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1st post so be gentle
Have option to buy a road bike through the ride to work scheme so got a budget of £1000 but there are so many options around.
Will be mostly commuting 10 miles a day and some weekends rides just for fun.
Question is, can anything really beat the Planet X Pro Carbon for spec and value?
What's your priority? Speed? Reliability? The smooth sheen of carbon? Gnarl?
Plenty of great sub £1000 road bikes out there...
As with all large purchases, I want value for money but my head does get turned very easily by the sheen of carbon.
have heard good things about the allez bikes [img] 
[/img] http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/allez-elite-compact-2013-road-bike-ec040967 £900.00
i admit that i haven't tried one myself but i have a tarmac sport which i love and the allez is very similar to the carbon tarmac bikes in geometry and ride.
just bought a 2013 Scott speedster 20 with Tiagra groupset for £810 - its not carbon but still seems excellent value
Boardman road bikes are great value for money, provided you can use Halfords on your C2W scheme.
dont let the carbon fool you a lot of aluminium bikes will be better for that money
I tried the Allez - several versions, but bought a Defy 1. This year's Defy's look nice - the Defy 1 is in budget, the 2,3,4 or 5 well within.
Was just looking at Canyon. If Alu is OK, then full shimano 105 spec comes in under a grand (in Euros), and Ultegra is barely over (by the time you take exchange rate in to account). Must be loads in that sort of price range, but I have no idea about C2W type schemes.
Was going to get a spare set of road wheels, plus tyres, cassette etc. for the CX bike, but at relative prices like that I'm almost tempted to just do an N+1.
There are lots of bikes in the uk for under a grand with full 105
considering youre avoiding 20% Vat with Canyon it means the UK guys arent that bad.
I've had an Allez since 2011 and it's been great. The [url= http://www.saddleback.co.uk/felt-f-85-2013 ]Felt F85[/url] is a nice bike for the money too.
Saw this on Road.CC:
[url] http://road.cc/content/news/80665-just-roux-etape-250 [/url]
There are only nine models in the range of UK based Roux Bikes: three pure road bikes, two 'cross bikes, a classic fast Audax style tourer, two heavy duty tourers with luggage racks and an unusually equipped Nexus eight speed hub geared hybrid. With the top bike in the range costing under £1000 it's obvious that the main emphasis at Roux is on value for regular riders rather than high performance for the more competitively inclined.
The cyclocross one looks good for £800ish!
[url] http://www.2x2worldwide.com/ROUX/conquest3500.html [/url]
For commuting I'd be looking for something that could take full mudguards and a possibly a rack depending on how much you need to carry to work.
Sancho- The prices on the Canyon website include German VAT @ 19%.
For all EU sales it's paid at the point of origin.
Exports out of the EU, are of course, tax free.
32.4lb for a Roux tourer??!! I struggle to ride 13 miles each way on a 22lb commuter.
Crud race guards will fit to pretty much any bike or SKS do the quick fit ones which are sufficient for keeping spray off you.
got to be a Ribble Gran Fondo. Quality and a great looker
Interesting, will take a look, thanks Wolfdog
Anyone else got anything to say about Ribble, good or bad?
dantechnet, I have the Canyon roadlite 6.0. Its a cracking bike which I would definately recommend.
Full 105 and quality wheels. You wont find much better out there for the price. Service from Canyon was also very good.
CAAD10?
If you're commuting make sure you can fit proper guards and a rack. Invest in 25 or 28c tyres for comfort. Although buying new has its appeals, you could probably find what you need for a few hundred pounds on the cycling forums.
[url= http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_918473_langId_-1_categoryId_165710#tab2 ]This boardman[/url] is failry hard to beat for 1p under your budget.
I just bought a Fuji Roubaix 1.3 from evans, down from 1250 to 1k and with 100 quid's worth of free stuff on top (i.e. shoes). Seems pretty good although I'm not a road bike expert. Full 105 groupo and bladed spokes on the wheels was the clincher.
[i]Full 105 groupo[/i]
Did evans upgrade the chainset then?
yeah, good call the chainset isn't 105. it's a bit agricultural but cranks are cranks.
I have just bought a Sensa Romagna from Merlin and i'm very very happy with it for the money. I have only done about 200 miles on it since new but its been faultless, comfy and looks the dogs nackers !
one of these maybe?[ http://www.cyclelane.co.uk/m4b122s6p5938/WILIER-La-Triestina-105-2012/RS_GB/20082 ][/url]
Waiting on a Sensa Romagna Special from Merlin too. Just wished my voucher would hurry up and arrive.
Are you just getting a C2W voucher (that you can use anywhere) or is your company in a scheme that locks you into someone like Wheelbase? I'd check that before casting your net too wide.
I'd also only buy something I could test ride first given it's your first road bike and you'll likely won't know what works for you just by looking at geometry charts (although as long as you get it roughly right a bike fit later + small adjustments should be able to get it exactly right for you if needed).
The Verenti bikes from Wiggle are worth a look at, as are the Mekk bikes
I 2nd the Giant defy great value!!
I recently picked up a Moda Intro with Tiagra for £700. Done less than 150 miles so far but apart from the shitty Kenda rubber (replaced with Conti 4000s after two punctures) all is well so far!
Cheers,
Jamie
Jeez, clearly plenty of options around 1k
Liked the look of the Canyons and Ribble GF but really need to test ride before buying and the rtw scheme does limit my options slightly.
Found a caad 10 for £1100 which would look nice sitting next to the scalpel so will explore that over the weekend.
Will update my progress soon