Been toying with the idea of changing my road bike for something newer and with disc brakes. Not looking to spend a fortune and have settled on a max budget of £3k, would like to spend less if poss but want Ultegra as a min TBH but would go with SRAM equivalent. Not sure whether to jump to electronic shifting but that’s more dosh – is it all that? The budget doesn’t seem to get a lot from some brands, and where there’s better VFM there’s naff all stock. Anyone know if Canyon are shipping to the UK yet? Anyone any experience of Vitus, especially the Vitesse Evo range, or Merida? Vitesse seems like a good option but nothing around. Wouldn’t rule out a nice used one but it’s a lottery. Would you buy now given the lack of discounted bikes and low stock, or wait til things change…whenever that might be?

Bump

In tbevspirit of recommending what you ride, Scott Addict, if you want a more relaxed geometry rather than race.

Got one last year, mechanical Ultegra disc for £2250, think they might be £2,500 this year. A Di2 version may scrape in on budget?

Rides beautifully, comfy, quick enough for me, looks smart. Couldn’t find a similar spec bike from any of the major players offering similar vfm

Not sure what type of road bike you’re after but this looks good for the money. Its 105 but the rest of the spec is good!

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vitus-zx-1-evo-cr-road-bike-105-2021/rp-prod195721

I love spending other people’s money

now – I’ve moved away from carbon. All carbon bikes are (seem!) the same to me now. Move back to metal….

you can get a steel disc Ultegra Di2 from Ribble for 3.3k

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-endurance-725-disc-pro-green/

3k gets alot of bike

Id forgo electric shifting unless it’s something you desperately wanted. It’s very much a luxury item and wont make you go any faster.

Wheels on the other hand will. I’d avoid anything with boat anchors as wheels as nothing ruins a road bike like crap wheels and tyres

Depends what sort of road bike. If you’re looking for more of an all rounder as opposed to a race bike how about a Mason Definition?

Wheels on the other hand will. I’d avoid anything with boat anchors as wheels as nothing ruins a road bike like crap wheels and tyres

Comes with nice wheels too (or even nicer if you ask for them).

I’d ALWAYS pick 105 over any SRAM groupo (one of the Pro’s quotes and very true).

Di2 is a fantastic luxury but manual Ultegra is great.

I’d also plump for a Giant (carbon) road bike over anything else-quality at a decent price.

TCR or Defy. Stretch your budget if you have to, you won’t be disappointed.

Canyons VFM has declined over the years.

Vitus seem okay but only owned an alloy MTB from them.

If you want S/H, hang on for a few months. the prices will drop as new stock starts to arrive.

I was in the same boat, I opted for a Ribble endurance sl with Di2 and upgraded to the carbon cockpit. I debated the wheels Vs di2 for a long time and came to the conclusion that I’d probably upgrade the wheels at some point but would never upgrade to di2, so having it fitted from the get go made sense for me. Nowhere does it say that di2 is that much better than the mechanical groupo but I’ve always been intrigued by it and as my road bikes last a long time then this was the time to try it. As others have said it’s a bit of a luxury, if I was never going to spend another penny on the bike then I’d have probably opted for the wheel upgrade. As I wait for the bike I’m saving a bit for some nice wheels but the askiums it comes with will do for now.

Edit to add, I ordered in April and Ribble have been emailing me regular to say the September date is unchanged.

Depends what sort of road bike. If you’re looking for more of an all rounder as opposed to a race bike how about a Mason Definition?

Is the correct answer. Mine is now six years old and I’ve no desire to change it.

I’d say fit in a road bike is more important than an mtb because you are sat down a lot more. I’ve got long legs for my height and especially now I’m no spring chicken, not particularly flexible and no longer road racing and prepared to suffer for the cause, there are bikes I’d avoid regardless of the trinkets hung off it.

I’d be swinging your leg over a few frames (and ideally riding them for a good long ride) to work out what stack and reach works for you. Then start shopping based on spec on the bikes that genuinely suite.

Canyon are shipping to the UK now, i’ll be honest my bum was twitching as one bit of the website says its all good and another says none EU countries you are responsible for any duty.

