Road bike advice needed: what bike for £500-£1k

That synapse at £600 is a bargain. For lower end bikes the spec is hit somewhere and the dale does not have the best wheels in the world but you could get some carbon wheels on that and still be in budget!

Re geometry, pre 2013 synapses were definitely short and upright but there was a revamp of the frame where the 2014/15 models are bang in the middle and that is the one that has won numerous tests.

The Pro isn’t a killer by any means but I wouldn’t want to be doing Sportives on it! Well not without one of those huuuuuuuge gel Bell saddles they do in Asda

I’m sorry man but this is bollocks.

I can’t be arsed picking apart the wrong assumptions and misunderstandings in the above quote. I’ll just say – OP – you can safely ignore it.

Fit is so important with road bikes. don’t get anything unless you are copnfident it’s right. Worth trying a few brands for size, in a couple of shops and comparing geometery.

I would recommend something that will take mudguards as an allrounder\ first bike. makes such a difference to winter riding: keeps the filth off the bike too so the groupset should last longer.

Why is it bollocks Hebden?
For ME personally the Pro is great for fast rides, when I want to get out and hammer it. Is it comfortable? Yes. Would I want to do longer distances on it? No – I wouldn’t.
With identical kit – and I mean identical other than the saddle/wheels the RT is a completely different animal – for ME.
Could I make them the same by messing with stack heights, seat, etc – probably – but then thats defeating the object of having the lightweight Pro and the RT for distance/winter isn’t it.

So by all means spell out what wrong assumptions and misunderstandings there are in it.

Evening. How about a Giant Defy Advanced 2 or 3?

My best advice is don’t buy cheap carbon, buy expensive aluminium instead.

There really is no helping some people. 😥

The Pro isn’t a killer by any means but I wouldn’t want to be doing Sportives on it! Well not without one of those huuuuuuuge gel Bell saddles they do in Asda

What’s probably confusing is I’d read that and assume it was something to do with some sort of harshness in the ride, rather than being down to the geometry of the bike. I guess it could be something to do with your position on it, which could partly be down to fit and geometry.

FWIW, my race bike is a long low TCR (M/L frame with a slammed 140 stem) but I’ll happily ride it all day long. But then I have put a lot of work into that position.

My best advice is don’t buy cheap carbon, buy expensive aluminium instead.

Definitely!

Road.cc had a cheap road bike review a few days ago, might be helpful.

The Pro isn’t a killer by any means but I wouldn’t want to be doing Sportives on it! Well not without one of those huuuuuuuge gel Bell saddles they do in Asda

What’s probably confusing is I’d read that and assume it was something to do with some sort of harshness in the ride, rather than being down to the geometry of the bike. I guess it could be something to do with your position on it, which could partly be down to fit and geometry.

Plus, the PX does not have particularly aggressive geometry, and is excellent for all-day riding. To try to create the opposite impression, to someone looking for purchasing advice, is unhelpful.

There may be a PX pro carbon for sale in the classifieds, which would leave you plenty in budget for some quality shorts, and half decent shoes and pedals. And a box of energy gels too!

Defy’s nice enough but my god they are dull, your not going to want to actually ride it.

Also yes “fit” is important but modern bike are so flexible any of three sizes can be made to fit most riders. How are you, I’ll tell you thr middle of those three.

If your paying cash, get that Canyon or get something second hand with a nice paint job.

I have a px pro carbon and love it, however it really is important to get a good fit on a road bike. I would therefore find a good lbs that you trust to get you well fitted as this will make far more difference than weight/spec.
Make sure it has a wide range cassette and compact cranks if you’re going to be doing hilly miles of course.

My advice, go “mainstream” as you are not just after “a first road bike” but something to use for a specific event and the training leading up to it, March in to a Giant dealership tell them about your planned use, your riding background and then understate your budget a bit (tell them £400-700 maybe).

Get a representative test ride out of them if you can, don’t dismiss older models which might be on clearance.

Then repeat the whole exercise with a specialized dealer, and maybe a Trek shop if you can, and see which one does the best job of understanding your needs.

Sod the bling, and the ultimate interweb bargains.

There’s little point pissing about with smaller niche brands, and online retailers when you are going to be more interested in fit, comfort and general service as a “beginner”…
Just see who floats your boat and see what they’re willing to chuck in if you suddenly find the ability to stretch the original “budget”…

Any wiser Op Lol. Just go into a bike shop, pick any one you like the look of. Get the staff to help you get the right size and away you go. As it’s your first road bike anything mainstream will be just fine for what you want.

Blimey!!! Wiser? Yes! Spoiled for choice? Absolutely!

Had a good look st the Planet X pro carbon and RT 58 online. The RT 58 is out of stock in my size at the mo so need to speak to the shop direct about lead in times etc. The carbon is a definite possibility as its well in budget and has great reviews.

Giant Defy is still an option as well and I have a local LBS dealer about 5 miles from me so that’s a good shout.

Won’t go near Specialized again after a horror show with my MTB a few months back.

As for expense compared to MTB then it’s just as easy to set a budget and then blow it out of the water. Did this recently when I bought a new bike (budget of £1500 ended with outlay of just shy of £3k!!). So got to stick witching the numbers this time. Looks like an LBS trip next Monday morning then a jaunt over to Sheffield later in the day to check out Planet X.

Thanks again for all the advice and tip guys!

