Hi, have been asked to help out a young guy who is doing a sponsored ride from Oxford to Venice this year.

He is currently riding a cast iron horror 🙄 so needs a new bike anyway and has a budget of £400 – £600.

Probably looking at a tourer or racer with straight bars, as light as possible and with gears to cope with the alps (he has the fitness).
Any suggestions and advice welcome. Suspecting the best value may be second hand. He is around 6′. The ride will have support vehicles, so panniers not needed.
Thanks.

Modern hybrids are awesome. (they’re light, fast, comfy, reliable, and lots of them come with hydraulic disc brakes)

something like a Whyte Portobello would be on my list. Full retail price is £700, but you can get them cheaper.

Planet X RT-58 Alloy? Light, built for all day riding, within budget. Buy a set of flat bars for it, or ask Planet X to build it with flat bars.

RT-58

Edit: Oh, and I’ve got one, so in true STW style, that’s what I recommend.

One of my Explorer Scouts did LEJOG a couple of years ago. He was going to do it on his, must have been, >40lb lump of an Iron Horse BSO full sus 😮

Luckily an LBS helped him out and loaned him a Dawes tourer- might be worth a cheeky ask around?

Cheers,
Jamie

I think maybe something with drop bars, simply to give him a bit more variety with hand positions.

I’m in a similar situation, I am doing a charity ride from London to Mt Snowdon in September, I already have a fairly nice Hybrid (Boardman Sport) but am about to press the C2W button on a Giant Defy, as I think it’ll be better suited to 80+ mile days.
As with your friends ride, ours is supported so no luggage.

I would have thought drop bars would be good on such a long ride too – variety as above and nice to have if you find yourself slogging into a headwind all day.

Dawes Galaxy – ubiquitous tourer – plenty on eBay.

Dawes Galaxy is a fine choice, but for something a little lighter, I’d look for a used Giant Defy. Upgrade to some nice 25/28c tyres for the biggest gain.

Planet X RT-58 Alloy

Brant, brant, Brant.

there you go 😆

triban 5 from decathlon – encourage him to buy a bike with drops

Triban is good value but I wouldn’t want to use one for a serious long ride.

Bianchi Via Nirone 7 C2C is designed exactly for the new, inexperienced rider who wants a smooth riding, safe-handling bike for sportiffs and sponsored rides. It’s a very comfortable, predictable bike.

or some of those touring bars