I have a nominal budget of £800 and am looking to buy my first road bike. It will be used for recreational road riding and commuting – I am fairly fit and like to ride quite fast. As a starting point can anyone suggest bikes that represent good value/quality at/around this price? What sort of groupset level etc. should I be looking at? I want to buy a road bike that will last a good few years, so hopefully £800 is enough!

Thanks in advance for all your help!

After the crash of the pound versus the dollar and yen alot of 2009 bikes substantially increased at the end of 2008 and beginning of this year. At the £800 price point this took a number of likely candidates out your price bracket.

Depending on what kit and clothing you have you will also need to budget for things like shoes and pedals (unless you are using your mountain bike ones), bottle holders, bib-shorts (preferable, but not totally necessary) etc which can easily come to a couple of hundred quid.

Evans have a couple of models in your price range in their current sale: http://www.evanscycles.com/categories/sale/complete-bikes/road-bikes?page=2

Otherwise a Specialized Allez, Trek 1.5, Bianchi Via Nirone, Giant Defy 2 would be within your price range. May also get some good value on-line stuff from Ribble and Wiggle, but getting a really good fit is imperative on a road bike. May be some sale stock as some 2010 bikes are starting to appear. Look also on Bike Radar, roadcyclinguk and roadcc website forums where such topics appear weekly.

Probably looking at Tiagra groupset, or maybe the odd bits of 105 – not sure what this translates to in Campagnolo (Veloce ?)- or in some cases the lower down but functional Sora. Wheelsets are also likely to be budget sets, and are areas for future upgrade.

Specialized Allez Ellite 2010 or hang out for a 2009 for about £600.

Specialized allez

http://www.ashcycles.com/power/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1260&currency=BP

That one. HT2 cranks, carbon fork and post, proper Mavic rims and very, very good ride. And, from these guys, £100 under budget. Frame's dead good too- nicer than the equivalent trek and the whole bike's better value. And with that deal you can get pedals and shoes for it as well.

When I was looking in this price range, a few people on here recommended a Bianchi Via Nirone. Campag Veloce 10 speed for about £740. Bought one and I really really like it.

🙂

Gets lots of nice comments despite its price too… 😉

Boardman Team,is excellent value,more so since the big names have put their prices up.Has 10 speed SRAM Rival drivetrain when most have 9 speed Tiagra,and Ritchey finishing kit and wheels.http://www.boardmanbikes.com/road/road_team.html

Also this is a very nice looking bike:http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Kiron_MTL-Blade/5360043854

Trek 1.5 isn't so great value for 2009, sq taper c/s and sora shifters..

Allez's always represent great value, more so if you can find a 2009 model left in your size.

Wilier escape mirage is nice at 799

Bianchi Nirone

Personally I

a

nt get on with the shifters,which have a separate thumbshifter which can

b

d take a close look at that Kiron on Wiggle.105 drivetrain,decent wheels,upgradeable frame,much better value.The 1k Kiron that Wiggle had,recently got superb reviews.

Thanks for the advice guys. I like the look of the Boardman for its fantastic value, although there don't seem to be many reviews of the Team Aluminium. That Kiron on wiggle looks good too. At the moment it is looking like it's between these two bikes. How to choose? It does seem to me that I would have been better off buying one a year ago though!

My Planet X pro carbon. Ultegra Group, FSA chainset Reynolds Alta Race wheels. Cost about £1250, not done 50 miles as new.

Mail me for pics and full spec if interested

simon dot mustill at mac dot com

I recently hired a Giant Defy for the day, a bit heftier than my normal ride but was really surprised how nicely it rode. If I was buying a road bike right now Giant would probably be top of the list.

Various models at differing price points.

I have a Boardman Team Alu frame i got off eBay. It's got some nice touches and is fairly light – much better than the equivalent Focus Variado expert anyway.

build it yourself with mix of used and bargain new off ebay.

you'll get far better quality/value and the residual when you come to sell will be far better – in some instances if you are lucky you could even make money.

i've got a roadie about ready to go myself; top of the range big brand full carbon frame, dura ace throughout, zipp bars/stem. would be over 3k easily if new but sourced as above over the last month or so and has cost me a smidge over 1k.

p.s. ribble have 15% off this weekend.

S/H?
roadie stuff is like shimano brakes, always 100% better than last year, and always 100% harder to prove its better in any meaningfull test. Yet are more like cars in their depreciation, they seem to drop like a stone in the first few years, then level off abit before gradualy droping off the end as a commuter or scrap. So getting soemthing 3 years old gets a bargain, probably bought by someone who was convinced they were the next Armstrong and never used it. My cannondale has actualy appreciated (when looking at completed items on ebay) in the 5 years i've had it!

A bit high on the price side maybe (£ 985) but I've just got myself a Focus Cayo 105 compact. Seems very fast, commuted to work on it today and shaved 13 minutes of my previous best commute time (34 mile round trip) and that was with a couple of stops to fine tune mech limit screws.

Full carbon fibre frame, 105 shifters, brakes and mechs, FSA Gossamer Crank set, 8.6 Kg without pedals.

It just made me want to go faster, weird sensation, really encouraged me to put the power down even when my legs were screaming on the hills. Strangley it was the uphills in particular where if felt faster, maybe I had no choice but to put more effort in as the gearing doesn't go as low.

Only available from Wiggle in the UK but you do get a 7 day trial period during which time if you don't like it or it doesn't fit you can send it back FOC. They've also got a buy now pay in a year's time finance deal as well, costs an extra £ 25 but spreads the pain.

Got good feedback on some roadie forums, good frame and components, just the wheels that let it down apparently, I'm still getting top grips with roadie stuff.

Another vote for the Boardman here.

I dont think you can beat a Kinesis