It's the inevitable pre christmas first road bike question...

[Radius]

You heard me. But unlike some, my budget is not £1000...more like £250 max. I know that's not a lot, but this will mainly be a commuting / short ish rides bike. Don't need rack + panniers, may get raceblades.

The two bikes (as you may have seen) that I've been looking at so far are:

Viking Monza

and

Claud Bulter Criterium

Basically I want to know if there is anything else I should be looking at instead.

And, are these two bikes really that different (save 14sp. vs 24 sp.)?


Thanks,


JM

 

[robz400]

I've got a Carrera Virtuoso that cost me £250 about 2 months ago and i'm very happy with it. I spent sometime setting up the gears as halfords didn't bother, but since then i've done 700 miles and had (touch wood) no problems at all.

Its an 18 speed compact and i've never needed any other gears and i've been up some pretty steep stuff on Dartmoor hitting 50mph on the way down.

The only this i'd change is the sora thumb shifter as my small hands can't reach it on the drops but I think all bikes at this price range come with that.

 

[John the Monkey]

The only this i'd change is the sora thumb shifter as my small hands can't reach it on the drops but I think all bikes at this price range come with that.

Yep - or the non series (2200?) shifter (same layout). Choice is a bit limited in this price bracket, but Carrera's bikes aren't bad by all accounts, if you can handle a bit of the set up yourself. Edinburgh Bike Co-Op might also reduce their road bike (the Continental?) post christmas to the point where it fits into your budget. If you've a Decathlon nearby, their bikes can be pretty good vfm too.

 

[HLaB]

The only this i'd change is the sora thumb shifter as my small hands can't reach it on the drops but I think all bikes at this price range come with that.

OT I'm glad I'm not the only one with that problem, I've got Sora on one of my bikes and I can't get on with the thumb shifters either when I'm in the drops and I would describe my hands as medium, I think you would have to have giant's hands to reach it.

 

[lantern rouge]

+1 to robz400 - I too have an 08 Carrera Virtuoso, and I can't fault it as an entry level bike.

I was lucky that my branch of Halfords (yes I said it out loud!) set it up beautifully, and three hundred miles later the only problem is a slightly out of true rear wheel (my fault)

Don't get me wrong, I aspire to greater things later but for now, I'm well pleased

 

[Radius]

Thanks for the replies, will check out the virtuoso and Edinburgh cycles. I think my hands will cope with the soras as I'm 6"2, have large hands, and play guitar

 

[Radius]

Ok, now my budget has climbed to a (staggering! ) £400 MAX.

I've looked at:

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/15994/Orbea_Enol_Bike_2008 Orbea Enol

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/14334/Saracen_Tour_2_Bike_2008 Saracen Tour 2

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/12618/Raleigh_AirLite_200_Bike_2007 [Raleigh Airlite 200] (UGLY!)



Any of those? Know Orbea do some mean top end stuff, but lower down....?

 

[Headgardener]

Like the Sarecen Tour 3 looks like I will need to start saving up my pennies.