My cycle to work scheme finished in November, and I realised it’s more than a year since I bought a new bike! I have a marin hybrid which I use for commuting, but after a long ride yesterday I decided I might want a road bike. The LBS will lend me a bike next weekend so I can get at least 50 miles in to see if I’ll get on with the riding position. It’s likely to be a cervelo I think, so not in my budget at all…

LBS does Bianchi Specialized and Giant, and have emphasised that with road bikes they do quite a bit of fitting etc to get the bike set up properly. That would encourage me to buy from them, as I’ve not had a road bike before. I have seen the carbon Boardman at Halfords, but can’t see them doing the fitting etc. Would that be much better than the £1K LBS bikes? Obviously I’m happy to spend less, I’ll never be racing, just want a bike I can ride all day.

Kona Sutra? Not based on any first hand knowledge just like the look of the geometry etc. They look a real nice bike.

Depends what you want the road bike for.

Touring/Commuting? Something like the Sutra would be fine for that. You’ll get various Dawes models too.

Want to go a bit faster? Planet X Carbon Superlight, Focus Cayo, Dolan Mythos are all in the £1k range.

Couple of my mates have the Boardman carbons from Halfords amazingly competant bikes for the cash. a grand gets you carbon frame, ritchey kit and a Sram rival group.

I can’t believe I’m saying it, but even if you don’t have to use Halfords on your scheme, the Boardman Team Carbon is hard to beat for about £1K. Top quality frame, full carbon fork, Ritchey finishing kit, and SRAM Rival, which really is a match for Ultegra in quality. NOthing else is close really. I wouldn’t trust Halfords to build it though!

I have the Marin for commuting, so really I’m after something faster.

Concensus so far seems to be Boardman over LBS support on fitting. Will it be that much better?

Get a second-hand one? Used road bikes are good value and have usually had a quieter life than mountain bikes. You won’t need to spend a grand to get a very capable second hand road bike.

ribble sportive? The ready built ones are £1100 with ultegra, think theres a campag oe for £1000 (never used campag stuff so can’t comment). Never ridden one but the photos make it look jaw dropingly good looking!

Its not a race bike as the head tube is a bit taller to give it a more upright position. If you ever did want to race i guess a bigger drop stem would bring it back down again. And beig a carbon sporive bike i imagine it’s quite comfy a well.

Ohh and the frame weighs something silly like 930g!

I agree with Leon about the Boardman/Halfords deal. Then pay appropriately to have the bike fitted at another shop and don’t expect any freebies.

Or, from the range you listed – ask your LBS about a TCR alliance. They’re a bit over a grand but nice bikes. If they can get Cubes, then there’s no argument – get the attempt. At 899 they’re a steal.

Fit is important. So even if you go to Halfords see a pro shop and make sure you’re set up well.

Giant Defy 1? OK, it’s an alloy frame, but it’s a very good one. Not too racy in geometry either