Advice on what level of spec I should go for?

Unknown

Hello all,

I am in the market for my first road bike, and as am in France at the mo on holiday, and intending to go to a Decathlon with a view to buying a Decathlon Sport 3 roadbike which works out at around œ370.

Yesterday I very narrowly nissed out on a Marin road bike on ebay, which was pretty much the same spec but for the Ultegra groupset it had fitted, it was 5 years old, but looke pretty much mint, he said it had only done 700 dry miles.

So my question is, should I buy the new bike with the Tiagra groupset, or am I better advised to wait for a 2nd hand option to come up with a 105 or higher groupset??

How good is the Tiagra groupset do you reckon?

Many thanks in advance

Dan

Unknown

Hi DB,

My first road bike is a Giant SCR2.0 with Tiagra groupset. I find this is really good, although I've nothing to compare it with.



_____________________________________________________________________
Be nice to grumpy old men (or else)

walkercp

tiagra is ok to start with, and the difference to 10spd is not such a great difference to a newbie. go with the Tiagra (is it a triple or a double?) and pedal on with it. The only thing with the Tiagra from my experience is after about 2000-3000 miles some of it needs replacing as it can't cope any more

Rhino's are the new Elephant

Unknown

Thanks very much for your replies,

The Sport 3 is a triple ring, here's the link:
http://www.btwincycle.com/EN/Product_ar ... index.html

Click on technical information for the full spec.

This is the thing my brother said to me, about not getting anything less than a 105 groupset, but what prices do 105 groupset bikes start at, around œ550?

Thanks

Dan

Unknown

Assuming your ref is to the Marin that went for 343 quid, then IMHO that would have been a better deal at even 400 than the new Decathlon.

I think that 2nd is always much better vfm than new - whoever first wheels 'em oit of the showroom takes the depreciation hit - nearly always at the very least 25% even if never ride it! And 33-40% within 12-18 months. Let someone else pay the VAT and the dealers margin is my view.

d.j.
"The Angels have my 'phone box."

Unknown

Dave, yes alas that is the very bike :-(

I've just been to Decathlon in nice, and they only had liited sizes, and I didn't fall in love with it shall we say.

So 2nd hand is looking like a good option.

Apart from the classifieds on here, and ebay, are there any other recommended sites to trawl for decent bikes??

Many thanks

Dan