Looking at a new road bike to replace my Scott CR1 which can then be retired to purely commuting and I find myself only looking at carbon frame bikes. Should I bother looking at alloy frames? I’m not looking at spending loads, max £1000 and ideally less so I can get it past the other half.

Have seen the Defy composite 3 with Tiagra for £879 however have just seen this GT which gets good reviews and has the added bonus of coming with Ultegra for £699

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p3838/GT-GTR-SERIES-1-2012

If alloy frames are as good should I also look at CAAD8? Comes in at £699 with Tiagra or Cube Peloton at same price.

I’m not looking at racing, just a nice bike to ride.

Plenty of good alloy bikes, but can’t say I’ve heard of someone moving a carbon frame to commuting duties and buying a cheapish alloy bike for Sunday best.
Why not revamp the CR1 and get a cheapish alloy bike ( decathlon ect ) for the commute ?

Thought about buying a cheap commuter but to be honest the CR is a bit rough around the edges and ideally needs a new group set so thought I’d get a better deal on a new bike, and who doesn’t like new!

if you are looking at the CAAD make sure you try it for size… I have a synapse 105 in 56cm and thought that the same size caad would fit, I ended up going a size down as it was far too big… HTH

My opinion is that at this price range it’s all about wheels, frame material less important. In order to get a bike with Ultegra out for £800ish something’s gotta be cheap and a bike with a £100 wheel set is going to be crap no matter how good the frame/group.

I bought my first road bike last year with £1k. I got full 105, disc brakes, carbon forks but rubbish rubbish wheels which nearly made me give up road riding. New wheels have turned it into a different bike altogether.

What daftvader said. I’m 6’2 and a 58 -60 with most road bikes. Tried a 58 caad8 and it was massive. I’ve had my (56) for 18 months and am very happy with it. Upgraded wheels definitely make a difference though.