I’m wanting to get a road bike and am wondering what the road equivalent of an inbred would be? I.e. great value, sorted geometry, fun to ride. I’m very clear as to what makes a good mtb for my liking but totally new to road biking.

I’m considering a Scott speedster s35 (£650) which seems to get good reviews.

Any thoughts?

planet x?

kaffenback or alfined pompino/pompetamine.

PX are out of kaffenabcks by the look of it, which is a pity.

the pomp versa looks nice though, but of course its alfine not a classic road set up.

Not a kaffenback, thats sort sort of half arsed road bike isnt it?

You want the planet x carbon.

You want the planet x carbon.

Yes. Becasue that’s obviously the equivilent of a cheap steel MTB….
🙄

😉

great value, sorted geometry, fun to ride.

I think it meets those criteria.

I got a Scott Speedster S50 (2010) for £525 the other week. I like it a lot.

A colleague has just got a Carrera Vanquish (£500 IIRC) that looks quite nice too.

Kaffenback – I’ve got one of the old ‘blue dragon’ kaffs that I use for winter road riding and commuting. Rides well if you’re looking for a do it all steel road frame for not a lot of money.

genesis aether:

lovely.

For ‘great value, sorted geometry, fun to ride’ arguably something like a Giant Defy?

Boardman or Specialized Allez.

Boardman or Specialized Allez.

Yeh! Now we’re getting somewhere.

i have the entry level boardman and i think it’s great.

have changed the bar tape saddle and tyres and it rides lovely.

Got a Specialized Allez as one of our cycle to work fleet. Nice enough, but the drive train is a lower spec than others of a similar price.

An inbred with rigid forks and slicks, exactly the same and way cheaper than a new bike

Rocketdog, n+1 is burning a hole in my pocket, reuse of existing collateral will save me cash but I don’t get a shiney new bike. Interesting thought tho, another set of wheels with slicks might be an option.

Looked at the aether, a bit too expensive but very classy looking.

Pomp versa does look nice, like the discs too but I suspect there may be a weight penalty with those and the alfine?

Not sure about the Allez, a bit mainstream maybe, like the boardman and if their mtbs are anything to go by the spec will prob be good?

There’s new kaffenbacks coming out soon I believe, with disc mounts. Someone on here already has one.

geometry for road bikes depends on the height of the bars relative to the saddle, lower is racier but a killer on longer rides, higher bars are better for audax or less than perfect conditions

giant defy or spesh allez are popular, if you can get one on ebay then that would be a win – have a look at canyon bikes and boardmans are good too

bikeradar classifieds?

Cross check?

I’m wondering why so many people have suggested heavy commuters and cross bikes/tourers. I’m sure he said road..

Go look at the ribble bike builders, complete carbon bikes start at about £750.

The road equiv of an inbred……Hmmmm. That’d be a redneck in a pickup.

What he said about Ribble – hard to beat their builds for value.

Ribble eh? Sounds interesting. I will take a look

I’m wondering why so many people have suggested heavy commuters and cross bikes/tourers. I’m sure he said road..

+1 for a road bike equivalent of an inbred we are talking alu/ carbon.

steel road bikes are very heavy or very expensive.

Can’t recommend specific brands but I will waffle on about fit.

Getting the right sized frame is very important with road bikes, arguably more so than MTBs where you don’t spend the same amount of time in one position.

IMO the horizontal top tube length (or equiv if it’s a sloping top tube) takes precedence over the seat tube length so I’d definitely recommend sitting on a couple of different sized bikes if you’re not sure of sizing.

I’m 5′ 10″ with a slightly short torso and a recent bike fit recommended a 547mm top tube. – I typically ride a 54cm frame and make any adjustments with stem lengths.

Things like 12cm+ stems and 3cm+ of h/s spacers are indicators of the wrong size frame.

I’d personally not bother with flat bars as drops will give you more hand positions.

Similarly unless you live in a really hilly area, you won’t need a triple chainset. A 34/50 compact c set + 12/25 cassette should get you up just about any hill.

Oh and you don’t need disk brakes on a road bike either.

I got a Charge Juicer Mid for 545 off wiggle, seems to be OK to me, not to heavy, seems to be fairly relaxed compared to some road bikes and the reviews seems to be very positive (bar the price, but with 45% off that doesn’t seem an issue).

I do live in a pretty hilly area, ilkley. I will try a friend’s compact chainset and see how easy it is to get to the top of the cow and calf road after a ride, that should be a good measure and its a very good point you made.

I was looking at that charge and it seems excellent value but its 23lbs and looking around I think u might be able to get lighter, but it certainly ticks the non mainstream box if I decide that’s a box I want to tick.

I think the weight is due to it being steel, however it does seem pretty comfy to me, and according to the reviews this is because its steel.

Just to qualify my comments, this is the first road bike I’ve ever owned, and only got it because of my 36 mile round trip commute.

Good quality steel frame is a good thing to have on a road bike. However You will probably struggle to find a road bike frame of similar value to an Inbred as steel frames on road bikes are either expensive or cheap but weight a ton.

23lbs on that Charge is not too bad, and depending if it’s the weight with mudguards, what size bike it was. 9.1kg on that Scott could be a bike with XS frame and no pedals 🙂 My Lemond with a light-ish steel frame full Ultegra 9sp and a bit lighter wheels than on that Charge weighted 21lbs. I had a go on a 18lbs alu/carbon road bike and I liked my Lemond more as it did not feel as fragile and was not much slower. Also quality and modern steel frames hold their value really well.

If You want to buy new then the Charge at half price with a quality steel frame and full Tiagra kit at just over £500 is a good buy, £500 is now still Sora territory.

Maybe look at some Treks as well, I had a Trek 1200 with Tiagra/105 and it was a very good bike.

But again make sure You buy the right size frame.

23lbs not bad? Damn and there’s me moaning about the 22lbs my winter bike comes in at…….

imnotamused

Dunno how far they are from you but see if you can pop in to Bob Jacksons in Leeds.

Kirky in there is a mod on the TTForum and knows his stuff and will definitely be able to chat about a steel road bike 8)

my mate has had two bob Jackson frames. they are very nice