Anyhow. UPS rocked up with my new Endurace hassle free. (to replace my old Endurace that was killed by a car….that reminds me, I need to tell you lot about getting hit by a car!!)

If you can stretch that 3k budget to 3.5k then the Boardman SLR 9.6 has everything you want

https://www.boardmanbikes.com/gb_en/products/2360-slr-9.6-disc-2021.html

If you can stretch that 3k budget to 3.5k then the Boardman SLR 9.6 has everything you want

Just get the 9.4, under £3k and the new Rival AXS wireless shifting….

Good luck trying to get hold of one of those!

I have two road bikes a Ridley Helium SLX and Kinesis Gf Ti V3. I would have the Kinesis over every carbon bike I have ever ridden – it is simply sublime riding experience in comparison (its also no longer available, the Kinesis GTD is the newer version, with disc brakes and unfortunately I see a bit more £££ these days). Honestly if someone stole all my bikes and I had 3k in my hand now, I would get a GTD frame, maybe an ultegra groupset, budget out the rest of the bike and upgrade over time. Or maybe look at a something like Fairlight Strael, or a Ritchey Logic, should be able to do frame + carbon wheels + Ultegra on those for 3k.

The Helium SLX is a very impressive carbon frame but I would think out of budget.

As a quality of life improvement electronic shifting can’t be topped. It’s brilliant. I won’t make you go faster, but I suspect you’re far less likely to change the groupset than you are your wheels so if you can only pick one between electronic shifting, and carbon wheels, then I’d go for the groupset and save up for a set of carbon wheels as a next step. Then, when you get your nice wheels it’s almost like getting an new bike all over again!

Di2 is lovely, well worth it. Won’t make you any faster of course, but it’s so nice to use.

Thread resurrection. A new roadie is now back on the radar 8 months after I started this…never got round to it. This time I think I do want lecky gears…almost certainly…I think! Budget can be upped to £3.5k…would def consider 2nd hand though there doesn’t seem to be the glut of unwanted ‘lockdown’ bikes I’d hoped for…only looked on eBay and Gumtree though – anywhere else to look?

I bought a new road bike a couple of weeks from my LBS and the guy said that pretty much every road bike that is coming into the UK this year has already been allocated to dealers. So what you see on shop floor is what there is. I don’t think there will be a great amount of choice later in the year so probably a good idea to buy now.
The bike was also my first with electric gears – I didn’t want them as I’m always a late adopter but I was totally sold on them after the first ride.

OK, as long as you’re not an XL, this is in stock and looks unbeatable for quality & value…

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/tcr-advanced-1plus-disc

Almost tempted myself.

would def consider 2nd hand though there doesn’t seem to be the glut of unwanted ‘lockdown’ bikes I’d hoped for…only looked on eBay and Gumtree though – anywhere else to look?

My prediction – there’s a lot of good quality 2020 and 2021 bikes largely unused in people’s houses and garages now, they’ve been bought in lockdown and they were used when that was all we could do for an hour at a time. Then they weren’t used because – winter. But they’ve been kept because ‘I will take it up again once the weather gets better.’

So come March / April, without the restrictions people will start to think ‘actually, rather than ride that I’m going down the pub with my mates’ and I think there will be – not a glut maybe – but there will be a second hand market opens up.

This logic has managed to stop me spending out on new myself, so don’t disabuse me of that idea please!

Quite possibly.

And in addition, the above comment about bikes all being allocated to dealers – I don’t think that necessarily means they’re going to be selling like hot cakes when they do land in the shops this time round.

I bought myself a second hand road bike from eBay at the start of this year.

They didn’t seem to be flying off the shelves. They stayed on sale for a while for the XXL one I was looking at.

I was also hoping for loads of lockdown bikes but they didn’t seem to be on sale.

Scott addict 10, if you can find one. AXS, cableless cockpit, looks great too in blue IMHO. Bit over 3k now though, I’m sure it was under 3 last year.

https://www.scott-sports.com/gb/en/product/scott-addict-10-bike-blue?article=286422049

Orro bikes might be another option – stock due in soon according to their website.

