Only really ever ridden off road but I’m tempted (partly due to an office charity ride I’ve volunteered for) to try a road bike out.

If I look for second hand, anything I should look for and avoid?

or should I just chuck some slicks on and a big dinner plate of a big ring?

It’s not much different to mountain bikes. Weight, quality and condition of parts are the key thing. You could do worse than go down Decathlon and get one of theirs to see if it’s your sort of thing as I can’t imagine a cheap BTwin would be hard to shift unlike, say, a second/third hand but more expensive bike.

I’ve got a frame you can have, have fun building up with bits from the classifieds (or cheapy groupset deal from Merlin/CRC/Wiggle)

It’s a cx frame, so you could ‘gravel’ it for maximum sceneness 😉

Secondhand Allez is what I’d go for. However I ride a steel Genesis now as it’s lovely.

IHN – “Gravel it”?? Is this the bike alternative to pebble dashing?

If I’m honest I have no idea where to even start…

Jools – I did see a second hand nearly new Allez in the classifieds, it went damn fast.

Gravel bikes man, they’re like road bikes you can ride off road as well. Where have you been?

Decathlon bikes are great value

First thing is to work out what size you’d be after – you tend to spend longer in the same position than on an mtb so sizing is more critical.

Oh and embrace the lycra 😉

Edit – actually what’s the charity thing? If it’s looong distance then road bike makes sense, but a one off 40-70 miler just stick some slicks on your mtb and make sure you’re geared appropriately

I’m a vote for slicks, I like these.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/vittoria-rubino-pro-slick-mtb-tyre/rp-prod109593

charity thing is a 12 hour team event. so each rider takes turns. Aim to do as many miles as possible. worth noting that one of the team is a national level triathlete. 😕

national level triathlete

just be glad you’re taking it in turns and won’t be out on the course with them!

There’s not a huge amount of places to go wrong buying an entry level road bike to be honest.
Basically 3 things to consider.
1) Make sure it fits – if you’re not comfortable in the drops, you’re not getting any advantage over a sporty hybrid (a BMC or Boardman for instance)
2) Budget an extra £60 for some decent tyres – the difference between a cheap nasty set of training tyres and a proper racing tyre (but still with puncture belt) is ~1-1.5mph.
3) Don’t forget you’ll need new bottle cages, spare tube, etc

Having done both- slicks on an MTB and getting a road bike- I can confirm that a road bike is loooads better for faster, less tiring mileage. I got a Trek 2.1, it was £700 (new) in 2013.

What sort of money were you hoping to spend?

Couple of brand new Sora 18-speed bikes on Paul’s Cycles for 500 or less

I’ve just been prepping a road bike buying mini-guide actually.

This would be a good option IMO…
https://www.merlincycles.com/merlin-pr7-rs-road-bike-shoe-pedal-deal-99310.html

11sp 105, frame sounds decent, Mavic rims & shoes & pedals thrown in for £600.

That ^^ looks like an excellent deal, assuming the Merlin frame is good..

Good reviews

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/category/bikes/road/product/merlin-pr7-review-51083/

If the event is imminent then this…

or should I just chuck some slicks on and a big dinner plate of a big ring?

You don’t even need a particularly big ring. Is it a lumpy route?

If you have a bit more time and think you might want to do a bit more road riding then that Merlin or a B’Twin or something like that would be a good bet. Depends on your budget really. Sizing is rather important so you might be better off with a trip down your LBS and take their advice if they know their stuff.

Oh and if you do get a road bike don’t spoil it by wearing your baggies and peaked helmet 🙂

worth noting that one of the team is a national level triathlete

Don’t follow his lead in clothing or cornering technique.

worth noting that one of the team is a national level triathlete

The main disappointment of racing with someone who is significantly faster than average in your team is that they will get more rest than you! Assuming, of course, you don’t ‘forget’ to turn up in transition… 😉

The main disappointment of racing with someone who is significantly faster than average in your team is that they will get more rest than you! Assuming, of course, you ‘forget’ to turn up in transition…

Kinda depends on the rules of the event, and how you organise it.
I was cranking out fairly nice lap times at Relentless like clockwork much to the despair of my partner who was gradually slowing, so I took a couple of double stints to equalise the riding time, which gave him more chance to rest up.

Note – the spike in the times is quite interesting – the weather closed in to the point that lights didn’t seem to light anything up, so were both around 8mins slower on the downhills due to not being able to see!

