First bike

[scottishking]

I am looking at buying my first road bike. I used to ride a mountain bike for a living for two years and always toyed with the idea of getting a road bike. I have now decided that with the weather starting to get better and an itch to get back on a bike this is the time to do it. I've got about a grand to spend tops but am looking at doing it on a 0% finance deal. I am looking at getting a Spesh Allez Elite or Secteur elite.

I know that the Secteur has the better component parts with Shimano 105 compared to Shimano Tiagra and sure thats what will make the difference in price.

Having looked around online though everyone seems to love the Allez and the Secteur has very mixed reviews.I know the best advice is always go and try them out which I will do but I am unsure if as a beginner I will really be able to tell the difference with a short ride.

I want to know then if its worth spending the extra £200 on the Secteur or going for the Allez that I am sure is still a very good bike. Any other suggestions for similar bikes are also appreciated.

 

[bauldbairn]

Welcome to the CC forums.

Both bikes are very popular on this very site - I'm sure some owners will be along shortly to advise for or against the Allez or Secteur.

In the meanwhile why not "search" for the bikes(by name) in the CC search tool(above)? This will pick up on all the threads where members have mentioned either bike. There have been three Specialised Secteur threads this week alone(cue uncle Norm or Mr Rauk).

Good luck with picking between them and let us know how you get on.

 

[HLaB]

Welcome to the forum sk

I think its main difference between them, is the Allez is aimed at entry level racing a bit more extreme geometry wise whereas the secteur is aimed at the Sportif market and its a bit more relaxed geometry wise. One of the reasons I chose my C2C bianchi was that it was a bit more relaxed than the B4P Bianchi. The decision is up to you really, perhaps you can take them both for a test ride,

 

[scottishking]

I went to the shop on Thursday and had a look at both bikes. I decided fairly quickly I didnt like the Sectuer and the Allez was the way forward. I also looked at The Scott Speedster S20 that was the same kind of set up as the Allez. It was £100 more than I wanted to spend but had the better parts and I thought looked nicer than the Allez in that red. I took them both out for a test ride and fell in love the Scott. Its now sat in the conservatory and I cant wait to get out on it over the summer.