Newbie - £300-400 to spend?

Acetaline

Hi guys/galles,

Im a retiring rower looking for a bike to help me commute to uni/work and to do a bit of training on (getting way too unfit way too quickly!) and to maybe take on a few trips here and there, perhaps a tri next year. Im have done a bit of xc and downhill 'darkside' cycling in the past but I have never owned a proper road bike - im not really interested in hybrid type solutions as I have a decent enough xc bike.

Basically its the quest for the holy grail - I dont want to bust the student/part time job bank - but I want decent performance and not something im going to be cursing in 6 months. I have looked at the 06' and 07' Lemond Etape for example - I guess that is the kind of level I am looking at.

Is anyone aware of any stonking deals out there at the budget end of the market? Especially interested in any 06' or 07' models with 30% plus discounts. I had been offered a new 06' etape at £350 which was the leader until it was sold, now I guess its either the 06' at £399 or the 07' at the same price (prefer the 06 colourwave thats all!).

Anything better than that is appreciated! Ideally Id prefer to be nearer the £300 than £400.

Size wise I need something around 5'10" or 31" inside leg.

Panter

Sorry, can't help too much as I'm a complete newb.

But, the bike which I bought, and was recommended to me by lots of people, was the Giant SCR3.

I got mine, an '07 model from CycleStore (google it) for £345.00 all in including delivery. Thats a hell of a lot cheaper than an '08 and about the cheapest real price I foind on-line, if that bike would suit you anyway.

HTH

Chris

mea00csf

The Giant SCR is a great bike, I love mine, and you can pick up most of last years range at reduced prices. One word of caution, it is relaxed geometry, so depending on how seriously you take your sporting competition it might not be suitable.

My understanding of triathlons is the sprints are 20km bike ride time trials and full distance are 40km time trials, and if your at all competitive your going to want something with a bit more of a race feel. For that type of use you might outgrow the SCR very quickly.

It is a great bike tho with some storming deals around on it

optombenno

I went for the "Specialist Globe Elite" 07 model and am loving it. A new convert after some 10+ years of non riding!

It's a good hybrid, light and comfortable for me. Took me 3 months of research to dissect out the various models I liked and froma shortlist of 15 narrowed it down to the Specialist.

...haviung been bitten by the bug I'm now looking for a Tandem, and a single speed....(for next year!!) oh dear, it appears I've been bitten hard!

best

David

gkerr4

the giant scr would be my recommendation at that price - no question about it!!

I don't have one, but they are a great spec bike for the money and have a really nice relaxed geometry which has many many fans - a lot on this forum, hence the early and strong support for the bike in the responses to your questionn.

Zendog1

Have you thought about second hand ? 30% off deals are about but unless you get really lucky they are on the extreme sizes and you are right there in the average zone.

The SCR3 is a nice bike but as an ex rower you might find it a bit limiting if the bike bug really bites. Relaxed tends to = pootling (no offence meant)

gkerr4

Zendog1 wrote:

The SCR3 is a nice bike but as an ex rower you might find it a bit limiting if the bike bug really bites. Relaxed tends to = pootling (no offence meant)

I don't think that is true at all!!

a decent rider will still give you a kicking on a 'relaxed' geometry bike like the SCR - to make it worse, that same relaxed geometry will mean that he will feel fresh as a daisy at the end of it all, while you nurse your sore neck, back, wrists, other things related to a 'racier' position.

the relaxed geometry gives, imo, a better fit at the expense of perhaps a touch of aerodynamics - the general consensus is that this is a good trade-off for road riding - hence the talk of teams using bikes like the specialized roubaix at demanding classics like the "hell of the north"

do a poll on here and see how many people have a roubaix and don't like it - you won't find many!

that said - I would also consider what bikes we are talking about - the SCR and my own trek pilot has similar geometryto something like a specialized allez (I know this cos I have a specialized langster fixie - the langster shares the allez geometry and the riding position is the same as my pilot) and whilst the allez isn't renowned as a 'relaxed' geometry bike - the comfort is still there, it just isn't marketed as such.

mea00csf

Yes but my argument would be that he has specifically mentioned triathlons. these are usually 20km or 40km time trials on the bike part, which if you are a competitive sort of person, you will want a race bike for, or even a time trial bike, plenty of people use them.

The other thing with triathlons is that quite a few people use tri bars. I'd question being able to stick those on a relaxed geometry road bike and being able to get a good position.

Triathlons are perfectly doable on a relaxed feel road bike if it's just for a bit fun, but being an ex-rower i also thought that they might be a competitive sort, and thought it might be worth questioning the suggestion of the SCR for that reason

gkerr4

oh yes - I see that - makes sense.

it was the relaxed geometry = plodding that I objected to as I don't think thats the case.

but i agree that triathlons are closer to time-trials and yes, a racier position is needed - certainly for competing - although you wouldn't want to do a lot of road training on a tri-specific bike (or a road-bike set up to be tri-specific) either

Zendog1

GKERR4
I unreservedly take back the "pootle"

Was thinking on the same lines as MEA00CSF. The rowers I knew at college were an extremely competative lot.

Acetaline

Thanks for the input guys (been away from the pc for the last few days).... you probably arent far wrong suggesting that i'm competitive when it comes to these things - it is a rowing trait unfortunately. However I guess i need something in the inbetween range in terms of geometry, i have quite a racey setup on my XC bike, but then I do want something I can pound out the miles on in training and even just for fun in the summers. I'll have a better look at some of these Giants though in the mean time. Keep the suggestions coming.

mea00csf

gkerr4 wrote:

but i agree that triathlons are closer to time-trials and yes, a racier position is needed - certainly for competing - although you wouldn't want to do a lot of road training on a tri-specific bike (or a road-bike set up to be tri-specific) either

They're not just closer to time trials, they are run like time trials! There is no drafting allowed. The only competitors who are allowed to draft are the elites. All age groupers and for fun competitors aren't allowed, hence why they're allowed tri bars and why an aerodynamic position is quite important!

I can't recommend specific bikes, i don't know which to suggest, but i would suggest looking for road race bikes, which should be fine for the training miles and for racing, with the options to clip on tri bars should you get even more competitive. Might be difficult on that budget tho. I know the OCR which the SCR replaced would probably have been a good choice as it was a race bike but at the same price point and specs as the SCR, but it isn't available anymore. Don't know of any equivalents that are available now either, sorry