I don’t have the luxury of a C2W scheme sadly but have managed to put together a grand for a new road bike. I know it’s not a particularly impressive budget but I’d like to get something that’s quite ‘race’ orientated as I enjoy doing shorter speedier rides than all day rides.

I’ve looked at Planet X which look great value for the money, full carbon, 105 equipped for a thousand quid but anything else to consider?

you can get plenty of bike for that money, just consider that your next upgrade will probably be wheels:
– Ribble
– Canyon
– Rose

These seem good
http://www.leisurelakesbikes.com/p/14918/focus-culebro-sl-10-compact-racing-road-bike-2014-sale

I know it’s not a particularly impressive budget

You’d be surprised. It’s such a hotly contested price point, that yields exceptional performance per £ IMO. Much cheaper, and the weight and cheaper components tend to blunt the ride too much, more expensive and you’re starting to spend money on marginal gains.

I’d not bother with carbon at £1k personally, there’s a lot of good racey ally bikes out there with frames almost carbon weight anyway, covered in half decent groupsets, wheels and finishing kit. The Planet X deal might seem a no brainer on paper, but you only need do a bit of research on t’internet, and it has its detractors.

£100 over budget but if you are a midget or a giant….

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p5220/CANNONDALE-SUPERSIX-105-2013

Or, if you want to buy from a shop rather than online, and can persuade someone to do you a bit of a deal, you might end up with a really decent quality frame:
http://2014.merida-bikes.com/en_gb/bikes/road/race/2014/scultura-cf-904-1266.html

There’s an alloy version with full carbon fork which comes in at under £1000 too.

(And there’d be no need to rush to upgrade the wheels, either).

Giant Defy 1 at £999 or Composite 3 at £1099. The 1 comes with full 105 and you get a lifetime warranty, the comp 3 comes with tiagra 10 speed and a lifetime warranty. Most shops could do you some discount on them too

Dolan L’Etape……

Fully customisable on there Website with parts group set etc. Provides a good + over any of the above.

I got mine equipped with SAM Rival for a penny less than a grand last year – but the prices have risen since then…

Buy second hand?.

Got this for 750 quid, Lovely ride, mint condition.

I do like that Dolan L’Etape. I can get one built with rival for £1036 or 105 for just over £1100. Thats just with R500 wheels but given the state of roads round here they are basically a consumable anyway so will be upgraded once they give up the ghost.

Seems a good deal. Was your experience with them good monkeyboyjc?

What size is that nobeerinthefridge?

Edit, Sorry, crossed wires, I’m not selling it, just saying that’s what I paid for it! 😀

Oh, haha, no worries. My misreading.

Yeah, second hand is an option I hadn’t really considered as i’ve had one or two bad experiences in the past but it’s probably worth exploring.

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-track-bike/frames-frames-road-ribble-r872-carbon-road-frame/ribbfrar970

Giant Defy 1.
Picked mine up about a month ago – love it.

Another Giant Defy 1 owner here. Got mine last year and its been fantastic. Very confidence inspiring, fits very well and have done loads of 50 milers and one 125 mile recently too. The only thing I’ve replaced so far are the tyres, which made a huge difference. Original Giant tyre weighed in at 360g, new Continental GP4000 II is 220g (note kitchen scales may not have been that accurate). Best value for money upgrade I’ve ever made cause it climbs like a mountain goat now

I went with Planet X and got the RT57 (shimano 105) and I am a big fan of it. Light, responsive and as fast as you can pedal it.
I can now look at the collection of bikes in my sun room before work and go ‘hmmmm what to ride today – road or Mtb’.

Sorry fervouredimage, only just checked back on this thread.
Dolan were great, I had a few questions about sizing as the L’Etape is a little smaller than I was sized in the shop with a large at 52 cm – my lbs sized me up as a 54 or 56 at 5’10”. I went with a 100mm stem but that turned out a little long so I stuck a 80 mm Richey I had which is great.
I’ve the standard wheels which isn’t a bad thing as you say, easily upgradable in the future to a more racy set.
I got mine through the Halford to work scheme – delivered to my local Halford about 2 weeks after ordering. The shop monkeys didn’t even have to touch it (which they were gutted about), turned up in a giant box fully built with nothing to do to it apparently, not even a turn of the bars.
It rids nicely as well (your welcome to try mine if your near Stroud).I’ve got mine set up for comfort rather than out and out speed, another reason I went with the Dolan. 11-32 cassette and compact chainset (Stroud is surrounded by short (1-2 mile) but steep 9%+ hills.
The SRAM Rival has been good so far, not broken it yet Luke the early version, only crappy thing is the front shifter which can feel a little flimsy at times but I’m not sure if that’s a road thing or the SRAM.

I bought mine as I did London to Paris last year on the MTB. This year it’s Paris to Geneva which I really didn’t fancy on the MTB. Training for it now I’m doing around 100 miles a week on the Dolan.

I have the Dolan L’Etape as well, kitted out with Shimano 105.
The frameset is lovely, really is a nice ride, comfortable yet pretty quick – just done 36 miles/2000+ft ascent in 2hrs.
I upgraded the wheels to a set of Cero AR30’s which has made more of a difference than i would have thought. The R500 wheels will go back on as winter wheels.
Overall I’m really impressed with the bike.

I have a Dolan albeit an Ares.
Can’t fault the service from them. I made the trip over to their showroom to see the Ares in the flesh.
I got a little tour and a bike fit, went home and ordered the bike online. Arrived as promised a couple of weeks later, ready to ride.

I’ve got the PX carbon pro (upgraded the tyres to conti GP4000) and am loving it.

Don’t be put off by Hora and his sizing issues though…………. 😯