Which fast road bike on a budget?

I already have a relaxed geometry road bike. Does me well for day to day cycling and distance rides. Comfortable, and practical, and that…

I’m thinking it’s about time for something a bit less practical though. Something to put hairs on my chest. Now I’m not sure what really. Ideally, I think I’d like it to double up as fast road bike and (slow?) time-trial bike. A bit moon and stick perhaps. Just thinking a vaguely competitive all-rounder. I know a regular road bike is never going to be a time trial bike, but with a spritely racing geo and bar extensions, it shouldn’t be that bad should it?

The Caad 10 I think has been mentioned on here in the past as a good entry level racing bike. And I’m guessing Planet X and Canyon are decent choices on a budget too. But are there any others out there.

Probably thinking about secondhand, so interested in hearing about any older models too.

Caad10, Kinesis Aithein and Bowman Palace are current popular choices.

Have a look at this thread.

I gave up looking for a CAAD10 at a decent price, bought a FM066 from one of the Chinese suppliers. About 500USD landed (mine got tugged at customs for VAT etc, not all do). Same angles as a CAAD10, raced it, 6.3kg inc pedals with carbon tubs (also Chinese), probably owes me less than 1200 all in. Might be something else to consider. Ugly but does the job.

What’s your budget?

These days its difficult to buy a bad road bike over £1000. What makes it fast is your legs not the bike.

This doesn’t sound exciting but its what you are going to do in the end- just buy something you like the look of and that fits you.

You don’t need sit-up-and-beg sportive geometry to make a bike comfortable, a road bike with proper race geometry should still be comfortable.

I’ve recently got this and it’s very fast. Still need to work on my legs though …

Budget is the big question. Giant tcr’s are great quick bikes also at a good price point.

Bianchi Oltre XR1 by dhcjones[/url], on Flickr

I know a regular road bike is never going to be a time trial bike

I’ve (genuinely) seen a spectator on a mountain bike with knobblies, with a kid on a child seat overtake folk racing on full blown TT bikes. Albeit uphill, can’t remember his club but it was on the start of Sun Rising hill Warwickshire.

He did appear to have legs like Ullrich however.

What’s your budget?

Cheap as possible! I’m tight.

I wouldn’t want to go any further than Caad 10 money really (diminishing returns and that). And if there’s a capable bike knocking around for £800, tell me about it… Anywhere between that I suppose.

Must have clearance for at least 25mm tyres too.

What’s your current bike?

£800 isn’t going to buy a performance bike. You may be better spending the money on some race wheels, tri bars etc.

Current bike is a steel framed Audax affair. And to be honest, I want to keep it that way. This is definitely a case of N+1. Different tools for different jobs.

Happy to go over £800 if needs be. However, If it needs not be, I’m happy to keep it low too. Not looking for state of the art technology. Just something with some raw power. Or whatever a bike has….(I suppose it’s me that should be providing the power).

Just looking for a bunch of ideas really.

You might be able to pick up a secondhand Cervelo Soloist for that sort of money (or wherever they replaced it with – S5? you might have to look that up). Some of them came with the ability to effectively change the geometry via the seatpost. Made quite good part time TT bikes through steepening the seat tube and shortening the effecting top tube. “Aero” frame for what that’s worth.

Boardman air (not airTT) does the same thing now, but probably way out of your price range.

edit just add – for years as a triathlete I used road frames for triathlon and TT. The snag normally is that a good road fit want a top tube that’s just too long for a good tt position. For years I used a Giant TCR (alu and carbon) – using a short 90mm stem and tribars in TT setup and building up with a looong stem and drops as a road bike. It was always a bit compromised but I was young, strong, flexible and knew no better. Set some good sub 54min TT 25s like that so can’t have been all that bad.

That makes more sense, I can see the logic.

Usual suspects for new bikes would be ribble, planet x, canyon and rose. The later looks very good at the minute. Might also be worth looking at Merlin.

You can TT on a standard bike. A few ££s extra for some aero bars will make all the difference – way more so than an aero frame.

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p5230/CANNONDALE-CAAD10-105-2013

Cheapest decent CAAD 10

Giant TCR, or used Giant Propel. The latter is a perfectly good TT bike. CAAD10 is just a great bike too. But I think a used Giant TCR is about the best value in road biking.

Boardman’s are great value too and share Giant geometry.

EDIT Not mine but if you are 179 cm or thereabouts, I’d buy this in a heartbeat!

Spesh Allez Comp with smartweld frame, full carbon fork, 105? Currently 20% off with the Specialized Spring promotion (£960)

Another vote for a Giant TCR. I don’t think I’ll ever be quick enough to do mine justice.

Dolan?

The bike won’t be any faster, just lower at the front.

A bit moon and stick perhaps.

Did my first few TTs on my TCR. Position tweak, clip ons, etc. Never felt comfortable in TT mode and it was a pain fiddling about with position to change it back and forth. Was also very twitchy when on the poles, not really surprising given the geo. Went and brought a cheap PX Stealth frame and knocked up a budget TT bike. Could get a better position and felt so much more stable.

Edit… that’s no way a criticism of the TCR by the way, absolutely love it as a race bike.

Decathlon?

Decathlon are always worth a look

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/mach-720-carbon-road-bike-id_8311471.html

Did my first few TTs on my TCR. Position tweak, clip ons, etc. Never felt comfortable in TT mode and it was a pain fiddling about with position to change it back and forth. Was also very twitchy when on the poles, not really surprising given the geo. Went and brought a cheap PX Stealth frame and knocked up a budget TT bike. Could get a better position and felt so much more stable.

Thanks. Interested in peoples thoughts on this too. I have more than enough bikes as it is (obviously that’s not true, you can never have enough). I’m worried about the collection getting seriously out of hand… so I’d prefer one ‘fast’ bike as opposed to two ‘fast’ bikes, if possible.

Decide on priorities. If you want a nice fast road bike to maybe do some racing on and dip your toe into TT, just get something like a TCR or CAAD10. I’d not bother with clip ons and all that stuff, just ride it hard 🙂 There’s loads you can get from just racing TT on the road bike.

If you want to have a proper crack at TT then get a TT bike and use that and the audax for training on.