You may be feeling the brunt of people’s jokes right now, xyeti, but I know what you mean… and I live on the doorstep of some of the best mountain biking.

That said, I’m still wondering if that ‘encouraging hand on the hip’ isn’t verging on the pronographic. 😉

That said, I’m still wondering if that ‘encouraging hand on the hip’ isn’t verging on the pronographic

Arse-istance?

Everything decent seems to around the £2.5K mark, the good stuff seems to be £4.5K, the best stuff is above this. If some one has a recomdation for a good road bike that is about £350 then i’d like to see it, I think thats cheap for a bike, I think £2.5K is expensive so id consider that a fair ammount of money.

Depends on your definition of ‘good’ doesn’t it. There’s certainly no need to spend the kind of money you’re talking about if you don’t want to.

Plenty of decent Sora equipped Alu frame/Carbon Forked bikes out there for very little money (~£400-£500)that are perfectly capable if you’re not going to be troubling the podiums at local races. Go a small step up (~£500-£600) and current 4700 Tiagra is a flipping amazing groupset for the money, plug it into a frame you like and there’s little reason to go any posher. If you really want to then the £1k – £1.5k bracket has some really great bikes in it even from the big boys who aren’t always best value. And some amazing deals 2nd hand if you look around!

For the last few years most of my road riding was done on a 90’s Steel bike that I paid £120 for as it had been sitting in a garage unused for 19.5 of it’s 20 year life, new tyres and a fettle and has been out on all the normal club runs, and some audaxes and keeping up just fine.

recommenmdation for a good road bike that is about £350

As above all depends upon the definition of good – Specialized Allez can be found for ca £600, combine that with a cycle to work scheme and you’re not far off
or scour your local ad’s e.g. Friday-Ad for barely used 2nd hand bikes you can find some older classics that are fun to ride

If some one has a recomdation for a good road bike that is about £350

https://www.merlincycles.com/merlin-performance-pr7-road-bike-2016-85148.html

well for £349 you can get this brand new:

Merlin PR7

OK, it’s ‘only’ 8sp Claris, but they’re decent proper STI’s and good enough, it’s a decent enough Alu frame, Carbon fork, decent rims and only a smidge over 10kg, all for three hundred and fifty quid. It’s a decent reliable road bike, sure you might not win any races on it, but the engine will still be the limiting factor for most people. You could ride that until everything is worn out, and then just get another one and it’d still be decent value.

EDIT – Jam Bo beat me to it during typing!

I’ve been riding Locally all my life. It’s boring.

Me too. When i get a bit bored with the local trails i make a new one or alter an old one. It’s a bit more work than opening the wallet but it’s much cheaper and others can enjoy it too.

Nothing nicer than not going out on the road bike when you know the roads will be congested, but getting out into the woods at 8am in the sunshine

Having a balance between riding road and dirt stops either getting boring 😉

molgrips – Member
Depending on where you live, it can be much more difficult to get enough miles in off-road.

Even in flatter areas, off road miles can be worth twice that of road.

Just the rougher surfaces, roots/rocks, stops and starts, twists and turns if you’re lucky, all require more muscle than just cranking a continuous pace the road.

Add some hills, and they don’t have to be big, and a lot more effort.

twice in one day..

*waves to Op from his mtb as Op passes on funny handlebar shaped skinny tyred thing*
*Op blanks me*
Miserable roadie scum!

Whilst xyeti is perhaps getting a bit too excitable for my liking 🙂 , I completely 100% get where he’s coming from and I live on the doorstep of the Peak District!

If I’m lucky enough to have 2 – 3 hours spare to ride I have a HUGE variety of amazing road riding from my doorstep. In contrast my choices for MTB are considerably more limited, especially if the weather has been wet for a while (which it has). It’s the classic thing of making the most of the limited time you have which, for many of us, is much easier on a road bike. Countless threads on here saying the same thing over the years.

Welcome to the fold. I’d recommend joining a club. Group rides, social events and possible racing if you want to have a go. And of course some roadies like to ride off road too – Shock! It;s all cycling.

TiRed, I’m looking at joining a local club, they have groups of 3 differing abilities, ,I’m doing the coast 2 coast this weekend on my full Susser so still getting out on the big bike now the weathers cheered up a bit, I had two pretty decent biking holidays last year and without sounding a bit of a dick I kinda lost my way a bit after riding late summer abroad……

Off to southern Spain at half term and taking both bikes so hoping to get a few road rides and at least 1 day descending.
Bikes I’m looking at in no particular order,
Giant Defy,
Rose,
Spesh Roubaix
Pinarello Rokha or something?
Trek

Basically an “Endurance” bike, as opposed to an all out racing bike,
It’s going to replace my current thing which has SRAM Force throughout so I kinda want to keep the kit at that level and I have a pretty decent stem, seat post bars and wheels and some nice ENVE forks, looking at what there is briefly I saw most at 2 – 2:5K.

If it lasts another 6 years I’d be happy with that.