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Maybe partially influenced by our summer thus far but also with a view to kick starting my fitness, I'm looking at getting hold of a road bike for around £1k.
Looking back through past threads here the Giant Defy seems to pop up quite regularly amongst those of you who are bicycle-curious. Is it still a good bet?
I'm in the same position. Other bikes to consider if you're not doing C2W or similar are from Rose and Canyon. Boardman are a good option too if you can getting over the branding/Halfords aspect. I went to a dealer yesterday and he [bizarrely] advised me to come back in a couple of weeks when the 2013 stock comes in as they'll have plenty of 2012 bargains.
[url] http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=82576 [/url]
I love my Defy Advanced.Nice geometry and very comfortable.
However,have you seen the tcr Alliance for £750 (50%0ff) on CRC?
blimey, good deal on that tcr !!!!!!!!
I've just bought a Defy 1 and highly recommend it. I tested it against the Spesh Secteur & Roubaix, Defy 2 Composite and Fuji Gran Fondo. The Secteur was dull, the Roubaix was a bit better but vague and nowhere near justifies its frankly daft pricing, and the Fuji was nothing special to ride and is truly fugly.
The Defy 2 carbon stood out a mile as the best of the bunch to ride - sharp & responsive yet comfortable, and well specced. I plumped for the alu Defy 1 because I got 15% off (making it half the price of the carbon one) and while the ride is a little less compliant it's still good.
I did over 100km on it on Sat and felt fine after, no aches and pains at all and could have gone a good deal further - the only bike I've ever said that about in over 15 years, on or off road. It cruises along nicely at 30kph with little effort. I'm a pernickety bugger yet the only upgrades I've felt compelled to make are some decent tyres + tubes to replace the boggo standard spec stuff (250g to be saved there) and some gel bar tape.
Go for the carbon frame if you can stretch to it, but the alu Defy 1 is a cracker for the money. For once the reviews are not simply a load of paid-up sponsored BS, but are actually spot on! FYI I paid £850 for mine.
<edit> Oh, and I tried a Boardman and absolutely hated it... heavy and huuuugely long in the top tube. It's a different sort of bike to those named above though, more akin to that TCR
Canyon, have a stunning full ultegra, carbon fork nice wheels for whisker over £1K. Not seen anything come close. Posted link in £2.5k bike thread.
Edit
http://www.canyon.com/_uk/roadbikes/bike.html?b=2500
Second hand stuff is plentiful at that budget and you could get something seriously good and hardly used.
Plenty of folk with to much money go and blow 2.5K on a carbon wonder bike, use it twice and bung it in the garage for 6 months before shipping it on.
Even regularly used kit will still usually be good value, as road stuff doesn't wear out at anywhere near the rate of mtbs.
What are your views on the [url= http://www.cannondale.com/gbr/2012/bikes/road/elite-road/caad8/2012-caad8-6-tiagra-20294 ]Cannondale CAAD 8 Tiagra[/url]? Been looking for something on the Cycle to Work scheme and my LBS recommended it.
A few months back I tried the Defy, Allez, Trek 2.3 and CAAD 8 - bought the Cannondale.
On paper, all fairly similar but I just liked how it rode.
Thanks for that, I also like the way it rides but I've only tried the CAAD and an Allez so far.
Wow, that canyon is a bargain!