1st road bike

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km991148

Well-Known Member
Hey,

Since joining here a few years back I have only been about on my flat bar hybrid and now want to (finally!) get onto a 'decent' road bike (by decent I mean around 900euro/800£)

Went out looking today and got pointed towards this cube peloton.
sat on it for a while and seemed good fit (but on a turbo and 1st time sitting on a 'real' bike!!) but looking for opinios..

I think (almost all) Tiagra groupset is about as good as it gets in this price range (esp with a carb fork) and the cubes seems to get good revies in general;

What else should I be looking at? anyone with one of these? any comments?

Havent been round shops to experience much yet (hopefully over the next week).
After reading up I figured id prefer a compact with 11teeth on the cassette but now im not even sure how to tell what I would prefer!!!

cheers,
km

edit: meant to call this "Yet another 1st bike post..."
 

colinr

Well-Known Member
Location
Norwich
£800 buys you a reasonable amount of choice, personally I like Cubes, they look the part. Specialized Allez Elite is in that price bracket, there'll be a Giant and Trek somewhere around there too (Giant Defy and Trek 1.x).

The stock answer is, try as many as you can, see if you can find a favourite. Failing that, follow your heart and buy the one you like the most, can't really go wrong with anything at that price point.
 

kewb

New Member
well first £`s i have to spare and im getting a peloton mate picked one up on cycle to work scheme and its the bomb ,
lbs has that peloton its one covered in my drool lol its just left of the much pawed williers
athena with the scratch marks from my fingernails on the floor lol .
 
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km991148

Well-Known Member
colinr said:
£800 buys you a reasonable amount of choice, personally I like Cubes, they look the part. Specialized Allez Elite is in that price bracket, there'll be a Giant and Trek somewhere around there too (Giant Defy and Trek 1.x).

The stock answer is, try as many as you can, see if you can find a favourite. Failing that, follow your heart and buy the one you like the most, can't really go wrong with anything at that price point.

Thanks all for the replies.. I looked at the giants and treks in that price range and they dont seem as well equiped. There is only one spesh dealer near me and I need to find time to get up there.

The problem is, I dont know exactly what I am looking for. I have been reading up on ratios and group sets ant not sure how to compare to what I have. Also, any problems with tiagra sets? I think its worth at least getting away from the sora shifters, but are the tiagras still cr@p compared to proper grousets (105/ dura etc).

I will be going for decent spins each weekend (approx 100miles) and will prob look for a local club. I am hoping that a semi decent (or what some may call basic B)) will do me a good bit before getting into upgrades etc.

km
 

colinr

Well-Known Member
Location
Norwich
I doubt you'll have any problems with Tiagra. Google tells me that 105 is definitely better, but that's not to say Tiagra isn't good. I don't really know the difference, it might be worth posting in the know how forum here for a better answer on this.

But, it's easy to lose perspective here, there's no way an £800 bike is going to be crap! Just might not be as good as a £1,000 bike, but would you be able notice the difference?

Oh, and just in case you didn't have enough options, the Felt Z85 is rather attractive :biggrin:
 
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km991148

Well-Known Member
Chrisc said:
I was going through this and ended up buying a Bianchi via Nirone with campag group. They may be low end gears but they work beautifully and I think the bike is a stunner!

That does look nice! And that leads me to another point.. I am only familiar with the simano sets.. never mind anything else!!

colinr said:
I doubt you'll have any problems with Tiagra. Google tells me that 105 is definitely better, but that's not to say Tiagra isn't good. I don't really know the difference, it might be worth posting in the know how forum here for a better answer on this.

But, it's easy to lose perspective here, there's no way an £800 bike is going to be crap! Just might not be as good as a £1,000 bike, but would you be able notice the difference?

Oh, and just in case you didn't have enough options, the Felt Z85 is rather attractive ;)
thanks for more options!

I am actually a lillt limited as I want to buy locally (in dublin) as I want the usual free 2month service as well as correct setup etc..

The other point about noticing the difference is what I am worried about - I doubt I would even feel it with sora (other than the strange shift mechanism) but Hopefully I will have a better idea in a couple of years time and want something to see me through until then;

Thanks all
 

colinr

Well-Known Member
Location
Norwich
If you go for a campagnolo groupset, Mirage is roughly equivalent to Tiagra. But I'm just Googling this and don't actually know details. As before, know how should be able to help with technical questions, they don't bite :evil:

But looking at options, that Cube you original posted about is as good as any and has a good paintjob, this is very important!
 

Chrisc

Guru
Location
Huddersfield
My bike shop told me the xenon ( bottom end ) campy group on my Bianchi is as good as a tiagra that cost a bit more. The cost wasn't the decider tho. Once I got the frame size sorted it was down to the fact that a Bianchi ought to have some Celeste on it and an Italian group
and the tiagra version was red!

I had no experience of either shimano or campy so had an open mind buying this but now I absolutely love the bike and the gear changes are so smooth now it's all bedded in and set up.

Important thing to keep hold of is that £800 is not going to get you a bad bike whatever you decide on. Just make sure it fits you, puts a smile on your face and you'll get used to whatever controls and gears it comes with.
 
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km991148

Well-Known Member
thanks again..
i need to find time to research the different options but been crazy with work etc...
I thought 800 was a little short but looking about it semms to get something solid enough;

yes- the paintjob is v important ;) - although I dont like the look of the cube in the pics, but in the flesh it does appeal - even if it will be a pain to clean!
 

DanB

New Member
Location
Guildford
Hi. I'm also moving from hybrid to road. About to become recipient of Allez sport. Very excited. I think this is considered a good entry level road bike. Certainly felt good when I sized up but hey, I guess I'll only really know when I've taken it out for a good 30 miles
 

threebikesmcginty

Corn Fed Hick...
Location
...on the slake
It's a good idea to get the best frame and wheels you can for your money. Don't get too hung up on the groupset you can upgrade components at a later date if you want/need to. Plenty of choice out there for £800.

Genesis bikes have a couple for £800, Planet X Kaffenback is a good all rounder for £800.
 
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