Clifton CC

Hi
A long shot perhaps, but does anybody have an opinion on the best bike to buy for sportif riding in the £750 to £1k bracket.
I ride mtb but want to get the fitness levels up and have strangely been looking at road bikes a lot recently(is this natural?)
Am used to 'quality' xtr groupset on mtb and am thinking 105 as a minimum on a road bike.


Thanks in advance!!

Allan

Hi Allan,

Be prepared for a string of suggestions as your question is like 'what's the best Album to buy?' Everyone will have their own opinions.

For pure value for money you might want to look at the PlanetX bikes. I saw one of these http://www.planet-x-warehouse.co.uk/aca ... built.html in the flesh at their warehouse last Summer and was amazed at what you got for the money. Never ridden one though so I can't comment on what ownership would be like.

Also Ribble do some good value bikes and you see plenty still doing good service on the club runs after years of use. Again, different people have had differing experience of Ribble's customer service. I've never had any problems though.

Good luck!

BTW If you only ever own 1 Album make sure it's 'Blood on the Tracks'. Don't let anyone else tell you different because they're wrong

The Boardman range are getting amazing reviews and for the prices seem excellent. The Team Carbon at £978 looks ideal for your needs - see February's Cycling Plus for a comparative review of some road bikes at this price band.

Also in your price range, you might get a Campag Centaur equipped bike, and that gruppo is superb value for money. Same quality as Ultegra for 105 price imo.

Its really worth a look at a raleigh airlite pro race.
Loads of spec for the money, its a carbon/alloy frame with 105 group set and some nice xero wheels. All for £750.

Plus CCC get 10% discount at Cycle Scene, that makes it £675 A crazy deal on a superb looking/riding bike and fully built with local dealer backup service.

Simon

I reckon there's a nearly 100% chance that you can get ANY of the local bike shops to match the prices available from the internet people.
And I'm talking from Xperience, time over.
I think that keeping local people in business makes good sense, also, they're actually pretty knowledgeable, you might even meet them on the road around riding bikes! They'll certainly let you try some out. Replace any dodgy bits at no anguish.
I know that armchair E-buying is a doddle. Did some myself. I've now got £220 worth of assorted stuff with something wrong, to send back, oh the hassle! Life's too short I think.

Just another vote for shopping local - at this time of year most of the dealers have last year's models to discount and bikes aren't exactly rushing out of the showroom - get in there and haggle a bit either on price or extras. Club partner Cycle Heaven does Scott, and other good local dealers have Trek, Specialized, Willier, etc - test ride, ponder, enjoy!

Allan wrote:A long shot perhaps

You're kidding, right?

Many thanks for some great advice..........
I have had a look in a few local LBS and trawled the tinternet. The boardman in Halfords is awesome, the Planet x and ribble's look great and I need to see the Raliegh at cyclescene.
I am however really keen on the Cannondale CAAD9 105 compact/Synapse 105 triple.
Not too sure if the CAAD or synapse is right for me and whether to go compact or not.

For Sportives a compact is a pretty good solution unless you're really capable of turning a 39/53 all day up hill and down dale - which implies you're a pretty decent rider- in which case I doubt you'd be soliciting opinions on here in the first place!!

IMO since compacts came along the reasons for getting a triple have all but gone.

I am however really keen on the Cannondale CAAD9 105 compact/Synapse 105 triple.

Nigel at Haxby cycles does these.

Hi Allan - I'm in a similar situation/price bracket to you, but looking for a straight-up race bike. I'm tempted to get hold of a Planet-X frame and get the LBS (Selby) to build it up with the bits I want (probably SRAM group but maybe I should give Centaur a look...) so I can put money where it's important to me instead of taking 'off-the-peg' specs.

One thing I noticed from the Planet-X website is news of an imminent 30%+ Shimano price rise - http://www.planet-x-warehouse.co.uk/?p=3746 - you may want to get your skates on!

tom

The price hike is here - also I believe SRAM are also doing the same. Makes gruppos more expensive - I'd be tempted to go for 'whole bike' deals where prices are a bit more stable and may lag behind price hikes as complete bikes are further forward in the supply chain. Either way with the pound going down the pan relative to almost all other currencies (good one Gordon - NOT! ) buy now while your money buys something.

Hey, Dr Dave, I thought you were a Medical Doctor, not a spin doctor!

Claire