[Closed] Ahem- road bikes

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/focus-cayo-105-ltd-2011/
and use TOUR20 for 20% off, £879 😀

spoon
unless you plan to do time trials or tris I'd go for a road bike rather than a tt/tri bike. The gearing set up is different as well as the geometry. You wouldn't go out with others on a tri bike as the brakes are away from the gears and vice versa and they are much more twitchy and designed for flat straight roads essentially. They're also not well designed for any reasonable hills. You can always put clip on aero bars on your road bike if needs be (worked ok for me up to 112miles anyway).
Personally I'd go for a Ti roaddie if ££'s allow.

thanks bazep, great concise answer ! thats answered that question!

quite liking that focus as well.

Gearing isn't necessarily different on a tri bike, you'll often find that road bikes of that price will come with a compact, as opposed to a standard chainset on a tri bike, but it's not a gaurantee. Bazep is definitely right about geometry though, tri bikes are very twitchy and not nice to climb on, wouldn't recommend unless the vast majority of your riding is tt/tri based.

You need to try a few ideally, fit is very important on the road, more so than on an MTB. Without getting into wild generalisations ti frames tend to be either light, or stiff, but not both, and personally a ti road bike would never be on my shopping list. The Focus is absolutely stunning value for <£900, that's where my money would be going.

Boardman always seem to get very good reviews. The [url= http://www.boardmanbikes.com/road/road_team.html ]Boarman Team[/url] is a grand, or the [url= http://www.boardmanbikes.com/road/road_team_carbon.html ]Team Carbon[/url] if you can stretch to another £300.

There's usually descent bikes for £1k on eBay, if you're happy with used.

or the Canyon/Rose German mail-order route

Aside from a 55 chainring, I don't have a problem riding up hills on my TT bike........

All joking apart, stick with a conventional road bike as that's what they're designed to do and as njee says, you really do need to try a few out for fit.

I have two carbon road bikes and two Ti's (one's the TT wagon). Carbon will be cheaper than Ti and I personally prefer the ride of Ti. - Horses for courses and all that.

Was just about to buy the boardman team on C2W, then saw the orbea aqua 105, similar spec but 105 chainset rather than FSA.
Google cycling plus bike of the year they did a 1000 quid grouptest. Cube attempt won but has triple chainset which I can't see point of. Cannondale caad 9 105 also scored highly along with the boardman.

lots of choice and you cant get much better value for money than Planet X although that focus @ £879 is a great deal. Ribble have some good offerings too but their customer service is revolting at best! may be an idea to hang fire for a month to take advantage of the 2012 bikes coming out and the 2011 range being reduced perhaps?

[url= http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/specialedition.asp?action=GenerateConstructor&part=SERIBBSPORTBIANSHIM&sub=conf_SERC&bike=1 ]good priced ribble[/url]

Wow, thanks guys, good stuff.
That ribble is rather nice ! great reviews as well.

top of the list now !

I'm looking at the same thing at the moment. So far been looking at:

Boardman
[url= http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_trek_2.3_c.html ]Trek 2.3[/url][url= http://www.hargrovescycles.co.uk/products.asp?category=Bikes&product=Attempt%2020%20speed%20-%202011 ]Cube attempt[/url] - I really like this one
[url= http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/scott_speedster_s35_.html ]Scott Speedster[/url]

I've also looked at the Specilized Allex range and the Focus Cayo. Loads of deals out there at the moment following on from the tour and also the 2011 bikes are on sale as the 2012 bikes are coming out now

I had a rubble for a few years and was very happy with it. As said previously they are good vfm but be prepared for a wait and slightly lax comms. The newer frames look great.

That rubble linked to looks great.

I'd also consider 2nd hand as road bikes dont seem to hold their value. I have just bought a mint (<200miles) Giant Defy 2 with an upgraded 105 10speed groupset for £500. As a first proper road bike its ideal for me!

Apart from the Dribble won't look like the picture as it has totally different stuff on it.

[i]Not planning on tris, but is it more comfortable/better than a standard road bike.

[/i]

Hell no!

Apart from the Dribble won't look like the picture as it has totally different stuff on it.

Why for do they do that? this is an illustration of what you won't be getting 😐