I just received my Ribble as mentioned earlier in this thread last week. Delays aside which I accepted,I’m very happy. Ribble bumped up the spec to the latest ultegra free gratis. All in I spent £3.4 on bike with di2 and integrated bars and another £450 on Prime 50mm carbon wheels with tyres. The current offering looks good with the 40mm wheels. Not sure on availability though.

https://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/ribble-endurance-sl-disc-red-enthusiast/

That new Addict 10 looks lovely. I have one that is a few years older with mechanical Ultegra and love it, so that would get my vote

That Scott Addict does look nice…not much info out there about it though…

Anyone actually used Rival AXS…is it good? Never had SRAM full stop never mind electronic gears 🤔

Something a bit different.

Plenty of build options.

@rascal all I found last year when looking for info / reviews was this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg00NcN94BY

I’ve used axs on a Scott genius and it’s very good, but cannot comment on long term use.

I’ve been looking at used bikes the last few weeks. I used eBay and local used bike shops but the place I found had more of the model I was looking for was Facebook’s Marketplace.

The bike I got is about 18 months old, bought for use during lockdown, only used 5 times (the rubber hairs are still on the tyres) and I paid a third of retail price.

I think we’re at the beginning of lockdown bikes coming to the market but there’s likely to be an abundance of cheaper models (under £1k) and less of anything above this price range. A lot of people will have bought to attach to indoor trainers so wouldn’t have wanted/needed an expensive bike.

I’ve got Rival on my new road bike. First-time SRAM user too. It’s working really well so far. I don’t find the hoods as comfortable as my old Ultegra but apart from that I’m very happy. It’s not especially light but I’m OK with that.

I’m not fixating on my above suggestion of the TCR for the sake of it, but I’d take the nice carbon wheels and mechanical Ultegra over alu wheels and Rival AXS every day of the week.

There’s something really nice about a bike specced with exactly the best bang-for-buck parts and which needs no upgrades / has no weak links.

Was browsing fleabay and this C5 cropped up, must resist

Vitus Vitesse Evo with Rival 12 speed eTap. Prime alu wheels.
RRP £3.2k and not in stock…can get new and used (non-transferable warranty but seller will deal with Vitus if need be) for £2.7k.
120 miles away. Practical purchase as ticks all the boxes, though still a very nice bike in its own right.

OR

Bianchi Infinito XE with 11 speed mech Ultegra. Hunt carbon wheels. Warranty.
Local shop can do a deal for £3.5k – easy to go and sit on. I know the guys there.
No lecky gears for a lot of money but way nicer wheels…

What’s a boy to do?

I did this last feb and ended up going for an Orbea Orca OMR (with the classic lower bars). Ultegra mechanical with FFWD carbon wheels as a well priced package from Epic cycles.
I would have liked e-gears having friends that rave about it, but the budget didn’t stretch to that, without going to boardman/decathlon and they had no stock so my inner brand-snob didn’t have to cope in the end.

I love the bike. It’s incredibly comfy even on our broken roads. Wheels are so fast, so I endorse the above recommendation: to prioritise wheels over gearset……..but I have to say I’m not hugely impressed with the 11-speed Ultegra. It works perfectly, but changes are pretty industrial under any sort of load up, and no better than my previous 2003 105 on the way down…which I find a but disappointing. Not sure if the e version is any better if it’s based on same chain/cassette and shifter basis?

My prediction – there’s a lot of good quality 2020 and 2021 bikes largely unused in people’s houses and garages now, they’ve been bought in lockdown and they were used when that was all we could do for an hour at a time. Then they weren’t used because – winter. But they’ve been kept because ‘I will take it up again once the weather gets better.’

I’m not so convinced.

They sold all the bikes that were available, but they would have done anyway eventually. Longer-term there isn’t going to be an oversupply.

The <£1k bikes will sit in the back of sheds occasionally being taken to center parks like they always did. The £3.5k bikes were probably bought by people who already cycled as a hobby and suddenly had some spare cash from not commuting, or were on the furlough gravy train.