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A female friend of mine is looking to get a road bike. Nothing special just starting out and not looking to spend much. Can she realistically get something worth having for £300?
She spotted this:
[url= http://www.discountcyclesdirect.co.uk/catalog/product.php?CI_ID=15507&Item ='Viking%20Elysee%20STI%202013%20Ladies%20Road/Racing%20Bike%20-%20Pink%20Decals']From LBS[/url]
and this: [url= http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_1001523_langId_-1_categoryId_165710 ]From Halfords[/url]
I'm more into MTB so don't really know roadie specs, can any one help?
What would you recommend?
[i]Sorry about that first url, I can't seem to make the bb-code work[/i]
How tall is she?
Mrs Yak is 5'8" and will be selling her first road bike soon for less than that. Its a spesh secteur so is quite tall at the front and has a variable angle stem so you can pretty much get any set-up at the front. V comfy endurance type geometry. PM if interested.
Decathlon or Carrera from Halfords.
Sure road.cc have done reviews on entry level bikes in the last few months if you look on there.
ebay innit. get miiiiiles more for your money second hand.
Bike fit is important for road riding, because you are in the saddle for long periods. So in that regard, a LBS might be more willing to tweak the setup, within her budget, to get it set up reasonably for her. Also the Halfords frame sizes seem quite limited.
Having said that, I got a Carrera as my first road bike which I used for commuting for about 2 years. It wasn't exactly perfect but it had reasonably good parts at a bargain price.
I agree you can get a bargain second-hand, but you need to have a reasonably good idea of what size you need and the willingness and ability to change bits that aren't right. Which may be a bit much if you just want to give it a go.
Things to consider: I was greatful for a compact chainset. We changed the tyres straight away for commuting. The wheels and frame were heavy. At that price range you can't really complain, but when comparing bikes it is worth considering weight. You will see some bikes with bar-mounted shifters, these are cheaper simply because the mechanism is less complex, which can sometimes mean that other components are 'better'. Whether or not she could get on with them depends on what she is used to. I haven't ever had a female specific frame, but if she has short arms and torso compared to her inside leg (like most women), she might find a female specific frame more comfortable. But that is probably something to consider if she really enjoyed it and wanted to upgrade in the future.
Personally I would rather have £300 than any of those bikes.
Tell her to save another few quid and take a look at Pauls cycles for something actually worth owning and won't put of bikes for life.
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p5226/CANNONDALE-CAAD8-2300-2013