I want my first carbon road Bike! Which One??

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Ralphy77

New Member
Hi There

Im currently riding a trek 1.7 road bike and ride every two days, i love my bike but really fancy a carbon bike now, but i dont know which is a good bike to be my first, any ideas please? i dont want to pay the earth as im not going to be compeating but im not that tight to spend a bit to get a good one!
 

Ben M

Senior Member
Location
Chester/Oxford
Hello and welcome.

Well a budget would be helpful. But for entry level full carbon, just over the £1k mark the bikes which I see getting good reviews are the Ribble Sportive carbon and the Planet x superlight pro carbon.I think that Focus do a good entry level carbon bike as well, but the name escapes me.
 

Cyclist33

Guest
Location
Warrington

MichaelM

Guru
Location
Tayside
£1000 will buy a carbon bike from Planeet X /Wiggle/Ribble.

Parker do an unbranded frame for £700, Planet X frame/forks is £460.

Depending on what you've got you might want to consider a frame/fork and move tour kit over.
 
OP
OP
R

Ralphy77

New Member
Hi There

Im currently riding a trek 1.7 road bike and ride every two days, i love my bike but really fancy a carbon bike now, but i dont know which is a good bike to be my first, any ideas please? i dont want to pay the earth as im not going to be compeating but im not that tight to spend a bit to get a good one!


Id go up to 2K at a push, How good is a Pinarello FP2,
 

Sysagent

"The Most Annoying Man In The World."
£2K could get you a good frame with some "reasonable" parts on, I would focus on the frame quality at around that cost and then you can update the parts as they wear / break.

Go for well established proven frame manufacturers (Colnago, Pinarello, Bianchi, Cannondale, etc), fair enough you maybe paying a little bit extra for the brand but with that you will be getting years of experience and design...

Good luck!

p.s. Out of interest why the lust for a bike made from Soot? For two grand you could get a very good alloy / ti / steel frame that will last a Hell of a lot longer than your carbons.
 

Panter

Just call me Chris...
I just got a Giant TCR Advanced IV and I'm really pleased with it.
You should be able to get one for £1500.00 which gives you a little change for pedals, bling shoes, carbon bottle holder etc... :biggrin:
 

JNR

New Member
£1900 is a lot for a bike with Shimano 105 in my opinion.

I wouldn't buy a Pinarello until there was no budget, their lower end models aren't that well specced in my opinion.

I paid less than £1500 for my FP2 but I would have to agree that they aren't that well specced. I didn't really have a budget and got a good deal on mine but I would still like to upgrade the wheels if I had endless amounts of cash left over. Which I haven't

It must be said though that when you start spending up to £2000, whatever you buy from a reputable shop is going to be top class, and to a beginner like me the differences between the bikes was small in terms of quality. I just got different feelings from them. Riding a Specialized was different from a Trek was different from a Wilier. I just bought what I liked the look and feel of when I was riding it. Yeah, I could have got a lighter bike, but I like the one I've got more than the benefits 0.5 or 1.0kg means to me.

It is said by some you pay more for the frame, and the name on it, when buying a Pinarello and some of the other bits aren't as good though.
 

hotmetal

Senior Member
Location
Near Windsor
It might be the Focus Cayo that Ben M was thinking about.

2010 Ultegra version with Aksium wheels is £1300, 105 version is £1k from Wiggle
http://www.wiggle.co...source=googleps

Review (older model) http://www.roadcycli...-cayo/1940.html

They get pretty good reviews and my neighbour (who races) rides one and is well pleased with his, but I've not ridden it myself. Also depends if you're happy ordering a bike off Wiggle.
That said, I bought my (old but well-preserved) Giant TCR off a bloke on Ebay for less than a grand and it has full Campag Record/Eurus wheels. I absolutely love it, it weighs nothing, rides like a dream but I admit it was a bit of a gamble. I couldn't resist a bargain and struck lucky. The only thing that broke was the poncy Campag branded carbon bottle cage!

With some brands you do pay a lot for the name. Cannondales IMO can be a bit tight on spec at a given price point, but I have had 2 Cannondale mountainbikes and they just ride so nicely that I think they somehow are actually worth the extra. (One of mine is from 1988 and still goes well, the other one is a Jekyll, one of the last ones made in USA before they shifted production to the Far East).
 
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