Firstbike - £500-£600

[onandon]

Hi - excuse the newbie question, but I'm looking for my first bike and have got £500 to £600 to spend.
I want a road bike, i do a lot of running and want to start transitioning to cycling.
Any ideas? The 2 options I've looked at so far are a 2011 Giant Defy 2 discounted to £500 or a 2011 Boardman Road Bike discounted to £600 from £750.
Any suggestions gratefully received!

 

[Thomk]

I recently got the Defy 2 2011 and it's great. A bargain at £500. Be cautious about the sizing though as it is not intuitive i.e. you must try one out.

 

[paulw1969]

Hi,
what Thomk said. They are supposed to be very good frames which you can always upgrade other things like cassette etc in the future as required. Like Thomk said though, check them out as they are sized medium or medium/large etc so always a good idea to try one out. I did and the medium/large was slightly too big for me needed the medium. Check out bikeradar for the reviews on 2011 and 2012 Defy 2
sorry dont know nothing about the Boardman......i'm sure someone will chip in though.

Still waiting for my bike...........another 8 weeks wait for my Defy 2 for me

 

[cyberknight]

Much as i love my boardman the price is a bit of a con , they were £650 when they came our then they put the price up for a few weeks so they could "discount" them before x mas ......

 

[deanbmx]

What size do you need? I currently have a boardman road comp for sale close to your budget.

 

[Nearly there]

http://paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m7b0s6p0

Plenty to choose from here

 

[onandon]

What size do you need? I currently have a boardman road comp for sale close to your budget.

Hi I'm 5ft 10ins so a medium frame I guess. Thanks for all the advice so far

 

[onandon]

http://paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m7b0s6p0

Plenty to choose from here

Thanks for this, I'm passing on Saturday so I'll try to pop in

 

[Willo]

For what it's worth from someone who made the transition from running to cycling a couple of yrs back, I'd strongly recommend sitting on a few different bikes, or even a test spin if the shop allows that (Evans do, for example). Not really having much of a clue, I had more or less decided on a Trek bike but after sitting on that and then a Specialized Allez the latter felt much more comfortable/natural for me. I'm sure it is the other way round for others.

By the way, really like my Allez so that's another option within your price range.