Help on bike

[MikeB18]

Hey guys,
I am new to this forum and new to cycling. I have a cheap apollo bike at the moment which I use now and again but I want to get into road cycling. Seeing as I know nothing about road bikes I need help choosing one. I only want to spend £300 - 400 and I only want a beginner one, not a fancy £2000 carbon fibre one Ive heard Evans is a good shop so browsing on their website and I found these two (link below). Are these good bikes, what one is better? and could I get better for the same price or maybe a bit more?

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/dawes/giro-200-2010-road-bike-ec022692

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/claud-butler/criterium-2010-road-bike-ec022487

mike

 

[accountantpete]

Hi Mike and welcome.

Basically the bikes you link to are ok but very "entry level" - the frames (presumably sourced from China etc) should be quite good if a little heavy for most road bikers tastes but the other components will have been chosen to reduce costs and will not be particularly hard wearing.

The advantage is that you can get a road bike for a reasonable price and if you don't find like the scene then you haven't lost much.

I'd have a look at second hand bikes on eBay or alternatively ay a bit more for something like this.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products...oogle&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=froogle

 

[cyberknight]

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_272635_langId_-1_categoryId_165710


Review bike radar..

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/virtuoso-09-34691.

 

[Muddyfox]

+1 for the Carrera Virtuosa

Simon

 

[Philk]

I was in a similar dilemma earlier this year and after looking around decided to spend a little extra and get a good quality bike that i would enjoy riding.
The problem I found with cheaper bikes they just dampen the enjoyment.

the cost difference may be a couple of hundred quid, but it really shows in component quality and build quality, and as your nearly there anyway why not get a better spec, as I have discovered in the past its a false ecomony sometimes to buy cheaper.


an example:

http://www.mikevaughancycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m1b0s6p3227

 

[tiswas-steve]

Im all for the specialized allez sports as per accountantpete but at £600 it is a little bit outta your stated price range.
From what I hear, the Carrera Vituosa gets nothing but good reviews across the board for the price and is within your price range.
whatever you choose hope you enjoy your choice and get into the roadie scene.

 

[MikeB18]

thanks for the help
I'm also stuck on what other stuff I will need such as shoes and clothing etc.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

+1 for the Carrera Virtuosa

Simon

Was going to suggest the very same myself..

Which reminds me I must go and kidnap my Virtuoso back from the mate who has borrowed it

 

[cyberknight]

Had a guy in the bike shed at work comparing my carrera vs his front suss hybrid, he tried the weight and obviously was amazed even with full rack,panniers, gaurds etc there was such a difference.

Edit that's a point the carrera has points for mudgaurds and pannier rack if you need to add them .

 

[KevinG]

So far my Virtuoso has been great, though advisable to have someone who knows what they are doing e.g. your local lbs to check it over after collection. I too chose this bike to sample road riding and have never looked back, completing my first 50 miler a couple of weekends ago.

If buying one of these then from my own experience I would also budget on buying new pedals, tyres and perhaps a replacement saddle as I found these items weren't the best.

 

[MikeB18]

thanks for the replies guys its helped a lot.

KevinG - if I was to get the Virtuoso what tyres and pedals would you recommend?

 

[cyberknight]

On mine i stuck some conti gator skins 700x23 and some cheap spd pedals that i got off ebay, would mean getting some compatible shoes as well.

Saddle wise i changed mine for a charge spoon, the original was ok but i must have the wrong shaped ass for it .

This was done mainly from parts from my previous hack i got off ebay and ran into the ground.
best thing to do is change tyres and pedals 1st.

 

[KevinG]

I use Look Keo pedals. I would recommend Classic or Easy.

e.g.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?PartnerID=79&ModelID=28263

If a first time clipless user then you won't go far wrong with the Keo Easy model. I used these with the grey Look cleats (which allow a small amount of lateral movement, or float) and Northwave shoes and quickly got used to them. No clipless moments to report, but I trained myself to remember to think about unclipping while still on the toe clips and it seems to have worked.

Don't expect to walk far though - there are other clipless systems which allow better walking options like SPD. The Look systems seem more geared to pure road use to me.

As for tyres, that's a huge subject. I run with Continental Ultra Sports and they have been fine. I picked up a Bontrager saddle from Ebay and that too was a huge improvement over the Carrera one!

 

[KevinG]

Hey guys,
I am new to this forum and new to cycling. I have a cheap apollo bike at the moment which I use now and again but I want to get into road cycling. Seeing as I know nothing about road bikes I need help choosing one. I only want to spend £300 - 400 and I only want a beginner one, not a fancy £2000 carbon fibre one Ive heard Evans is a good shop so browsing on their website and I found these two (link below). Are these good bikes, what one is better? and could I get better for the same price or maybe a bit more?

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/dawes/giro-200-2010-road-bike-ec022692

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/claud-butler/criterium-2010-road-bike-ec022487

mike

The other thing I was going to say, is that the Virtuoso has modern STI shifters, albeit an entry-level Shimano product, but it works well, whereas one of these bikes (Dawes) has downtube shifters and the other I dont believe has STI.

More info here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimano_Total_Integration

 

[Philk]

These are pretty good pedals

http://www.evanscycles.com/products...oogle&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=froogle

Easy to use as well