Need a new road bike. Budget is about £1500. I’m doing an iron distance triathlon next year so something I can use for training on and riding that event. I’ll not be doing lots of triathlon so I don’t think a TT style bike would be right. Once the tri is out of the way, it will be used for day rides in the peaks rather than short fast blasts.

What would be value for money, comfortable over a long distance but still pretty light/quick?

Go on then.. Tell us, How long exactly is an iron?

When buying a road bike I usually try to decide on a groupset and then look at the frames available with said group on. The market is so competitive and so relatively risk-free that it’s harder to buy a bad bike than a good one.

Look at Planet X, Ribble, local bike shops, and so on. Also check out road.cc for reviews, although pinches of salt may be needed in any review.

Comfort over long distances on a road bike is about getting a fit that works for you then riding it lots and lots and lots and tweaking it to suit.

I’d go for a Shimano 105 group and see what is available in a carbon frame.

112 miles? You don’t need anything special I’d say. Just get a normal road bike and clip on bars.

As above, there are very few bad bikes if you stick to known brands, especially at £1500. Something like a Specialised Allez would be more than sufficient and save you a chunk of cash to spend on other bits.

Planet x currently have a Pro Carbon, with Ultegra shifters and mechs for 999. spend the extra 500 on chinese carbon tubs and chinese carbon post and bar/ stem and you’ll have a very light, capable bike.

I bought a MEKK Potenza SL5.0 for £1099, reduced from £1400 as it was last yrs model.
The Potenza is MEKK’s ‘endurance’ frame, slightly shorter top tube and taller headtube with a little more give in the rear.
Very comfy ride, 105 groupset but change the calipers to 105 from the no name originals.
Overall I’m very happy with mine, for a new road rider its just right, done a couple of 100+ mile rides without crippling myself.

112miles? really? As above any roadbike that fits will be fine..

You’re not doing the whole ride in speedos though are you?

No, not doing it in Speedos or a tri suit. Think my time will be better over all if I take a few minutes in transition to put on some clean dry cycle specific kit.

Is there much of a difference between frames with a “comfort” fit (taller head tube, shorter toptube) than a classic race frame then or is it marketing hype mostly?

For example, with planet x, isn’t the rt58 a more suitable bike fir long distance than the carbon pro?

I’m getting impression that 112 miles on a road bike is a fairly normal distance for a keen cyclist then.

There’s not much difference in those ‘sportive’ or ‘comfort’ frames; the headtube tends to be a few cms higher, and top tubes can be dealt with by using shorter stems.

It’s about you getting used to the bike; only one of the two is adaptable!

112 miles is a decent ride, but if you can do 60, you can do 80, if you can do 80, 100 plus is not that much of a stretch.

I’m getting impression that 112 miles on a road bike is a fairly normal distance for a keen cyclist then

Yup,but it all changes once you start clock watching 🙂

Starting to sound like I should just pick one I like the colour of. 😀

dont know what colours you like but you could certainly do worse

Defy composite, trek madone, specialized roubaix (although the specs of the last 2 are rubbish <£1.5k
Give me a shout if you decide as I can get you 1500 worth of bike for £1225 at the moment due to an insurance replacement scheme.

I would do the exact opposite to crikey tbh; get the right frame and make sure the wheels do it justice, the gears just are a bonus that help to make it lighter, they don’t magically make it comfy or faster. Planet x rx58 or canyon ultimate al or the caad10 but needs better wheels. Don’t discount self build or second hand

You can pick up the Giant Defy composite, full 11 speed Ultegra groupset (roadie equivalent of XT) for £1200. It’s got own brand Giant wheels on it (road bikes usually save money on the wheels, you will normally buy £2.5k – £3k bikes with entry level wheels that retail at not much more than £100 the pair), but apparently they’re badged DT Swiss and are actually ok.
That said at that kind of price point there are always massive compromises. Usually it is the wheels, but also poor quality finishing kit is pretty much the norm.
If you’re looking for a bike that’s good for training etc, as well as for the actual race, you might want to have a look at Kinesis. A couple of mates of mine who are very serious roadies have them as their winter bikes. They reckon the frames are pretty much as good as you’ll get (unless you want to spend £1,500+ on the frame alone) and struggle to notice any clear performance differences between the Kinesis and their £4k+ carbon dream bikes.
I’m building up a bike of theirs for myself. For £1,500 you can get a top tried and tested frame/fork combo, with wheels that you would get on a £4k off the shelf bike and top of the range finishing kit. I’m building to a £1k budget but yours to £1,500 is as follows (everything priced from Merlin cycles other than frame and forks from Kinesis):

Kinesis T2 frame – £240
Kinesis DC07 Carbon fork – £140
Ultegra 6700 Groupset (10spd), incl cables – £540
Fulcrum Quattro wheelset (aero wheels, very light) – £240
Stem – FSA OS 150 – £35.00
Seatpost – Richey Carbon – £50.00
Collar – Hope – £15.00
Headset – Richey WCS Logic – £40.00
Bars – Easton EC70 carbon – £80.00
Bartape – Lizard Skin – £25.00
Saddle – SDG Falcon – £30.00

Full cost of build – £1,400 or so + £100 for a good mechanic to put it all together for you. All components from same shop so no messing about.

My build is with Tiagra and RS31 wheels but I’m starting to wonder whether I should upgrade to that spec 8)

Good luck whatever you choose, but you get way better value at that price point buying a good frame and forks and building it up and Kinesis work so well because their T2 frame is ridculously cheap for how good it actually is..