Road Bike Recommendation!

[Sparky]

Hi, I'm looking to get back into bikes in a big way after moving out to the countryside and was wondering if anyone could recommend a road bike in the £250-£300 bracket?

I've been looking at the Ventura Vitesse online and it seems pretty good value at approx £240. Any thoughts??

Cheers guys!

 

[gavintc]

Please do not take this comment as demeaning. But, £250-300 will not get you a decent new road bike. It will get you very much a budget model on which corners will have been cut to keep costs to a minimum. Your best option is to consider either getting a hybrid (town bike) or a second hand road one. I have not looked at the Ventura - but will guarantee you that it will not be up to much.

 

[Sparky]

Thanks for the advice, maybe I worded my post wrongly. What I should have said is that I'm looking for a road bike from £200-300. Any recommendations in that range?

 

[dudi]

Echoing GavinTC's comments, the budget your looking at is very much the lower end of the range.
It is also the budget I had when I was buying my road bike. I wasn't sure whether I would like it, so I didn't want to spend too much.

Are you determined to buy new? if you are, then the Claud Butler San Remo is the bike I went for. The only reason I bought that bike was because I had to buy it through the cycle to work scheme. If i were buying again and could do it, i would buy a decent used bike from Ebay or from classified ads in Cycling Plus.
If you buy used, you will get more for your money. the bikewill obvioulsy be a couple of years old, but as long as it has been well looked after, it would be fine.

 

[Berger and Chips]

If it is the right size for you, I would recommend getting a Halfords Carrera TDF then replacing the steel forks with some cheap carbon ones off Chain Reaction, also change the pedals to cheap spd compatible ones and you should be good to go on an Alu racer with carbon forks for around £300.
I have the bike myself and that is what I intend to do to it. (I.E: change the forks and pedals)

Its quite a good fast bike, everything is alloy and looks well made.
Its better than a Ventura or similar.
Plus you get 12 months guarantee where Halfords are forced to service and repair it if required, which you dont get off bikes bought from Amazon/Ebay...