Recommendations folks for a road bike with a price tag about £400 max. A mates looking for something in the range and I'm not an expert. All help and suggestions very welcome.
If your mate is paying cash I'd go down the second hand route. There's plenty of people who spend a fortune on a bike and then cycle twice. There's lots of bargains out there. Especially on Gumtree.
Also lots of places have 2015 bikes on sale. I would not recommend Boardman or Apollo at all. Or even a bike from Halfords.
My other half bought a 2014 Specialized Allez for £400 new from Primera.
Second hand for sure - I learned this the hard way. I bought a £329 brand new bike, and frankly it's been painful. I replaced it with one that was rather a lot more expensive... and it's lovely
second hand - but only if you're comfortable in your ability to determine if the bike is in sound mechanical condition. Very easy to be landed with a lemon that costs a fortune to return to workable condition otherwise.
Otherwise, Decathlon and EBC have some good bikes, and don't discount Halfords... The Apollo range is dreadful but they do have some decent bikes; GT, Voodoo, 13 and Boardman are all OK (especially with a British Cycling discount) - just be wary of the staff, whilst some are good, many are awful.
I bought a Vitus Razor VR. It cost just under £400 before christmas, and it was a great introduction into cycling. Came with Sora/Claris groupset and carbon forks. Couldn't ask for much more from a first road bike, however If I wasn't so impatient I think I would have found a better deal secondhand.
The Triban 3 from Decathlon gets rave reviews, and is probably a good bet if buying new.
Otherwise 2nd hand will certainly get more bike for the money - but make sure to check the bike carefully for wear/damage when you buy! It's worth doing a bit of googling to know what to check for.
On that budget I would personally look for an old ten speed steel framed bike (there are often some nice peugeot frames on gumtree/ebay), and maybe upgrade the wheels and brakes with the left-over cash, but that's very much a matter of personal taste!
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