Please help me choose

stephenballantyne

Hi,

I've been given £1,300 to spend on a new bike by my insurance company. First problem is that I have to get it through Wheelies Direct :? (not exactly my first choice of supplier). To be fair though, they stock enough bikes for me to be having a hard time choosing.

I'm being offered an 18% discount on the difference between £1,299 and the bike I choose, so the options build in the potential for an upgrade.

I'm coming from a Bianchi 1885 Centaur, but wondered what people think would be the best value replacement. The Felt with Dura Ace is pretty attractive, but then is it worth £200 more than a CAAD9 Ultegra? Gahhhh! :shock: I can't choose.

Cheers,

Steve

PS I suppose an upgrade could be funded by selling the groupset on my Bianchi. Any ideas how much this would be worth? 800 miles on the clock.

EDIT I've just noticed that Wiggle sell the F55 for £1,125 vs Wheelies Direct's £1,500!!! :x Flipping daylight robbery.

doyler78

From what I've read before I'm pretty sure that the insurance companies cannot force you to use their preferred supplier so hopefully someone more knowledgeable could confirm if this is the case or not because you could then just get the bike you want from the full range of suppliers out there.

stephenballantyne

I'm pretty sure that the insurance companies cannot force you to use their preferred supplier

Ah, that's interesting. Shame you lot have already bought all of the Planet X unbuilts

ror_b211

I'd go for the Six, much nicer looking frame to me than the CAAD.

stephenballantyne

It's looking like a straight fight between sticking with a light, stiff aluminium frame with a very good groupset (CAAD9 Ultegra - no money to pay) and moving to a full carbon frame and a perfectly decent groupset (Bianchi C2C 928 Carbon 105 or Cannondale Synapse Carbon 105 - £164 extra). The Synapse wasn't on my original list, but the paintjob has caught my eye 8)

Any thoughts on these 3 bikes in particular?

Cheers,

Steve