10 mile work commute – £400 budget – Which bike?

SpokeyDokey

Hello all.

I'm looking to retire my old Marin ATB and get myself a more suitable machine for an all year round commute.

I'm hoping to get the best spec that my budget (£400 ish) will allow. I understand that leaving it until later this year when the '08 models are in the clearance would be my best option. Either that or trawling ebay for a bargain on a nearly new model.

My problem is that I used to know more about frames/components etc way back in 1994. Which makes me pretty much a novice nowadays.

I seem to remember Giant offering good value for money...

SpokeyDokey

I should mention that I'm looking for a drop handlebar road racer.
Something that's light and fast!

ride_whenever

fit is the most important for commuting because you want to arrive fairly fresh. Get into your lbs and try out what they have.

Phixion

SpokeyDokey wrote:

I should mention that I'm looking for a drop handlebar road racer.
Something that's light and fast!

Good luck for £400!

If you do manage to get a new one that cheap it'll have 2200 / Sora components.

fuzzynavel

Phixion wrote:

SpokeyDokey wrote:

I should mention that I'm looking for a drop handlebar road racer.
Something that's light and fast!

Good luck for £400!

If you do manage to get a new one that cheap it'll have 2200 / Sora components.

I understand what you are getting at but are 2200 and sora components really that bad if you are used to mtb parts?

the_hundredth_idiot

This Merida road bike?

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... 0-24-31955

peanut

Hi spokey dokey welcome to the forums.

This question is probably the most frequently asked question on the forum by new comers and the most likely to cause frustration and annoyance I'm afraid.

Firstly you should do a simple search on the forum and you will find that this is covered extensively almost every week.

I personally spent 2 hours last week speccing up and researching the cheapest reasonable quality road bike to be had .

My conclusion was that you will need to spend close to £400 and even then you will need to build that bike yourself to get under that figure.

£300 will not buy you a bike worth having .I am happy to discuss that observation, backed up by my research ,

Even heavily discounted for £400 you will get heavy, poor quality,out of date components that frequently are not even branded. ie CroMo steel forks, 8 speed STI (9 speed if you are very fortunate).No name brake calipers , Sora or worse rear and front derailiers,Heavy poor quality wheels with no name hubs and Alexa rims,
Poor quality saddle and pedals that you will have to change immediatly.

Take a look at the 21.5 lb Giant SCR as a prime example .

My advice to you would be to buy a £1000 bike second hand for £400 .
You will get a top quality bike with high spec equipment ie Shimano 105 or Ultegra
Good quality saddle, wheels ,tyres ,pedals all the bits that matter.

Alternativly for £400 take a look at the Ribble frameset bike I specced last week if you are confident enough to build the bike yourself.

fuzzynavel

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

This Merida road bike?

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... 0-24-31955

That is the bike that I started off wanting in the folowing thread about a £400 road bike.

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopi ... 46&start=0

I am now leaning towards the Giant SCR series....there is a lot of useful info here from a few helpful people

peanut

heres a suggested build for around £420 which with a bit of tweaking you could def get under £400
Its based on the Ribble Winter Trainer frameset with 9 speed Sora groupset which is a self build

Ribble Winter trainer with Sora groupset
Ribble Winter frame: £110.46
Headset: incl
Carbon Forks ITM : incl
Wheels: R500 £50.96
H Bars Pro LT: £15.26
Stem ITM Lite 4 £14.41
Seatpost: ITM forged Lite £11.01
Saddle San Marco Rolls £22.91
Pedals M520 SPD £16.96
Chainset Sora 9 spd Db £21.91 add £1.00 for triple
Chain KMC 10 spd £11.69
Rear mech Sora 9 spd £11.00
Fr mech Sora 9 spd £10.16
STI levers Sora 9 spd £56.00 incl cables
Tyres folding Conti 3000 £30.52
Tubes £4.00
BBracket Sora octalink £9.31
9 speed cassette 12-27 £11.00
Brake calipers Sora £12.71

Total £420.27

hopster

how about one of these?

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/road/product/880-24-31955

sorry just noticed it's mentioned above.

Russell Smith

Go for Silver and Grey

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/produ ... _Bike_2008

fuzzynavel

Russell Smith wrote:

Go for Silver and Grey

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/produ ... _Bike_2008

I quite like the look of that one myself but is it any good??

peanut

fuzzynavel wrote:

Russell Smith wrote:

Go for Silver and Grey

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/produ ... _Bike_2008

I quite like the look of that one myself but is it any good??

what do you want a guarantee ? :roll:

yes its very good value for the money.
The groupset is all Shimano Sora 9 speed.

I recommended Sora in your thread ...if you remember ?