China dear boy, China… Only the best stuff comes out of Taiwan!

😀

+1 for the Planet X Pro Carbon
I know many a person who has bought one of these and regretted it. The phrase “good carbon ain’t cheap and cheap carbon ain’t good” has never applied more to another frame I’d say! These days there are exceptions emerging to prove that old mantra out of date, but the Planet X (which hasn’t been updated since its inception in the days when that mantra was very accurate) certainly isn’t one of them.

As others have said, good alloy is better than cheap carbon.

For example, one of the spanner monkeys at my LBS, who can have pretty much anything he likes, has an utterly lovely Smartweld alloy Spesh Allez, pimped up with Zipp Service Course and SRAM Red. It’s a little small for me, but oh my….what a ride. It’s brilliant.

The Smartweld Allez is lovely, a nice example and some other nice alu bikes in this thread. If I was buying a frame for crit racing it’d be near the top of the list.

I had a Specialized sectuer as a first road bike and found it excellent! Triple chainset helped with the hills and a comfier position than some racier bikes. Also has shock absorber things in forks and rear triangle, may have helped or maybe just a gimmick but the lbs sold me on them!

. None offer the comfort, all-round ability and value that Giant give you.

Sorry but this is nonsense

Evenin’. I bought into the ‘wow full 6800 and a carbon frame for 1k’.

The Pro carbon- wish I’d gone Defy or Cannondale. It was orrible and those FSA wheels should be smashed up

My best advice is don’t buy cheap carbon, buy expensive decent quality aluminium instead.

In a nutshell… Use of the word “expensive” is probably a little misleading (there are still some ultra high end ally frames out there), quality should be more of a concern than price. But the sentiment is entirely correct IMO.

Whatever you get though, that it fits you correctly and is suitable for purpose (ie. you can get guards and say 25c tyres on it if you’re riding it through winter just as an example) is far more important than brand etc.

There really is no helping some people.

Ignorance is often bliss… Hence those riding Planet X Pro Carbon’s on this thread piping up!

Evenin’. I bought into the ‘wow full 6800 and a carbon frame for 1k’.

The Pro carbon- wish I’d gone Defy or Cannondale. It was orrible and those FSA wheels should be smashed up

It’s rare people on here get to agree with Hora, but… 😉

be sure you want a road bike though – I bought one for a sportive after pressure from a mate not to use my HT again, but I rarely use it because offroad is so much better – and now its only use will be mounted on a wahoo kickr in the garage.

The cx style bike – the kinesis tripster, and the croix de fer before it, however gets used all the time offroad as it is so much fun and can be pressed into road use if needed.

On the tripster thread there are several people that post about as good times on the tripster as they did on their road bikes even though it is much slacker, and in the case of the tripster it is massively comfortable as well.

Don’t forget about Ribble bikes!!….the gran fondo is excellent value ..and you can change the parts before you buy
http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/bbd/road-track-bike/ribble-gran-fondo?part=BB15RIBGRFONDO&sub=conf_BB_ALL&bike=1

On the subject of ‘cheap’ carbon, in August 2013 I bought a MEKK Potenza SL carbon road bike. Fettled with the stem length until I got used to the position of my first road bike & enjoyed riding it.
Broke the frame in Feb 2014 when the chain failed & ripped the rear mech off the frame, over the cassette & into the seatstay.
MEKK offered me a replacement frame but kept messing me around with delivery dates, so in the end I went for a £600 Dolan l’etape frame.
The difference was night and day, why I don’t know because I’m not that knowledgeable about such things, but it rides a LOT better & is much more fun to ride.
I’ve done 200+K audax’s on it & found myself still able to walk the next day, it’s just a lovely bike to ride – especially with the Cero AR 50 wheelset I treated myself to 🙂

Lolz at some stuff. Anyway…

Some advice based on my experience of coming from MTBing to road riding (YMMV):

– Decide whether you want discs or rim brakes for a start. Then think about it a bit more and decide again.
– If there’s a chance of you using the bike for anything but dry summer riding, consider a frame mudguard mounts. Ditto the above.
– Find something that lights your fire and that’ll make you want to jump on it. There are a lot of good bikes out there.
– Understand that everything you understand or have got used to as regards positioning on an MTB is useless. (I bought the wrong size road bike first time out, and on top of that it took me a few years to gradually adapt to a road bike position.) If you’re planning on rides of any decent length, position is everything. If you get it right, you can spend as much time as you can handle on a stiff frame with no problem; get it wrong and you’ll be aching after a couple of hours. But if you’re anything like me, it’ll take time gradually tweaking both the bike and yourself before it’s all just right. (Though I guess if you’re still going to be mainly MTBing then this is probably less of A Thing.)
– Also remember that, especially if you’re a big guy, any bike in that price range will come with uninspiring and often poorly-built wheels. A change of wheels and tyres can transform a bike.

If you’re normal, whatever you buy you’ll end up basically rebuilding it over time anyway, right? All that’s left of the bike I bought is the frameset and the handlebar 🙂

Get something with a triple.
Honestly, you will need those gears at some point.

You could get a Spa Audax for about £900.
They are lovely.
Fast and comfy, great frame and spec, versatile.

You could use it for pretty much anything and it will probably last for ever.

It’s designed to do exactly what you want – cover large bits of Yorkshire in comfort. 🙂

If you want to go racing, buy a racer.
If not, don’t.