords, Decathlon, Go Outdoors etc.
Have you checked Merlin?
I'd send a message to the local clubs on Facebook, Loads of them will have disused bikes in the garage and everyone wants extra money at this time of year.