The saddle is not bad I have just bought one myself
The wheels and tyres are cheap but what do you expect at this price level?

by the way it is considered `bad form' to hyjack someone else's thread to ask questions about your own needs especially as you already have a similar thread running yourself. Have you both read the sticky at the top of this forum with extensive advice just for you

SpokeyDokey

Cheers for the advice.
I dare say I'll keep an eye out for a second hand decent spec model.

I had already looked at the other topics but I just wanted to start my own thread! (I've never had my own thread you see....)

Thanks again.

peanut

SpokeyDokey wrote:

Cheers for the advice.
I dare say I'll keep an eye out for a second hand decent spec model.

I had already looked at the other topics but I just wanted to start my own thread! (I've never had my own thread you see....)

Thanks again.

I didn't mean my post as a critisim dokey. I wouldn't spend hours of my time on a daily basis trying to help and advise you and other members . My post was probably directed more towards Fuzzynavel re the hyjack.

I do understand how important it is to make sure that your money is well spent and a good investment. get it wrong and you will be stuck with an unsuitable bike that you can't use or sell on.

You won't go far wrong with the Sora specced machine that someone recommended. I wouldn't recommend the Giant SCR personaly .Its a heavy bike made up of a mixed bag of poor quality heavy no-name bits . If you doubt what I say try doing a search to see how many are for sale and what they are selling for used .
good luck anyway with whatever you go for .

peanut

here is a Giant FCR Zero used bike just sold on ebay for £446.00 this is the sort of quality used bike you can expect to get .A totally differant cycling experience. probably 5 lbs lighter and quality components .
ebay item 320280341817

SpokeyDokey

Cheers Peanut.

Would you, given my budget, wait for a brand new '08 model to come down in price or grab a bargain off ebay?

fuzzynavel

peanut wrote:

fuzzynavel wrote:

Russell Smith wrote:

Go for Silver and Grey

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/produ ... _Bike_2008

I quite like the look of that one myself but is it any good??

what do you want a guarantee ? :roll:

yes its very good value for the money.
The groupset is all Shimano Sora 9 speed.

I recommended Sora in your thread ...if you remember ?

The saddle is not bad I have just bought one myself
The wheels and tyres are cheap but what do you expect at this price level?

by the way it is considered `bad form' to hyjack someone else's thread to ask questions about your own needs especially as you already have a similar thread running yourself. Have you both read the sticky at the top of this forum with extensive advice just for you

Apologies for the hijack....I get annoyed when I see that too...what a hypocrite!!

peanut

no worries .I have been known to do it myself before now :oops:

simon_e

SpokeyDokey wrote:

Would you, given my budget, wait for a brand new '08 model to come down in price or grab a bargain off ebay?

I think you need to decide for yourself which you would prefer.

Bear in mind that this bike may last you several years (at least). IMHO unless you stumble on a genuine bargain near to home I would suggest you try to stretch to a new bike. Giant SCR 3 is a bit more than the SCR 4, both are great bikes. There's nothing wrong with Sora/2200 components (unless you're a snob), though naturally paying more may bring lighter, slicker drivetrain. I still run aged Acera-X mechs and shifters on my mtb despite the fact that loads of riders claim that you can't possibly ride properly without an XT-level drivetrain. Delusional hogwash. Of course, if they WANT to buy XT I'm happy with that, but don't believe the hype.

virtuoso

I've commuted 23 miles a day for over a year on a bike with 2200 components (not even a scrap of sora in sight) and it's performed flawlessly. Only thing I've had to replace is the bottom bracket, but I've done A LOT of miles in all conditions.

I'm faster than anyone on my commute, I've flown past carbon Williers, Bianchi's, Planet-X's, you name it. It's all in the engine.

To the guy that said you can't get a decent bike for £300, you are wrong.

DonDaddyD

Personally I think some of the posts in this thread have come across a bit elitist.

To my understanding the OP’s is planning on using the bike for a 10mile commute to work and not for road/club racing. The OP also said that they would like “to get the best spec that my budget (£400 ish) will allow.”

Recently I went searching for my first road bike and found that (arguably) the Giant SCR 2 provides the best components for the price. It comes with Tiagra front and rear derailleur, shifters. You would eventually need to upgrade the wheels though.

Sure, they aren’t the best bikes in the world, they aren’t the lightest road bikes (certainly lighter than most hybrids but if you can lift the bike with one arm and minimal effort, when your only using it for a 10mile commute, it’s a light bike) and there are certainly better components out there but there would be in a market where Road Bikes can cost anything from £300 to a nearly unlimited amount.

