Hi all,

So over the last year or so I have been thinking about a road bike. For training, mainly. It’s much easier to cycle straight from home here in South Manchester, than pack up all the MTB stuff and head to the hills.

My budget is around £1000, maybe a little more if it’s worth it. Happy to stick with an aluminium frame, I’m not fussed on weight. What I can’t decide on is disc brakes, or rim brakes. What are the real world differences? Have look at Giant Contend SL, Ribble R872, Trek Edmondo, Cannondale Synapse 105 et al. The usual suspects really.

Opinions and thoughts please.

Thanks

Are you going to ride regularly in wet weather / on wet roads?

If yes, then I’d go disc, if not for that budget you’d get a better rim brake bike at full rrp.

I commute on my road bike more than leisure ride – I tracked down a Cannondale Caad12 105 disc for £1200 last year which is awesome- although I also upgraded the wheels on purchase a bit.

If you haven’t ridden a road bike before you’ll get a shock at the lack of braking power when it’s wet with rim brakes. People will tell you with fancy rims / pads you can get close, but not in my experience. In the dry it’s closer but I still think my hydraulic discs out perform all the rim brakes I’ve used (sram rival / Shimano 105 / tektro – the usual suspects at the price you’re looking for).

The downside of discs is a little more weight / other components might be downgraded to get the bike down to cost / they can squeal a bit in wet weather if you don’t get them hot.

Boardman bikes are usually a good option at £1k which is the bike to work limit in a lot of places – you may get a carbon framed rim brake road bike from them in budget.

With Cannondale I found even the Carbon Synapse was a chunk heavier than the Caad12 so I’d probably look for a Caad if you go with that brand.

The other bike I considered was a Boardman Carbon / 105 / disc bike but it was £1350.

I’ve got a cheap road bike with cheap rim brakes (Quando?) and they are awful!! Bad in the dry & frightening in the wet.

I’ve also got a Raleigh Militis, which has a mish-mash of bits but overall much better quality. It’s got SRAM Apex rim brakes with SRAM pads. The difference in performance between those & the cheap brakes on the other bike are night & day. Much more direct feel & you can slow yourself up very quickly.

I’ve not tried discs to compare, but would imagine that they would give you an edge in the wet.

If I was looking for a new road bike, I’d be looking for something that can handle larger tyres. I reckon the max I could get in the Militis would be 25s and in the other bike 23s are probably the limit on the back wheel.
Given the state of the roads I can’t help but feel some larger volume tyres would be very welcome!

Thanks Joe.

Yes, will probably use it in winter. I thoughts as much, regarding the brakes. Just need to try some for size, as I’ve never ridden a road bike before!

Similar area to me, I’d suggest looking a little towards the gravel side or at least taking bigger rubber and discs, first up the roads are shocking and I’ve been on less potholed gravel and secondly it opens up a lot of riding locally to throw in some more detail interesting loops away from the traffic.

Another option would be to consider a gravel bike that you could use on road with the odd canal path, especially if you’re into enjoying the ride rather than smashing strava times.

Is there much difference between wider tyres on road, or those with a little extra tread?

For an all-round general bike, I’d go for disks.

It’ll add some weight, and as said other components might be downgraded, but disks are just better on a day to day basis. Especially for winter/foul-weather riding. Rim brakes are fine in the summer but can be terrifying in a torrential downpour.

Agree with tyre clearance too. Loads of bikes available now with clearance for much larger tyres. I wouldn’t go less than 28mm on a daily driver.

If you plan on racing, then go as fast and as light as possible, but in real terms the couple of seconds saved makes little difference to the average person.

Larger tyres will help smooth out those cracks and potholes in the road, give you more grip, and also let you run lower pressures. Not a biggie on silky smooth roads but massively confidence inspiring on our broken roads and with the benefit of more comfort. Tread generally has little value as the tyres are too small to aquaplane. Unless you’re talking a cross tyre which would help on muddy surfaces, etc.

Buying a disc brake is cheaper in the long run you don’t wear out the rims plus the pads last so much longer than canti ones do.Do try the bikes first because different makes the sizes do vary a lot.

Specialized Allez for sure, best 1k frame around.

Have you considered a gravel bike?

