£700 on a Road Bike

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September

September

Well-Known Member
Location
Wolverhampton
Hello,

When I get back from my Holiday in September I will be looking to replace my hefty 17kg MTB commuter with a road bike. Although I'm only 7 weeks into this, I spend most days cycling and I'm putting in around 100 miles per week on the road.

Whilst I've learnt a lot about the way my bike works I don't really know much about brands and component ranges.

(If someone had a guide to bike brands and such, I'd be very grateful).

Anyway, I would like some help in choosing a new road bike. My budget is £700 tops.

In an attempt to get my missus cycling with me I bought her a cheap and cheerful B'Twin MTB. I was surprised by it's quality at that price. So this made me look back towards Decathlon for a road bike and this seemed like a decent choice:

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-500-se-road-bike-black-id_8306187.html

Furthermore, it has the Sora crankset in the local Decathlon for a limited time as they ran out of the lesser-quality crank sets with this batch.

But I don't really know what my other options are without knowing what brands or websites to look towards.

I was hoping a few people could point me towards a bike or two and why they are recommending it.

I'm not fussed about colour or anything trivial - Ideally, I want a reliable and light-weight bike that I won't want to replace for a year or three. I was half tempted to go straight to a full-carbon frame, but I know that will come at a cost...

Any help I could get would be great - even if it's just a link to some recommended reading/videos on how to start looking for a bike.

Thanks all and apologies for the story of an OP.
 
helston90

helston90

Eat, sleep, ride, repeat.
Location
Cornwall
My advice at the moment is buy nothing but work out what you want from the bike- come your return from holiday lots of 2015 bikes will be out, so the 2014 will be reduced, so you just need to work out what you want and think you can get from your money, maybe speak to your LBS about your situation and be ready to jump in feet first when an offer comes up.
Saying that the b'twin you linked to is very popular and extremely well priced.
 
Rickshaw Phil

Rickshaw Phil

Overconfidentii Vulgaris
Moderator
Location
Shrewsbury, Shropshire
The Triban 500SE is the current version of CycleChat's favourite entry level road bike (the red Triban 3 - thread about them here), offering a very decent spec for the price, including carbon fibre forks, so I think you'd do alright with that one.

The Sora equipped version is Triban 500 (not SE) and replaces the Triban 5. It's a very good spec for the price (usually £450). If, as implied, your local store has it for less it would be an amazing bargain.

The Achilles heel of these bikes seems to be the wheels. Regreasing the hub bearings from the start seems to have helped those who've done it.
 
uclown2002

uclown2002

Guru
Location
Harrogate
£700 http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/boardman-road-comp-bike-2014#tab2

10% off all road bikes at moment so £630. (Doesn't help you of course as you are not ready to buy but may be useful to someone else.)

Further 10% off if member of British Cycling ~ £30 per annum with a number of other benefits, therefore available for £567 if reserved and pay in store.

Further 3% cashback via quidco.

Seems very good value at that price, and boardman bikes generally get excellent reviews.
 
R

RebornBumbler

Senior Member
Location
Barnstaple
Even with 20% off that Boardman is still 166 quid more than last year's Felt F95 with a very similar specification at Wiggle or Winstanley's or the Triban 500 at much the same.
Much as I like Boardman's smooth welding, it's not worth that !
 
slowmotion

slowmotion

Quite dreadful
Location
lost somewhere
RebornBumbler said:
And the whole bike weighs just under a kilo and a half!! :smile:
Click to expand...
I told you it was fun!
 
slowmotion

slowmotion

Quite dreadful
Location
lost somewhere
huwsparky said:
I've been looking at that bike too along with the Felt Z85. Did you consider others? What made you go for the Cinelli?
Click to expand...
I have a Specialized Secteur Elite which was my first road bike. A cycling friend told me he had bought a Cinelli for his son and that it was a really nice bike. I took it round the block a few times and was totally smitten. The 2013 Veloce model was in an end of season sale at Spa Cycles for £650. "Well, I'm not going to live forever" and out came the credit card. It's very nippy and a lot of fun. Give it a try.
 
huwsparky

huwsparky

Über Member
Location
Llangrannog
slowmotion said:
I have a Specialized Secteur Elite which was my first road bike. A cycling friend told me he had bought a Cinelli for his son and that it was a really nice bike. I took it round the block a few times and was totally smitten. The 2013 Veloce model was in an end of season sale at Spa Cycles for £650. "Well, I'm not going to live forever" and out came the credit card. It's very nippy and a lot of fun. Give it a try.
Click to expand...

Haha, thats the way! I would give it a try but no one locally stocks it. Wiggle are doing it for a little over £700 and i'm sorely tempted to pull the trigger blind. Decisions decisions!!

Have you ridden a 105 equipped bike for comparison?
 
slowmotion

slowmotion

Quite dreadful
Location
lost somewhere
huwsparky said:
Haha, thats the way! I would give it a try but no one locally stocks it. Wiggle are doing it for a little over £700 and i'm sorely tempted to pull the trigger blind. Decisions decisions!!

Have you ridden a 105 equipped bike for comparison?
Click to expand...
No, just the Campag version. Are you near to west London? You could nip round the block a few times on mine.
 
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