I bought a new Giant SCR 3 for £370 from http://www.devercycles.co.uk/ I didn’t want to buy second hand, so I got the SCR3, my first road bike – coming from a Giant M2 - I do a 12 mile commute to work, it comes with a Tiagra rear and sora front derailleur. The most important thing for me is the rear one because I haven’t changed gear on the front since I’ve got the bike. During my commute I sit more upright so reaching the Sora shifters aren’t an issue. When I’m hunkered down on the drops reaching for them does become an issue. The non-Shimano brakes are fine and stop the bike as well as needed can’t imagine how they could be better honestly…

Overall I’m delighted with the SCR 3, I will say that when going flat out the bike does feel like it wants to and could go faster (probably would need better brakes if it did go faster) and probably would with better components. Weirdly I enjoy this because as I upgrade I can learn more about road bikes part of the reason I went for the SCR 3 and not the SCR 2.

The SCR 3 and 2 have the same frame as the SCR 1, which is £850, and that comes with a shimano 105 groupset. So you get carbon forks and a decent frame for the price.

Other bikes recommended to me around that price range:

Speciallized Allez
Trek 1.2

Also take a look at this link it convinced me to buy the Giant as a good entry level road bike.
http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12577960

SpokeyDokey

Thanks DonDaddyD. Great post. Very helpful.

peanut

[quote="DonDaddyD"
The SCR 3 and 2 have the same frame as the SCR 1, which is £850, and that comes with a shimano 105 groupset. So you get carbon forks and a decent frame for the price.
0[/quote]

where did you see a Giant SCR3 advertised with a Shimano 105 groupset and carbon forks for under £400.00 :shock: :shock: :shock:

simon_e

peanut wrote:

where did you see a Giant SCR3 advertised with a Shimano 105 groupset and carbon forks for under £400.00 :shock: :shock: :shock:

My 2007 SCR 2 (Tiagra 9 speed) was £380 new back in November, but so far there are no such deals on 2008 bikes. SCR 3 will have Sora, o/w it's a customer upgrade. Forgot to mention above that one difference between the SCR 4 and the more expensive SCRs is the carbon fork on the latter, SCR 4 has alloy.

For anyone wanting a cheap SCR 4 there's a Medium (50cm) in the classifieds at the moment.

DonDaddyD, re: elitism - I'm afraid there are always people like that (see any thread about triple chainsets for an example), it's a sad fact of life.

Big up to Virtuoso, keep zapping 'em.

DonDaddyD

peanut wrote:

where did you see a Giant SCR3 advertised with a Shimano 105 groupset and carbon forks for under £400.00 :shock: :shock: :shock:

I was refering to the SCR1 having a 105 groupset and being priced at £850 (though has the same frame as the SCR 2, 3 and 4 minus the forks.

Sorry should have written that cleaer.

DonDaddyD

Simon E wrote:

peanut wrote:

where did you see a Giant SCR3 advertised with a Shimano 105 groupset and carbon forks for under £400.00 :shock: :shock: :shock:

My 2007 SCR 2 (Tiagra 9 speed) was £380 new back in November, but so far there are no such deals on 2008 bikes. SCR 3 will have Sora, o/w it's a customer upgrade. Forgot to mention above that one difference between the SCR 4 and the more expensive SCRs is the carbon fork on the latter, SCR 4 has alloy.

For anyone wanting a cheap SCR 4 there's a Medium (50cm) in the classifieds at the moment.

DonDaddyD, re: elitism - I'm afraid there are always people like that (see any thread about triple chainsets for an example), it's a sad fact of life.

Big up to Virtuoso, keep zapping 'em.

Thanks. I have to say that there are deals all over the place, just walk into a bike shop and ask, how much will you do this for, then offer them a take it away today price.

DeVer in Streatham/Norbury are slashing off anything from £60 - £100 off their 08 bikes.

Roger_This

If it's really for commuting, and you want something in that price range, you should consider a flat-bar road bike. There's a saving to be made on the bars / gears, so they're genuinely cheaper. Edinburgh Bike do the Ridgeback Flight T1 for £380.

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/ebwPNLq ... 155c002910

STEFANOS4784

I been trawling threads for ages now and understand that the cost of new bikes are going to jump up next year, not fact, could be just rumor, but personally i'm guna try an get a roubaix from e-bay, i know it's different price range but thought you might find it useful.

huwy

This looks amazing value £500 with Carbon fork & Stays !!!

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/sport-3-4 ... #AVANTAGES

or a bit cheaper

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/sport-2-4 ... #INFO-TECH

with a £100 left to change to a carbon fork

peanut

huwy wrote:

This looks amazing value £500 with Carbon fork & Stays !!!

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/sport-3-4 ... #AVANTAGES

or a bit cheaper

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/sport-2-4 ... #INFO-TECH

with a £100 left to change to a carbon fork

by the time you have changed your pedals and saddle and tyres to something more suitable it won't look such a bargain.
It may be under £300 but its basically heavy steel forks and very cheap components most of which are brands you've never heard of. Ounce? £30 wheels and huge 32mm MTB tyres for a road bike ?

Basically its junk and imo a waste of £300 you will be dissapointed and wanting to upgrade it almost immediatly.