New Bike Advice

Youngfox

I am looking for a new road bike for an alpine sportif and cat 3 road races. One for both jobs as I am skint. Shortlist is Focus Variado or Merdia 903-18 . Both are compact chainsets. Anyone got either. And if so double or triple. Any other recommendations welcome but budget is sub £700

maddog 2

not looked recently but Spesh, Trek and Giant will all be competitive at that price point.

Monty Dog

If you're considering racing, then you might need a bigger top gear and certainly wouldn't advise a triple. I'm assuming you're a newbie to racing, which actually starts at Cat 4 and you'll probably be riding on a closed road circuit - you'll probably be spending the whole race on the big chainring too - so a triple is just extra weight. There are countless bikes at the pricepoint, but if you're looking for best value I would steer clear of the big brands and look at the likes of Ribble, Kiron and so forth unless you can find a 2008 model with a hefty discount.

The Spiderman

This is worth a look:http://www.ashcycles.com/power/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=829&currency=BP

£640 with mainly 105 drivetrain.

or

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_241935_langId_-1_categoryId_165710

The Boardman is actually £734 once you add it to your basket.Not bad for an Ultegra equipped bike!

jamieh5463

try and get a trek 1.7 08 model, such a good bike nothings gone wrong with it, its very light and has quality components. if u cnt find an 08 model the 09 model is the same but more expensive.

pbracing

Go for an '08 bike and get more bike for your pound. At the moment you can't go wrong with a Trek. They might not have the highest spec groupset, (upgrading this later is easy),but the frames are well thought out and well made.
They seem to have a racing feel built into them. IMHO.

I can't recommend test rides enough, even if you end up going for a mail order bike. Then pay your local shop to do a proper bike fit. good luck.