Looking at the Planet X RT 58 Alu for weight/price/component mix.

Any other suggestions for a 1st road bike foray?

A low end trek. A 1.2 is a decent first bike. The added bonus is you’ll get a bike fit meaning you will know for certain it fits. They’ll swap stems, saddles, bars for you until it fits properly.

Depends on the shop, some shops might not be willing to swap bars, saddle and stem and get the mechanic to fit new bartape and then make less money.
Ribble 7005 might be worth a look with the tiagra upgrade.

Or for an extra £100 Ribble are doing a carbon bargain…

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sed/road-track-bike/ribble-evo-pro-carbon-summer-special-edition?part=SE14RIBEVOPROSUMMER&sub=conf_SERW

Cheap carbon’s not always brilliant of course, as internet experts will tell you – but this has decent reviews and seems well proven.

Planet x RT-58

Sab La Rocca

Verenti Belief Tiagra for £550 from Wiggle?

599 defy 4

My Felt F95 was way less than £600 and is pretty quick. Carbon fork too which some at that price point don’t have. Worth a look

Or for an extra £100 Ribble are doing a carbon bargain…

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sed/road-track-bike/ribble-evo-pro-carbon-summer-special-edition?part=SE14RIBEVOPROSUMMER&sub=conf_SERW

Cheap carbon’s not always brilliant of course, as internet experts will tell you – but this has decent reviews and seems well proven.

I’ve had one of these built up with Campag Veloce for a couple of years and it’s a decent enough budget frame. It’s not the stiffest but it certainly does a good job absorbing road buzz and it’s comfortable.

Have a look at the Merlin Malt R, I paid £600 for mine last year and I think they took another ton off that earlier this year.

Thanks all for options. I reckon the Verenti is closest spec wise to the RT-58. The Ribble looks great but as a training bike its a little too harsh for my intended usage.

This may be of interest too

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/on-one-planet-x-alloy-disc-big-clearance-rack-and-guard-road-bike

Decathlon, if there’s one near you. The Triban bikes are excellent vfm.

I bought an RT-58 about 4 months ago as a 1st road bike. Can confirm its a great machine. Light in comparison to most at this price range, Tiagra all works well still and very comfortable on 60mile+ rides. Cant fault it. I went for a large and am just over 6ft. Seems to fit me fine.

Obviously not had any other road bikes to compare directly but with a full carbon fork, tapered headset etc it does stack up very well on spec. Planet X were great with their customer service also contrary to some reviews! Updates sent all the way through the process as well which was nice.