What road bike?

[CharlieB]

I did the Norwich 100 last week in 6½ hours on a fairly heavy (commute-friendlied) MTB. I was quite pleased with the time, but I can't help thinking I'd have done it in under six on a road bike.
So there's an itch I need to scratch!

My question is fairly complex, so excuse the ramble to get there.
I'm not sure I'd get full use from a road bike, as most of my use is for commuting and I have to do part of the journey by train most days.
So I can't justify the spend on, say a Spesh Roubaix (lovely bike), that one of the guys I rode the Norwich 100 with was on.
I realise that entry level on road bikes is at about the £700 mark, but please correct me if I'm wrong there.
That said, if you spend at that level, can you progressively improve the bike overall by selection of better components over a period of time, as you would with, say a hi-fi system?
Or does the quality of the frame, at that price level, negate any spend on better components?

 

[Downward]

New 2011 Treks should be out in about a month or so and the Giants soon after.
Should be looking at a Tiagra set up with Carbon forks and seat posts for that price.

 

[Mike!]

If new models are out soon then wait and get the outgoing model for a lot less (which means you may get something from closer to the £1000 range....

 

[battered]

I play around with hifi for my sins. If there's anything dafter than buying a bike you don't really want and then spending more money to make it better, it's buying a hifi thinking "this can be soooo much better". It's a recipe for spending money endlessly on something that you will never be satisfied with. Buy what you want from the outset, the difference between a groupset and the one above may be £200. The parts to change will be 3 times this. Do you want to buy the bike you want to ride for £900 or would you rather pay £700 and another £600 over the next 6 months?

Don't build it if you can buy it.

 

[CharlieB]

I play around with hifi for my sins. If there's anything dafter than buying a bike you don't really want and then spending more money to make it better, it's buying a hifi thinking "this can be soooo much better". It's a recipe for spending money endlessly on something that you will never be satisfied with. Buy what you want from the outset, the difference between a groupset and the one above may be £200. The parts to change will be 3 times this. Do you want to buy the bike you want to ride for £900 or would you rather pay £700 and another £600 over the next 6 months?

Don't build it if you can buy it.

Point taken…

Ok - there are pretty much 3 bikes I've looked at (not test-ridden yet) that I've fallen in love with around the £650-750 mark.
A Fuji and a Trek I can't remember the model name/number of and a Bianchi Via Nirone.

Serious question - would any of these stand up to a commute, say once or twice a week, on the cr#p roads that we London commuters know and love? I use a folder the rest of the week.
Roads out my way, by the way, aren't much better.

 

[BrumJim]

I ride a Specialized Allez 16 every day on my commute to work. No problems, other than wearing out of components (brakes - that's life, chain and rear cassette - need to improve my chain care).