Road bike, help URGENT!

[InspireTheEmpathic]

at the moment i'm without a bike so i dont have a means of transport that isnt ridiculous and i will be coming into some money on the 29th... 400 pounds to be exact. and i want to spend it on a new bike. i asked at the local bike shop and they said they'd be able to build me a bike up to the spec i want using second hand bits that wont have wear on etc within 350-400 pounds. but i was wondering if i could get one new or how easy it is to get bikes to this spec and how much? i cant really go past 400 at all :/ not unless it makes a completely ridiculous difference which i know it can but you can always get good deals too.
I'm wanting it to be pretty light and as far as i know you can get steel just as light as aluminium now with good design etc, double chainring, top to be 52 or 53, 8 or 9 speed rear cassette. the mechs to be of a good range... like sora or 105 so they last the test of time etc. sti shifters not down tube as its not ideal for hills etc. cassette bottom bracket, decent enough double walled wheels, 700x23 ish tires. and just general lightweight seat bars etc. forks would be good if they were carbon but if thats unreasonable then just steel. ermm i have nice pedals off my old bike. and thats bout it really isnt it, more or less. anything missed just assume it's not like argos value but not top of the range either around the same quality as sora, 105 etc... not dura ace price range
the bike shop said they're able to do all of this but i'm always worried in getting someone to build the bike and it turns out to not be to my spec, or they went over my budget so i'm stuck etc... please help because i cant go much longer without a job :/

 

[battered]

Right, £400 won't get you a new bike with Shimano 105 unless I'm mistaken. Carbon forks? Dream on. It will nevertheless het you a decent bike.

The bike shop could build up something, if you trust them to use decent bits then it could be a good deal. There's plenty of scope to get stung though if you don't know what you are buying.

£400 will get you an excellent second hand bike. Someone maybe offloading £1000 of lightly used C2W bike at that kind of price and you can pick and choose from lovely machines.

 

[MacB]

bit of a tall order at that price range, you certainly won't get lightweight steel unless you can source a frame secondhand and then build up slowly. I'd have a look at what's on offer from 2009/10 models online, here's a Raleigh Airlite at £430 for Sora shifters:-

http://www.ashcycles.com/site/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1680&language=en

I bought a bike from them and it is fine but don't trust them on extras. They sent the wrong mudguards and rack, which I returned, but they've never refunded the £50, that's nearly two years now.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

They sent the wrong mudguards and rack, which I returned, but they've never refunded the £50, that's nearly two years now.

You'd only waste it...

 

[TheBoyBilly]

Just had a look at Evans' sale bikes and there aren't too many road bikes between £300-£425 but a stand-out bike is the Trek 1.1 Compact @£419.99 (down from £500) It has Shimano 2300 kit which although not Sora is still good enough at that price. The same with the Dawes Giro 300 from Winstanleys (if it REALLY has to have Sora they have the Raleigh Airlite 200, as mentioned by MacB, at £448 - down from £600)

Bill

 

[CopperBrompton]

I'd second Battered's reply, if you trust the bike shop you could get a very nice secondhand machine for £400, far for bike for your money than you'd get new.

 

[RedBike]

Good luck!

I've been trying to win a secondhand bike off ebay for £300-£400 for about a month now. I'm close to giving up.
The price of second hand bikes on this site seems to have gone through the roof!
You'll find it very hard to get a bike (in good condition) with 105 for that sort of money.
If the bike shop think they can build you up a good bike for £400 I would go with them!

My recommendation for buying second-hand is to ignore all of the big brand names like Specialized, trek and the famous italian ones. Their bikes always seem to fetch premium money secondhand. Instead go for the lesser known names. For example at the moment i'm looking at Kinesis and Focus bikes. Both of these brands produce high quality bikes, but they don't have the same 'brand power' as for example Colnago.

The only one i'm tempted to put an offer in for at the moment is this one
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200520764504&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
I think it's worth about £300 but I can almost guarantee that that it will go for a lot more than that!

Even when buying second-hand remember that 'fit' is very important. Don't go buying a bike thats massively too big/small just because its cheap.

 

[MacB]

The only one i'm tempted to put an offer in for at the moment is this one
http://cgi.ebay.co.u...e=STRK:MEWAXT
I think it's worth about £300 but I can almost guarantee that that it will go for a lot more than that!

Even when buying second-hand remember that 'fit' is very important. Don't go buying a bike thats massively too big/small just because its cheap.

I think the component market has done a lot of damage, the bike you've linked to there has 105 STI's. For example, if you want to buy the STI's, bars, stem and bar tape to put on a bike you're looking at £300. It's been noted more than once that you can be cheaper buying a complete new bike to get bits to upgrade an existing bike rather than buying the bits alone. Plus you end up with some stuff to sell off as well.

 

[RedBike]

I think the component market has done a lot of damage, the bike you've linked to there has 105 STI's. For example, if you want to buy the STI's, bars, stem and bar tape to put on a bike you're looking at £300. It's been noted more than once that you can be cheaper buying a complete new bike to get bits to upgrade an existing bike rather than buying the bits alone. Plus you end up with some stuff to sell off as well.

The price of bikes has gone up in general.

A year or two ago planet-x were doing a carbon framed bike with a (part) dura-ace groupset for under £1k . Now most 105 equiped aluminium bikes are over the £1k mark. A complete dura-ace groupset on its own will cost you over £1,000.

If you were to buy the equivalent spec'd 2011 bike as to what I linked to on ebay (kinesis T2) I would expect it to cost about £1200, whereas a year or two ago I would have been looking at say £800? This increase in new part prices is naturally being reflected in the price of second-hand parts.

 

[zaid]

The only one I've seen close to what your after with Sora and carbon forks is slightly over your budget at £423 is here .
Like others have said, prices have shot up everywhere.
Cheers

Sorry just noticed MacB's already mentioned this. Doh!

 

[InspireTheEmpathic]

Thanks to everyone for that but can only reply to one comment really. I have seen the raleigh airlite before but it was light blue and yellow or something which is hideous. That model is quite nice to be fair, I'm just gonna ask the bike shop tomorrow whether they can build a bike to this spec, ish, and ask them for a price before i mention my budget. theyre a pretty good bike shop but you never know with trade businesses where they add costs etc. I'm fine without carbon forks as i can get them later and do it myself. It's a shame it costs so much more to build a bike yourself on average because i am pretty competant at building bikes.
and thanks for the info on price increases... great to know as soon as i get more into cycling again the prices go up .
The frames i've seen i can probably get relatively cheap are more old style large racing frames instead of the modern compact style. i kinda prefer the older frames to be honest anyway. an old frame that was really nice in its day with good parts on is as good as any mid range compact if you ask me.
If you have any more advice please help as i'm still mulling any suggestions over to be fair. what is this bike like then? it's a claud butler which has to say something...
http://www.bikesandprams.co.uk/product.php?xProd=2923&xSec=1121

The model above it is 440 and its frame is far less attractive and the parts are only marginally better so i can upgrade them at a later date... is this worth it if i replace the odd bit on it at a later date? main problem i've got with it is fear that the frame will weigh a tonne compared to others... whats your views?

 

[DuncanBeaumont]

[
The only one i'm tempted to put an offer in for at the moment is this one
http://cgi.ebay.co.u...e=STRK:MEWAXT
I think it's worth about £300 but I can almost guarantee that that it will go for a lot more than that!

Even when buying second-hand remember that 'fit' is very important. Don't go buying a bike thats massively too big/small just because its cheap.
[/quote]

 

[DuncanBeaumont]

Yes, it went for £420, 14 bids.