Where to begin. In brief the disc/rim argument is less clear cut in road biking than it is with mtb. Lots of high-end road bikes still running rim brakes. One of the clear advantages of discs on mtb (mud performance) is obviously less of an issue with road bikes. Also, for the most part with road bikes you’re not looking to stop as quickly, as often (unless something has gone very wrong..) as you are on an mtb. A key advantage of discs over rim is you’re not gradually wearing away your rims with the former. You’ve then got the whole hydraulic v cable disc debate. No doubt that the former are better, but a lot of the bikes with Discs (I’d say the majority) in your price range have cable. If that’s the case go with TRP Spyre and factor in £30-£40 for some better cables and compressionless outers (Yokohama make the best apparently, though Jagwire are meant to be quite good) and maybe some better pads than the OEM ones that will be on the bike. Avoid anything with Promax brakes on (Cannondale basically)

My advice would be to look at roadbike that has flexibility for larger tyres and a bit of towpath/fireroad riding, and that has a slightly less “harsh” geometry than a full-on racer. Any drop-of in performance will only bother you if you’re racing or obsessed with Strava (which I suspect you’re not). Doesn’t have to be a full on gravel bike, but something that takes 32-35mm tyres will offer you a lot more flexibility and comfort, with very little trade-off from a performance point of view (particularly if you have the right tyres – Vittoria Voyager Hyper are the ones, still available on PlanetX).

You could do a lot worse than look at the Pinnacle Arkose. Very highly rated (not least on this forum) and probably the best spec for the money that you’ll get at the £1k mark. I would have got one myself but was in the market 6 months ago when they were a) out of stock and b) the whole “will they go bust?” thing was at its peak and I went for an Orro instead. They’re the in-house brand of one of the distributors and make well thought out, very well specced bikes for the money (not least with good wheels which is arguably more important on a roadbike, particularly if you’re churning out the miles)

I’m based in South Mancs, email me if you fancy a pint and chat at some point

If I was looking for a new road bike, I’d be looking for something that can handle larger tyres. I reckon the max I could get in the Militis would be 25s and in the other bike 23s are probably the limit on the back wheel.

Doubt you’ll find anything with 23s these days, AFAIK nearly all road bikes have moved to 25s. (Ignoring gravel bikes of course!)

If you’re willing to forego disc brakes I’d add Decathlon to your search at that budget.

I’m finding out of all my bikes I’m using my gravel bike more than anything. 35mm Vittoria dry cross tyres. Having the flexibility to go fast on track, canal and then road is great.

All great information, thanks everyone.

My nervousness with a gravel/cx type bike is loss of on road performance. Will it feel more sluggish than a road bike with 25mm slicks and better gearing? Certainly happy to consider all options right now.

Don’t write off rim brake bikes, you can get a carbon bike with Shimano 105 for 1k that will feel like a rocket ship and be more than adequate if you’re just going to be riding it in the sun occasionally. 105 is flawless and the rim brakes are impressive these days.

Alternatively add weight & versatility, but it takes away from one of the joys of a road bike, which is sheer speed.

My nervousness with a gravel/cx type bike is loss of on road performance. Will it feel more sluggish than a road bike with 25mm slicks and better gearing? Certainly happy to consider all options right now.

I’ve not got a side by side comparison at the moment just it doesn’t seem to hold me back on the road as my fitness is the more limiting factor, I’ve had it wound up to some good rolling pace on 40mm GOne Bites, my boss has the 35mm versions in the tighter pattern and he is not seeing much drop in pace (serious roadie)

I did spend a fair bit more and the aero bits on the bike and the weight help a lot compared to some of the cheaper gravel bikes I think.

Some of the stuff it opens up for me
https://www.strava.com/activities/2234468877
https://www.strava.com/activities/2237689282
https://www.strava.com/activities/2219860673
https://www.strava.com/activities/2155818680

That is without getting out much further too

don’t worry about rim brakes, in the wet weather you just need to allow lots of braking distance and make sure you keep the rims clean, brakes well set up and good pads (swiss stop all weather ones)

just get something good secondhand (that price will get you something decent) and have a go.

In some ways you are better off spending far less on your first road bike, and seeing if you enjoy it first, and in which direction your riding progresses. Plenty of great used bikes around for £500-600.

Then if you get into it, you probably find you want to move onto something more racey, lighter, lower, more bling. Especially if you start club riding etc.

I’m on my 3rd bike within a year… I thought I wanted something gravelly and ‘all round’ to begin with. What I’ve quickly ended up with is a head down, arse up race bike.

In the true recommend what you ride tradition, with a bit of shopping around you should be able to get a Genesis Zero of some description. The star of the package is the frame which is the same carbon frame all the way through the range with an RRP of over £1K itself and the same as the one the Madison Road team use. I was recommended one on a thread on STW when I was looking at Giants, bit had to compromise on the spec I wanted due to my budget.

I’ve had one (Zero 2 Disc) since late summer as a first road bike (I do have a ‘gravel’ bike which I had a second set of road wheels / tyres which was OK on the road, but a properly focused road bike is so much better) and absolutely love it, and being a great frame means I can upgrade parts as required in the knowledge that the frame/fork is not holding it back.

Pauls Cycles have some Cannondale CAAD 12 disc 105’s for £1200, which would be a cracking first bike.