Back to the event – so it’s 12 hours but how many on the team? If there’s just you and IronMan then that’s 6 hours each, but if there’s another 4 then you;re down to 2 hours – depending on the route the difference between slick shod big ringed MTB and unfamiliar road bike in a couple of hours riding may only be a handful of miles out of a much bigger total.

So is it worth it? Or do you secretly want to buy a road bike?

Make sure it fits – if you’re not comfortable in the drops, you’re not getting any advantage over a sporty hybrid (a BMC or Boardman for instance)

Mmm… go to disagree with this one, even if you’re not using the drops, the two positions left to you (hoods or tops) are much better than the equivalent positions you’d get on a slicked up MTB.

I just did a 5 hour road ride on Saturday on my slicked up Superfly. Bars are 560mm wide with stubby bar ends. I didn’t have a relaxed upright position like I would on the tops of a road bar, and sitting on the bar ends was nowhere near as comfortable or natural as sitting on the hoods.

I guess I could fit a stubby 50mm stem and some massive bull horn bar ends, that would give me the difference in reach at least, don’t think I could face looking at that set up for five hours though! 8)

Might see if I can borrow one to give it a try.

@13thFloorMonk, OP is going to be racing, so doesn’t need a relaxed upright position, and in terms of frontal area the hoods won’t give significant improvement over a narrow flatbar.

Being comfortable on the drops however will buy best part of 1mph.

I’m a big fan of the Merlin bikes, my old man has the entry one and it looks and feels like a much more expensive bike.

However I’d recommend a Felt F95 as a first road bike: https://www.merlincycles.com/felt-f95-road-bike-2016-93855.html

Have a look on eBay for some barely used bargains, Merlin flooded the market with £350 ones a couple of years ago.

For a beginner, fit will always trump features. Used is good, and a 105 or Ultegra bike can be found for 3-400. For new, I’m a big fan of Btwin. Want to spend more? Buy a Giant Defy. They cater for all budgets.

Then swap the tyres to something nice. It’s the single biggest upgrade you can make.

The bike from Merlin above has amazing spec for the money – can’t believe for that you get a full 105 group (bar the cheap tektro brakes), plus shoes plus pedals!

No idea on the quality of the frame though – I’ve had racers from Giant (ocr), Cannondale (caad 9) and currently a Boardman Team carbon.

My favourite bike was the caad9 I think. The Boardman is faster but the Cannondale was ‘flickier’ in the handling.

Just to add to my Felt F95 recommendation….

Most came with white bar tape – so you can see how much they have been used if still on the original (look for the Felt symbol on the tape).

It weighs 10kg, change the FSA tempo chainset to a 105 5800 (£75) and new tyres (£50) and it’s now a 9kg weapon. 🙂

They should be around £200-250 second hand.

SIZE SIZE SIZE its everything with road dont buy blind i did.

Perhaps my “budget” tyres were not as bad as expected but swapping the Conti Grand Prix that came with my KTM for my usual GP4000SII saved me about 40g. The wheelset saved me close to half a kilo though 🙂

SIZE SIZE SIZE

54,56,58 are the options for 90% of the population I cant be that hard to get close.

I would be more than happy on most basic aluminum road bikes with working gears(not too fussed how many) and a nice set of wheels and tyres. Merlin do deals on Fulcrum and Conti sets which are pretty good.

25c tyres
80 psi front
100 psi rear
Get the frame in the right size for you it will make a huge difference
Saddle should be spirit level flat for comfort
Gears wise I would go for a 50 34 double up front.

I found pushing big gears knackered my knees and now gives me platella pain

don’t worry about frame material or how light it is, you will want a robust bike for clipping pot holes etc.

I have had a Specialized allez for 6 years now, its had new tyres, grip tape, saddle and gearing (up from a 2 x 8 to 2 x 10) that’s it. One spoke went on the back wheel about 5.5 years in.

The bike cost me £250

25c tyres

… more if you have clearance

80 psi front
100 psi rear

Depends on roads, tyres etc. I never go more than 80psi. Experiment a bit, don’t get too fixated on super-high pressure road-traditionalist stuff.

Saddle should be spirit level flat for comfort

… to start with. Then move it up or down a little to suit personal choice.

Gears wise I would go for a 50 34 double up front.

Probably a safe bet. If you can get a decent sized cassette then do so. I’ve got an 11-32 which helps a fair bit with the steep stuff around here

😉

I bought a 55 that had a 58 cm top tube on the internet not all frames are proportional.