Suggestions for the best road bike - budget £1k

anthony4
anthony4 Posts: 29
edited March 2008 in Road beginners
Hi,

I'm thinking of buying my first road bike, budget up to around £1000. Can anyone suggest the best bikes available for this sort of budget?

Thanks

Anthony

Comments

  • davidmiller
    davidmiller Posts: 320
    this is quite a common question. Popular replies appear to be the Focus range from Wiggle and the Planet X bikes, where your cash may even stretch to carbon fibre.

    However, I have no personal experience of either.

    Enjoy whatever you get.

    David
  • feel
    feel Posts: 800
    anthony4 wrote:
    Hi,

    I'm thinking of buying my first road bike, budget up to around £1000.

    Thanks

    Anthony

    One costing about £350 :?:
    We are born with the dead:
    See, they return, and bring us with them.
  • Lagavulin
    Lagavulin Posts: 1,688
    Focus Cayo and Planet X are the usual suspects for carbon bikes at this price point.

    You might be able to pick up a 2007 Specialized Roubaix Comp for £999 if you're lucky.
    2010 Cannondale CAAD 9
    2008 Wilier Izoard
  • anthony4
    anthony4 Posts: 29
    Thanks for the speedy responses - I have been looking with interest at the Bianchi range - any experience or opinions?
  • giant_man
    giant_man Posts: 6,878
    Without a shadow of a doubt, for a grand the best purchase you will ever make is the Planet X super value carbon:

    http://planet-x-bikes.co.uk/road/index. ... ANN_id=274
  • huggy
    huggy Posts: 242
    You don't need to spend a full grand on a bike - save some of your budget for things like clipless pedals and shoes, lights, etc so you can have top of the range kit on a fairly good bike.
  • Rich Hcp
    Rich Hcp Posts: 1,355
    I'd spend a couple of hundred less and get a god bike

    Specialized Specialized Allez Elite 2008 comes in at £800 at Evans.

    Spend the rest on the pedals, helmet and other gear you'll need

    Spending £1k on a bike doesn't make you a better cyclist, you can spend £700 and get just as much enjoyment.

    There are some good deals on 2007 Model Year bikes and often the only change is the colour
    Richard

    Giving it Large
  • daveplanetx
    daveplanetx Posts: 91
    giant mancp wrote:
    Without a shadow of a doubt, for a grand the best purchase you will ever make is the Planet X super value carbon:

    http://planet-x-bikes.co.uk/road/index. ... ANN_id=274


    - This is quite an old spec , weve just respecced a limited edition 2008 version , whilst stocks last of course with upspecs to Dura Ace STI , Front mech , rear mech , and for the first month further upspec to schwalbe ultremo tyres and 7075 triple butted oversize bars ,
    Still 999 .
  • markos1963
    markos1963 Posts: 3,724
    Like some of the other posts I have spent less of my one grand budget on the bike(799 on a GTR series2 2008) and the rest of my money on pedals,shoes,lock,cleaning kit and tools. That way I can fully enjoy the bike without worrying about the cost of other bits racking up or the maintanance falling behind. Of course if you have all these things already then spend your money on the bike, the PlanetX bike(especially the latest offer with Dura-Ace) looks great. Think about what you really will be riding the bike for and buy accordingly, don't get drawn into speed,lightness arguements if you need something comfortable or load carrying etc. Most of all have fun!
    Norfolk, who nicked all the hills?

    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3013/243 ... 8d.jpg?v=0
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  • giant_man
    giant_man Posts: 6,878
    daveplanetx wrote:
    giant mancp wrote:
    Without a shadow of a doubt, for a grand the best purchase you will ever make is the Planet X super value carbon:

    http://planet-x-bikes.co.uk/road/index. ... ANN_id=274


    - This is quite an old spec , weve just respecced a limited edition 2008 version , whilst stocks last of course with upspecs to Dura Ace STI , Front mech , rear mech , and for the first month further upspec to schwalbe ultremo tyres and 7075 triple butted oversize bars ,
    Still 999 .

    Well perhaps you should update your web site Dave.
  • daveplanetx
    daveplanetx Posts: 91
    The web link above is quite an old one , indeed we have a new website that is being launched next wee or the week after k , its currently here and is a work in progress but is just about up and running , and the 999 dura ace build is there .

    http://www.planet-x-warehouse.co.uk

    The old website was very hard to maintain as same products had to be entered in 3-4 sections causing all sorts of anomalies with pricing , the new website when functioning properly will automate a lot of our processes and hopefully make our life , and customers lifes a lot simpler .