As a roadie i can confirm 23mm is still going strong but they are used for certain bikes/rims.
Personally I’d be looking second hand. If you can’t get Hydraulic then don’t bother with mechanical disc brake, even Spyre are a bit naff. Like others have mentioned I’d want 28mm tyres or larger. I don’t think a CAAD 12 or Emonda will take anything above 28. I’d look at the Trek Domane Disc or similar. But I would go second hand if I couldn’t get a good enough comfortable bike (endurance style frame) with hydraulic disc brakes.
I’m a big fan of rim brakes, but if I only had one bike it would be my Domane, super comfortable and the 32mm tyres with hydraulic discs are confidence inspiring.

Just further on rim brakes I’ve been commuting on road bikes since around 2005. Just onto my 4th road bike and the first that is disc brakes. Would literally never go back – things do happen where you need to stop suddenly when traffic is involved and if you don’t stop the consequences aren’t great. I would however caveat that’s with hydraulic discs not mechanical ones.

Also make sure you test ride bikes – I’ve had a Giant OCR / Caad9 / Boardman Team Carbon / Caad12 now. When I was looking at the caad 9 I was also tempted by a similarly specced Bianchi- I test rode them back to back and the Bianchi felt completely dead whilst the caad9 blew my mind with how lovely and quick it was.

The Boardman handled in a less lively way but made up for it in stiffness and forward drive.

Going back to Cannondale has again given a more fun ride but it seems just as quick in a straight line.

All the roadies in my club who have bought CX and gravel type bikes over the last couple of years seem to have decided that any new road bike they buy will also have discs.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the performance difference between a “gravel” bike with big tyres on it and a road-specific race-type bike. I’ve got Schwalbe G-One Speed tyres, 700×33, on my do-it-all getting-lost bike and it goes like a rocket. It’s more stable and feels less twitchy at speed than my “race” bike too, I happily hit 110kph on it in the Alps last summer!

If you have knobbly CX tyres you will notice a difference in rolling resistance, and big heavy tyres will take more force to accelerate up to speed and will feel heavy when cornering sharply, but tyres are relatively cheap to replace and thus upgrade the bike.

If you’re just dipping a toe in the water of road biking, I’d recommend saving your money. Buy a second-hand road bike with rim brakes, one that was £1000 a year or two ago, for about £500, spend £100 on a good service and Swissstop BXP brake pads and ride it around a bit. If you like it, spend the other £400+ on a new pair of lightweight wheels from a good wheelbuilder.

If you decide to go down the road bike route you would struggle to find better than this for the budget. They can easily take 28mm tyres.

https://www.dolan-bikes.com/road/road-bikes/road-bike-carbon/dolan-l-etape-carbon-road-bike-shimano-105-r7000-se-build.html

Avoid cable disk brakes. Mine were binned with 6months.

I ride with Vittoria Terrano dry lovely tyre with low Resistence.

Tyre

I would personally forget discs on a budget. I would go light and fast. Something like an Emonda ALR. Shop around, see if there are any ex demos out there. Cyclescheme might help too depending on your employer.

This?

https://www.cyclesurgery.com/p/cannondale-caad12-tiagra-2018-Q2315183.html?colour=624&wgu=5505_54264_15537161387655_2e30536cc3&wgexpiry=1561492138&source=webgains&siteid=54264affiliate=webgains&utm_source=webgains&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Skimbit%20LTD

This?

https://www.merlincycles.com/eddy-merckx-blockhaus-67-tiagra-road-bike-104303.html?source=PHG

Or this?

https://www.merlincycles.com/colnago-a1r-105-aluminium-road-bike-2018-115618.html?source=PHG

I would recommend ignore all the latest best internet deal. Go to a good bike shop and ask there advice. You cant really go far with the major brands. Discs are nice but rim brakes are fine. Just get one that fits right.

Also, for the most part with road bikes you’re not looking to stop as quickly, as often (unless something has gone very wrong..) as you are on an mtb.

But on a road bike, you need to stop when it counts. When you’re doing 30mph down a steep hill in the rain and a car pulls out – it matters!

Yeah having my defy with discs it was great, snappy, quick and stable along with stopping well. Interesting to have some fun on the road with the grail and it’s big tyres having fun leading a mate into some strava segments 🙂 given the state of Manchester roads I’d be after some sturdy wheels!!

Paul’s cycles do have some absolute bargains on a number of disc road bikes. But you do want to make sure you have the right size and you like how it rides. I didn’t personally test ride mine even through I got it from my lbs – but that’s because I’d had a Cannondale before so just bought the same size and the Caad12 disc had great reviews.

Road bike? Are you sure?

