For a mate, i haven't got a clue
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A working caps lock on your keyboard?
Seriously though, take a look at the Boardman Range, available through Halfords but dont let that put you off. Reputed to be good bikes.
specialized allez sport?
Sorry about the caps lock, didnt even realise i had done it 🙁
I have no problems with boardman bikes, anything else though what about
Merlin 5600 Ltd Edition Bike
Giant Defy or TCR. Try and get a 2010 model.
Have a look at 2010 models. Huge discounts to be had.
Is what I did when recently I had £700 to spend...
Giant Defy or TCR. Try and get a 2010 model.
Is what I got (Giant Defy 2) after searching around, finding what best suited me and what was well specced, could get in the right size etc. Personally I think I got about the best bike I could have done for the money, but also for the purpose as I wanted something that would take bigger tyres (came with 25c, will take up to 28c) and can get mudguards and a rack on if required.
For a mate
Yeah, right, heard that one before 😉
No it is i've got a fuji a few years back on the cycle to ride scheme cost me a grand but has full ultegra, I also have a santa cruz superlight. I have completely lost track of what you can get for you money these days, although it seems as with everything else not a lot, I would have at least expected him to be able to get something with at least 105 but the only one i can see with that sort of spec is a Merlin 5600 Ltd Edition Bike which is over the 700 price bracket but with their loyalty scheme he may be able to get an extra 10% off?
Ribble,Cube,Focus are all good VFM, but in saying that. If its his first road bike, sizing is alot more important than on a mountain bike. A good shop with someone that knows what they are doing should be the first stop.
I would have at least expected him to be able to get something with at least 105
Bikes, and in particular components got expensive! 105 only really comes in on bikes around the £1k price bracket now.
The good news is though that although "only" 9spd, Tiagra really does work very well.
Might be worth looking for a good secondhand bike (unless he is buying on the C2W scheme) - lots of bargains out there as people with more money than sense buy a lovely bike and then decide they don't like road riding.
Got a Dolan Preffisio from Merlin - £720 with VIP discount and delivery..........
[url= http://www.dolan-bikes.com/road-bikes/complete-bikes-road-bikes/Doaln-Preffisio?product_id=85 ]link to Dolan[/url] (Merlin Cycles link wouldn't work)
Its the only road bike I've ever had, so nothing to compare against, but I love it AND it's British - well at least designed in Britain.
Comes with mudguards - so winter ready, but easy enough to remove for the summer.
Canyon roadlite 5, boardman comp, defy, allez sport is nice but no tiagra and the thumb shifters on sora are irritating.
I'm looking at similar prices and keep coming back to Boardman comp but then I think about the team with full 105 but that is 999.
So end up going back to the canyon roadlite 6 I think the 800 one.
Just checked again roadlite 6 is ultegra/105 mix at 880 so better deal than boardman team.
The roadlite 5 is Sram apex the same as boardman comp and looks similar in spec but is 789 so tenner cheapernand better wheels. As far as I'm aware you will be loads higher Price on a defy to match the spec of the 6 but the 5 is SRAM.
Think I will get the Roadlite 6 or maybe 5 or maybe 6 aghhhhhhh
Some good deals at Ribble cycles.
+1 Giant Defy.. great bikes
Ribble or Boardman , both top value
tell him to get a mountain bike as road bikes totally suck ass.
I've just bought a Canyon Roadlite 6 for £869 and it's fantastic value for money. Other brands were around £1200 for a similar spec. First proper ride on it tomorrow for my commute.
The Roadlite 5 is £789 but you'd have to factor in £50 extra for the bike box and shipping. Still a very well specced bike for the price and i have nothing but good things to say about Canyons excellent service.
cheers gents
That Canyon for £870 look very good spec for the price. Especially that it weights only 8.3kg! Frame has to be pretty light as Aksiums are not that light, however good and strong wheels.
I was checking what £700 will buy you now and it looks like some bikes in that range will still have Sora although in the newer 9sp guise. I saw a Giant with alu frame and full Tiagra for £999 in a shop window the other day. Seems a bit much.
As mboy says Tiagra works really well, I used to have a Tiagra equipped Trek before swapping to Ultegra 9sp, and to be honest there is not that much of a difference in terms of performance. Probably more of a weight difference between the groupsets. Coming to Tiagra from Sora though it was a big difference as the thumbshifter on STI's is sometimes hard to reach, does not work as nice as Tiagra etc.
At £700 I could be tempted to look for some mint condition second hand bikes as well. In that price range you could choose from some really really nice bikes, Ultegra equipped or better. Let him try some for size to know what size he needs, however with sizing, I'm 5'10" and had frames from 52 to 56cm and just used a longer/shorter stem. All fitted fine and rode fine. But be quick, season started and bikes will start to fetch silly money on eBay again. Plus always factor in around £30-50 extra for new bar tape and cables to get that new bike feel 😉
I have Sora on my Defy 3 apart from the STIs it is an ok gruppo.
The 105 6700 on my focus is in a different league lol.
Had my first proper ride on the Canyon this morning and got my quickest ever time into work and the bike felt great. When i was researching it before i bought i scoured the web to find the cheapest places to replicate the spec and ignoring the frame and fork the cheapest i could build the bike was c.£900. So basically you are getting the frame and fork for free. And that retails seperately at £450+.
Mine weighs 19lbs (with Ultegra SL pedals) and that's in a 66cm frame size. The Aksiums are very nice wheels (and the new ones are a bit lighter than the old ones) but Canyon also spec Grand Prix 4000s tyres which are at least £50+ a pair and are very light.
If your buddy can raise his budget a bit then unless you look at 2nd hand bargains, i fail to see where you'd get a better bike for the money.
i built this for £800 with bits out of the classifieds and a brand new groupset
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that's 7.4kg as it is.
I'm looking to get into cycling for the summer working on a similar budget. I was looking at the Specialized Allez Sport, does anyone have experience of these? http://www.ae7.com/specialized-allez-sport-compact-2011-road-bike-p808
Cheers
Allez sport is nice - I sat on a 56cm one the other day - felt lovely but again sora - which wasnt an issue at all until last Tuesday night at a club training session i was doing (on my 75quid OCR) when we were doing sprints and I couldnt drop down a gear for more power as i was on the drops.
Still beat a guy on a Giant Defy 1 though 🙂 as Lance said its not about the bike (its about the epo - joke)
Good job pinches - very very nice - not the kind of thing that 'a mate' gets from someone who dont know much about road bikes though
The £800ish Canyon sounds brilliant vfm - peeps may think they don't look that cool but remember Gilbert rides Canyon and therefore his most awesome roady racy magic dust will rub off on you. Expect to attack everyone at all times.
Sora shifters are better than the press they get on here.
Good for the Campag style thumb upshift when you are on the drops - and with a nice clunky feel too 🙂