Help me spend £5-600.

Juju_uk_68

Firstly, it will only be used for road commuting (Redhill to Croydon) Round trip 20 miles ish.

Secondly, I dont even know if I want a hybrid or a road bike. I have an Orange P7 for off road but know nothing about road bikes. Its only for commuting, so no mountain bikes.

I had considered a cyclocross bike just in case the idea of off road did appeal, but is it a compromise too far? Other ideas were a Kaffenback from Planet X, perhaps with drop bars, as I do prefer steel as a frame for mountain bikes. Or do I go for flat bars for comfort? Never ridden with drops before.

Thirdly its good old cycle to work with a Halfords voucher, and to be blunt, whilst they say they can get anyhting, their own range is pretty limited, chances of test riding anything is fairly limited? The only thing to catch my eye is the Boardman Road comp at £599.

Other cycles I've seen in my lbs is a Bianchi c2c Alu Nirone, or a Specialised Allez. Anthing else I ought to be looking for?

What do you think I need? Flat bars? Drops? Hybrid or road? 10 speed? Steel? Alu?

Recomnedations please?

Cheers for whatI suspect is a fairly common request.

TheBoyBilly

For that sort of price I don't think you can go far wrong with a Spesh Sirrus Elite for £499. I think it ticks all the boxes and would be top of my list for a straight-bar commuter. For a bike with drops I'd plump for a Dawes Horizon which comes fully equipped with a rack and mudguards.

Bill

Belv

I'd go for a road bike with drops, 16sp should be enough unless you have big hills, alu frame with carbon forks is fairly standard at that price. Being a commuter, i need parts to be in stock wherever i go so wouldn't have any groupset that wasn't made by Shimano. Cyclocross bikes look great, but seem a little overpriced to me for the components you get compared to the same money for a road bike.

If it was my money (and my riding choices - wear rucksack, no mudguards), i'd get the Specialized Allez you mentioned.

BentMikey

I'd second Belv.

TheBoyBilly

The Spesh Allez is a good option, but I would have slight reservations for it's winter performance. I'd go for the drop-equipped Tricross Double (from that stable)for year-round commuting on the Redhill to Croydon route. The Sirrus would still be my weapon of choice though.
I don't mind commuting on700c x 23 tyres on my seafront commute but I would want a better range of tyres to cope with autumn leaves, slush,snow and other variables a true commuter would need to contend with on busy roads. That said, Couriers use Langsters and the like so it's not impossible.........but they're mad as a box of frogs anyway