    Dont forget - up to now every one of our bikes was custom built to order and each bike required a manually generated build sheet , whilst this sets us apart from most a lot of bike companies , it generates quite considerable work - the new website is a year long work in progress and solves a lot of problems and should make things run very smoothly .
  • mike58
    mike58 Posts: 1
    I'm new to bike radar iv'e just ordered the new spec Planet X dura ace build should be delivered next week. It was between Planet X and the Focus cayo both bikes look very good for the price.
  • fluff.
    fluff. Posts: 771
    New website looks good, as does the current deal .. mmm, I haven't got room for another bike but yet....
  • doyler78
    doyler78 Posts: 1,951
    mike58 wrote:
    I'm new to bike radar iv'e just ordered the new spec Planet X dura ace build should be delivered next week. It was between Planet X and the Focus cayo both bikes look very good for the price.

    Let's us know how you find it. I will be getting myself a bike next month and it was always going to be a Focus Cayo however not so sure now. Would be interested to hear what you think of it.
  • VW1300_1974
    VW1300_1974 Posts: 9
    doyler78:

    just taken delivery of the £999 Planet-X, but with Ultegra. Amazing bike for the price, beautiful frame and really light (but I'm from MTB background).

    The guys at Planet-X deserve a mention too as they were very helpful. Was told it would take 1 week to build up the bike, actually took 3 days.
  • huwy
    huwy Posts: 91
    got the 08 cayo so far about 1000 miles in the last 6 weeks great bike went for the cayo over the planet x as the compact frame was a bit too compact for me other than that my riding buddy has one and its great as well....
  • doyler78
    doyler78 Posts: 1,951
    huwy wrote:
    got the 08 cayo so far about 1000 miles in the last 6 weeks great bike went for the cayo over the planet x as the compact frame was a bit too compact for me other than that my riding buddy has one and its great as well....

    Yeah heard this compact thing mentioned on another forum abount this new Planet-X but having never ridden a road bike before as I have only got a flat bar it is really lost on me as to whether I would get on with it or not. I guess that's the disadvantage of buying online however its the only way I'm going to get a carbon framed bike for under 1k so I will take that risk anyway. I will probably go with the Planet X now but who knows between now and about 3 weeks when I anticipate putting my order in.
  • doyler78
    doyler78 Posts: 1,951
    VW1300_1974 wrote:
    doyler78:

    just taken delivery of the £999 Planet-X, but with Ultegra. Amazing bike for the price, beautiful frame and really light (but I'm from MTB background).

    The guys at Planet-X deserve a mention too as they were very helpful. Was told it would take 1 week to build up the bike, actually took 3 days.

    Thanks VW1300_1974 I have all but made up my mind that I will go for this bike now as opposed to the Focus Cayo though as I said in the post above that could all change come time of ordering as Focus will allow me to test ride the Focus Cayo for 7 days which could just swing it back in their favour come time to part with cash.

    Decisions, decisions.
  • Doobz
    Doobz Posts: 2,800
    Dont forget the Ribble Nero Corsa? Amazing frame and decent spec for a grand - The frame is so nice and you will want to ride it all day. One thing it really is so nice for is climbing - I feel so good on the bike up hills, almost like I could ride hills all day- If you want some frame porn I will upload some pics later?

    My folks both have Terry Dolan frames (close to a grand for the frame alone) and to be honest the Nero Corsa is a better ride in my opinion. I know its easy to go for the main stream bikes but deffo have a look at the ribble - It got an amazing review in the C+ mag but this of course had Dura Ace Components

    here is the review

    http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... a-08-28023

    adios
    Doobz
    cartoon.jpg
  • huwy
    huwy Posts: 91
    They all look lovely IMO, I chose the Focus as the more 'conventional (60cm)' was the best option for my height (6ft4) and have been very happy with it, they are all nice bikes and £1k is a lot of cash when choosing I spoke with Planetx, Ribble and Wiggle <- via email and they were all very helpful the deal breaker for me was the 2007 cayo winning the C+ bike of the year and the frame is gorgeous I love the teardrop section on the seat stays....Good luck

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