Forum menu
Looking at a new road bike for my wife, and she's after something made of carbon that's not too pricey. The Planet-X RT58 is the current fave but it seems wise to have a look at what else is about at that price.
Where else is worth looking at for well specced bargain road bikes?
(Not ribble, by the way, for a number of reasons)
Pauls Cycles
Decathlon 5
Dolan?
Canyon?
Rose?
what's wrong with Ribble anyway?
Good suggestions so far.
Main objection to ribble is her current road bike is one and she fancies a change.
Also they were a pain to deal with last time.
Merlin have some offers at the moment. But deff. check out the Canyon range.
This Merlin one looks great value for an Ultegra setup :- [url= http://www.merlincycles.com/merlin-malt-cr-sl-road-bike-65956.html ]http://www.merlincycles.com/merlin-malt-cr-sl-road-bike-65956.html[/url]
The 105 model at £925 looks pretty good too.
You didn't give a budget. But if you can find a Giant Avail Composite from 2013, I would recommend one. Excellent frames and reasonable components. In fact 2013 Giant carbon road bikes of any flavour are now excellent value from Pauls Cycles.
What sort of riding does she do?
MEKK - even though ive broken mine!
Good value frames hung with nice kit at prices that match Ribble/Planet X etc. Plus (as I'm finding out) great customer service.
Good range of sizes & models as well.
Pinnacle at evans
Boardman at halfords
Revolution at Edinburgh bike coop
Chain reaction have cube agree down from 1400 to 990 ish depending on deals... Got mine for 895 full carbon mavic wheels Easton bits.. Rides great !
Cheap carbon is not necessarily good value.
I know you've stated carbon but it's worth considering the Trek Domane frame. It has a pivot type arrangement where the seat stays meet the top tube which helps it absorb chatter. Makes for a very comfy ride. The alloy versions are very good value.
Giant avail
As above cheap carbon is not better than nice alloy. This is not carbon but the [url= http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b4s134p4864/GIANT-AVAIL-1-COMPACT-2013 ]Avail 1[/url] is a fine bike. The frame is truly excellent. Carbon 2013 Avails are a little harder to come by. If she is of the smaller stature, buy 2014 now because all the XS and S sold out last year. Son2 has an XS Avail 2.
Don't bother with any of your rational ideas about carbon/alloy chaps. The heart wants what the heart wants 🙂
Budget is less than £1500 (the PX comes in at £1400). Main use will be long rides, sportives, that kinda thing.
Thanks for the replies so far. Will just open up a few browser windows later and see which colour scheme looks best 🙂
Does anyone have any experience of cheap carbon being bad, or not being as good as ally at a similar price point? I've heard the line trotted out but never seen anything concrete to back it up.
For 1400 you could get the bottom of the range Canyon Ultimate CF.
[url= http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3239#tab-reiter2 ]linky[/url]
Top class frame , 105 drive train and Mavic wheels
I just bought a cube agree,last years model so a 450 quid discount, taking the price down to 799.I can't compare it to any other bikes,ad it's my first road bike,but it seems pretty decent .
Does anyone have any experience of cheap carbon being bad, or not being as good as ally at a similar price point? I've heard the line trotted out but never seen anything concrete to back it up.
No direct comparison to speak of and probably a bit raw since I've only just returned from seeing the carbon repair guy, but...
My Planet-X had developed a split in the BB shell, probably just outside of the warranty period. I put it down to a lacquer crack and carried on riding it (for about a year).
Guy checked the frame over this morning on an unrelated repair (accident on my part, but asked him to look at both since I was there) and managed to put his stanley blade straight through it with seemingly no effort.
Could have happened to a £2k frame I suppose, but it's left me wary about buying cheap next time.
brakes - Member
Does anyone have any experience of cheap carbon being bad, or not being as good as ally at a similar price point? I've heard the line trotted out but never seen anything concrete to back it up.
Yup, we sell a £1k carbon bike, most staff prefer its alu peers.
Whilst i don't have any experience of high end alu, i can certainly say that my Planet X SL pro carbon is exceptionally comfortable whilst being stiff in all the right places and is worlds apart from alu bikes that would have cost only £200 less than my PX bike (with a much lower spec drivetrain) so imo in may come down to rider preference but it is not definitive.