Any obvious choices?

I’m not even sure whether to go for aluminium or steel.

Looking around £500.

Could you get 105 and a carbon fork for that?

Or should I be looking 2nd hand?

Could you get 105 and a carbon fork for that?

😆

105 is what you get on £1k bikes now.

Ribble are the go-to for cheap winter bikes. Kinesis Racelight T / TK if you want something a bit nicer looking.

Forget about steel if it’s a winter bike. I’ve got a Trek XO from 2002 – it’s anodized aluminium, and it hasn’t got a single corrosion mark on it.

For £500 you’ll probably be getting Sora which appears to me to be a little on the poor side. A lot of the guys I ride with have Tiagra on their winter/all rounders and I have to say it impresses me. As stated Ribble Audax/Winter is probably the best bet for about £700-£800. A couple have these and I’d certainly consider one as a winter/audax/light tour machine. If you can only afford £500 the I’d go for second hand and look for Tiagra/105 minimum and either steel or aluminium.

2nd hand, theres a guy selling a kenisis cx on classifieds for 600

I just had a quick play on the ribble bike builder, seems you can get an alu frame with 105 for about £750. Might have to play with my budget.

Is it worth looking at campag or sram?

A CX as dobo has spotted would make a good allrounder. There are a few Ribble Audax on eBay but seem to be small or large. Have a look.

I’d be looking at a 52 frame, so could be right for me.

sora is fine.

oh FFS why do I bother

I’ve just been on the Ribble site you can spec an Audax bike with SRAM Apex groupset for £690 no pedals. Or a mix of Campy Xenon and Veloce for £610, all Veloce for £660, Tiagra for £570, 105 for £702 (the 2011 group with under tape gear and brake cable). Looks like a good place to start for my money.

I don’t get the issue with Sora???? I shift the gear lever and the gear changes. Isn’t that what gears are meant to do????

My Sora drivetrain shifts as smoothly if not better than the XT on my mtb 😯

I don’t get the issue with Sora???? I shift the gear lever and the gear changes. Isn’t that what gears are meant to do????

That’s not what they do after a couple of hunderd miles for me. They go all wobbly and stop working.

build it up yourself.

merlin were selling complete 105 groupsets for £290
get a set of fulcrum 7s for £115 from ribble.
and go for a second hand frame or one of the paul milnes frame and fork
offering on ebay for £115 with a budget contact points and rubber.

I reckon that would be a complete 105 build for about £550.

think the merlin offer is no more but you could probably source the same components peice meal for pretty much the same price.

+1 for Ribble, great vfm.

Something like this is only just over budget

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m7b4s6p2743

2010 Kinesis Crosslight 5T for sale, only used 5 times, practically in brand new condition. Will sell for £600.

I’ve just bought one of these:

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop/Bikes/Road+Bikes/Felt+Bikes/Felt+F85+Road+Bike_FELT-F85.htm

I have the Defy 3 and I love it.

Another vote for Ribble…

Cheap as chips frame and carbon fork..

105 Groupset..

Last years “summer” road wheels..

Jobs a good one…

Just need to trim the mudguards down…

I got hold of a trek with tiagra/105 opld stock for £500 with full fenders now for winter.

To get that it will be more than £500 with crazy price rises.

I would go for the Ribble winter trainer road bike or a CX bike.

Or a turbo trainer for your mtb.

I have used a Bianchi via nirone in winter for 8 years and its been a great bike. Comes in between £600-800 depending on spec. There are a few on ebay – the demo in a 53 with 105 might be worth a look.

Ribble. Buy their winter frame & fork & shop around for components. Managed to spec a Veloce build with Khasmin wheels for about £450 earlier this year. It’s a bit heavy but actually rides really nicely.

Not a huge amount of clearance for anything other than 23mm tyres with mudguards. (which is fine for me) but I know some people like to go a bit wider for winter.

I’m building up an old Mercian at the moment for my winter bike with a mix of old 105 and ultegra wheels.

picked up my ribble winter bike a couple of weeks ago, I specked it up with 105 triple and gator skins, it came in at £840

Superb bike

Can’t you just buy a nice secondhand bike.

I did a bit of a silly thing for my winter bike. I bought a 1969 steel Claud Butler, running it singlespeed with flipflop large flange 27 1/4″ wheels. The rest is period. Off this month to get powder coated ‘John Deere’ green. then fitting a ‘butchered’ Brooks or Wrights and full mud guards.
About £200 all in including paint. Comfortable as **** for long long winter rides.
Also got a 1958 Singlespeed racing bike, but that’s getting a bit precious to use too much now.

I’m building up an old Mercian at the moment for my winter bike with a mix of old 105 and ultegra wheels

Nice, do you know which model it is?

or… for £120 you could have a reynolds steel frame, dura ace shifters and mechs, 105 brake levers, 600 (old school ultegra) hubs melded together into an old school roadbike ideal for winter blasts? Its going on Ebay this weekend, if you want to make me an offer prior to this my email is in my profile!

Anyone know what the weight of the standard ribble build is?

Didnt spot it on the site

plus 1 for the bianchi via nerone. Just because it’s a winter bike it doesn’t have to look like some old steel junker. £570, job done.

I bought one of the special edition Ribble Winter bikes. Tiagra groupset, carbon post, mudguards included – £600 to the door. Yeah there are definitely some nicer looking bikes for similar cash, but it keeps my nice road bike off the crappy winter roads and gives me no reason not to get off my ar$e and keep commuting.

Blimey that Bianchi will give Giant a run for their money. Nice to have full guards if you’re buying a winter bike though, I know you can fit Crud and race blades to anything.
The way I see it is if it’s snowing, raining, blowing a gale or all three, you’re going to be dressed to the max and probably not be going too fast. That’s were something more ‘winter’ specific comes in handy.
If it’s a nice winters day the haul out the good bike.

On reflection that bianchi price might be a clearance, I paid about £550 for one but that was a few years back now. And yes, fair point on the mudguards, the bianchi has odd shaped fork legs which are bit fiddly to get a good fit.