Bike buying advice please

[All uphill]

Go try them out, focus on the frame, fit and colour for now. You can’t change those. Components next

Absolutely this.

The essential thing on a bike imo is comfort. Whether you have sora, 105 or SRAM you will be able to ride and change gear; if you are uncomfortable for any reason you probably won't want to.

I have 3 bikes with Acera, Sora and 105. When I ride them I'm not thinking about the groupset!

Sit on them, check out the ride quality, fit and saddle.

 

[Suddabym]

Absolutely this.

The essential thing on a bike imo is comfort. Whether you have sora, 105 or SRAM you will be able to ride and change gear; if you are uncomfortable for any reason you probably won't want to.

I have 3 bikes with Acera, Sora and 105. When I ride them I'm not thinking about the groupset!

Sit on them, check out the ride quality, fit and saddle.

Thank u

 

[Spiderweb]

The Dolan Preffisio looks good, it takes full length mudguards & Pannier rack if required. Slightly over your budget at £1099;
https://www.dolan-bikes.com/dolan-preffisio-aluminium-road-bike-105-r7000/

 

[vickster]

Good shout and Dolan take a fair few C2W schemes
https://www.dolan-bikes.com/cycle-2-work-schemes/ (and it looks like you can add cash on top if you speak to them)

 

[Soltydog]

The giant contend ar 3 looks nice also specialized Allez looks good too. And love the look of the Merida scultura

I bought a Merida Scultura earlier this year purely for turbo use. The rear stays are quite wide & found myself catching my heels on them, ended up turning my cleats a smidge
If they have stock you may be abe to check all those bikes out fairly local. Vive Le Velo & Cliff Pratt sell Giant, & Minster & Beverley cycles on Norwood sell Spesh & Merida 👍

 

[fair weather cyclist]

The Dolan Preffisio looks good, it takes full length mudguards & Pannier rack if required. Slightly over your budget at £1099;
https://www.dolan-bikes.com/dolan-preffisio-aluminium-road-bike-105-r7000/

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This is nice.

I've always been a bit stand-offish towards Dolan bikes because I'd seen so many of their bikes come with extremely tacky paintjobs. This one has got a much more sober look.

Just browsed their bikes and I like the RDX too. 1500 quid and you get Shimano 105, disc brakes and 35mm tyre clearance. That's pretty good!

 

[Alex321]

This is nice.

I've always been a bit stand-offish towards Dolan bikes because I'd seen so many of their bikes come with extremely tacky paintjobs. This one has got a much more sober look.

Just browsed their bikes and I like the RDX too. 1500 quid and you get Shimano 105, disc brakes and 35mm tyre clearance. That's pretty good!

Wish I'd seen these when I was looking. Though I am happy with my Cube, their ADX looks pretty good

 

[bonzobanana]

The giant contend ar 3 looks nice also specialized Allez looks good too. And love the look of the Merida scultura

Giant and Merida are the two big Taiwanese brands and are actual manufacturers. Specialized, Trek, Canyon etc they are bike brands reliant on Asian factories. That doesn't make them bad but being reliant on other factories means more parties needing to make a profit and more complicated logistics. Many of these brands also do a lot of sponsorship and this all has to be paid for too. Giant and Merida are super high quality and often the best value brands in local bike shops by some margin for their spec. Some of the high end Specialized bikes used to be made by Merida and Merida used to partly own the Specialized company. Giant are a big OEM supplier to many brands typically their high end models as Giant aren't as competitive as a OEM manufacturer as they used to be.

Always check the full spec. Giant and Merida do very high quality aluminium frames with I think 6011 (Giant) and 6066 or maybe its 6069 frames (Merida) where as the factory-less brands typically offer only more basic quality 6061 frames for similar money. For me the worst value bikes are typically the factory-less brands at local bike shops, Trek, Specialized, Orbea etc and they only really get to decent prices in the end of season sales but with so little stock about there just isn't any decent discounting of such bikes.

 

[fair weather cyclist]

For me the worst value bikes are typically the factory-less brands at local bike shops, Trek, Specialized, Orbea etc and they only really get to decent prices in the end of season sales but with so little stock about there just isn't any decent discounting of such bikes.

I agree with this. What I find mind blowing is that Specialized brand in particular has managed to become so powerful that they're able to sell bikes with shimano claris and tektro brakes for £800. That's borderline robbery.

 

[Kingfisher101]

I agree with this. What I find mind blowing is that Specialized brand in particular has managed to become so powerful that they're able to sell bikes with shimano claris and tektro brakes for £800. That's borderline robbery.

What I find even more mind blowing is that people seem to think they are the best bikes as well.They are not great VFM.

 

[craigwend]

I bought a Merida Scultura earlier this year purely for turbo use. The rear stays are quite wide & found myself catching my heels on them, ended up turning my cleats a smidge
If they have stock you may be abe to check all those bikes out fairly local. Vive Le Velo & Cliff Pratt sell Giant, & Minster & Beverley cycles on Norwood sell Spesh & Merida 👍

&
http://wilsonswheels.co.uk/phone/index.html
Outside shops looks nothing, but sell some nice bikes, have a chat with them

 

[PaulSB]

@Suddabym so far you haven't stated the type of riding you want this bike for. I suggest you identify clearly what you're looking to do, visit a quality LBS, explain your needs and if it's a good shop the staff will be able to point you towards suitable bikes in their stock.

If you're buying online I suggest Dolan for two reasons. First and foremost Dolan offer very good bikes at reasonable prices. Second, and perhaps equally important at present, is Dolan don't seem to have supply problems. I base this only on the experience of three friends who've purchased in the last six months. All three received their bikes within a week of the promised date, two got the exact spec and the other accepted an 11/32 cassette instead of the 11/34. Very good service during extraordinary times.

If you can visit the showroom you'll get excellent service. Your in Hull? It's three hours by car I guess.

Expect a three month lead time on delivery.

 

[Suddabym]

@Suddabym so far you haven't stated the type of riding you want this bike for. I suggest you identify clearly what you're looking to do, visit a quality LBS, explain your needs and if it's a good shop the staff will be able to point you towards suitable bikes in their stock.

If you're buying online I suggest Dolan for two reasons. First and foremost Dolan offer very good bikes at reasonable prices. Second, and perhaps equally important at present, is Dolan don't seem to have supply problems. I base this only on the experience of three friends who've purchased in the last six months. All three received their bikes within a week of the promised date, two got the exact spec and the other accepted an 11/32 cassette instead of the 11/34. Very good service during extraordinary times.

If you can visit the showroom you'll get excellent service. Your in Hull? It's three hours by car I guess.

Expect a three month lead time on delivery.

Thank u so much really appreciate your help :-)