If you’re brand new to drop bars, I’d suggest buy cheap (preferably used, definitely not for a grand), buy slightly less top tube/reach than you’re advised (you’ll feel too stretched initially and can always put a bit longer stem on after a bit), buy discs and room for biggish tyres.

Once you decide what you like, sell that and replace with a correctly sized racer/crosser/gravel that actually does what you want and fits correctly

You know that the original budget will go out of the window so take a look at the On One Space Chicken. It doesn’t match any of your criteria but it looks good to me.

If only I didn’t have my carbon Pinarello with full Campag Record and Corima wheels…

I’m not sure why people are so negative about cable disks. I’ve got BB7s on my CX bike and they are as good as the R785s on my road bike. They do need to be wound in every now and then but it isn’t really a problem.

If I didn’t already have a road bike with rim brakes and a Gravel bike with (mechanical) discs, I would definately go for something with discs that can wear both hats, and there are a lot more options now…

Ribble CGR, Boardman ADV, PX London Road (I’ve still got my old one), Cannondale synapse… The list is loooong and ever changing.

Given the £1k budget don’t be put off by mechanical discs, just be aware they’re potentially more maintenance than rim or hydraulic to keep them in trim. Of course if the bug does bite you’ll eventually end up considering either a hydraulic brake/groupset upgrade, or a whole new bike with Rival or 105 down the line…

The thing I would be most focussed on to start with is wheels and tyres TBH, those can make the most difference in many ways to how much you enjoy riding the bike and how it performs….

Maybe keep a little budget aside for a new set of tyres once you kill the Conti sport-contacts or whatever come as stock.

Two of these. Or one, and keep £500.
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXLDNSLAPEXMECH/planet-x-london-road-sl-apex1

First road bike so assume it’s a year round option?

I’d go discs if only to eliminate wear on rims, off-the-shelf wheels will probably be fairly heavy and robust but if you understandably decide to go with some lightweight clinchers further down the line they’ll take a proper battering during the winter months.

Or you could just have rim brakes and only use your fancy new wheels through summer, switching back to the old ones in winter.

A number of the above bits of advice chime with my experience, others less so.

There are a couple of points which hint at starting with something cheap and seeing where it takes you. I think that’s wise.

You may find yourself loving or hating things that you may not have anticipated: you might hate the road in foul weather or you might ride come hell or high water; you might end up chasing KOMs or you might prefer to ride further rather than faster; you might want to never stray from asphalt or you might want to venture onto tracks, whether you want to enjoy them for the sake of themselves or simply to avoid some roads on which the traffic tends to be terrifying.

There’s also the likelihood that you won’t get your riding position right straight away. First time I bought a road bike it was decidedly too small, and even then as I rode more my preferred position gradually became a little lower and longer.

Unless you plan on time trialling I wouldn’t fuss about any supposed inefficiency of a gravel bike (or audaxer, tourer, crosser, whatever), within reason. A change of tyres and you can ride each as fast as the other—though something a little more stiff and nimble may well egg you on to pedal harder.

In return for ignoring those differences you’ll be free to choose something with more tyre clearance and the ability to fit proper mudguards, which opens up a lot of possibilities in terms of making more days and more routes more bearable. To me there’s no point in a summer bike: once I discovered mudguards and built a year-round bike I rode mine less and less until it only came out a few times a year, and then I sold it.

Discs vs rim brakes… Personally I think rim brakes provide perfectly adequate braking performance on a road bike (though discs certainly have the edge when braking from the hoods), and I probably prefer the feel of them. Rim wear is an issue of course, but it isn’t quite the issue it is on an MTB because you don’t get so much grit and, frankly, you brake far less on a road bike. For me the main benefits of discs are tyre clearance and the absence of constant brake filth (which is a pet hate of mine, especially if you use reflective or tan-wall tyres). Personally I find my cable discs fine (I have BB7s and Spyres; I marginally prefer the former), not least because I can chop and change components easily—if you’re only ever going to have one drop-bar bike then this won’t be a factor. But I’d ignore the “cable discs aren’t worth having” hyperbole.

If you want to go all-in with the full budget from the outset, I’d suggest something along the lines of the Arkose (or any of its ilk) is an ideal start. It’ll be light and stiff enough to behave well as a full-on road bike if you stick some nice slicks on it; it’ll handle off-road stuff if you fit tyres for that; it’ll take guards for when you realise that a constant upward shower of greasy road grime isn’t much fun; and it’ll take racks for the time you start thinking that maybe a little trip would be fun. In short it’ll do just about everything a bicycle ought to do, and with some fast tyres (and, when you’re feeling flush, a wheel change with some nice light rims) it’ll be as close to a full-on road bike as any non-racer could need.

IMO, IME, YMMV, yada yada 😉