Racing Bike for £450

reevie25

Hi

I have about £450 to spend on a decent racing bike. £500 max.
I would prefer a Carbon Fork.
I would prefer it not to have STI 2200 Gearing either.
Any suggestions?

Mister W

Bike prices have just risen because of the exchange rates so £450 isn't going to get you much. I've just done a search of the usual places on the net and the only place with anything for that money is Decathlon. £500 would get you a BTwin Sport 2.

Your best option would be to go for something second hand.

Monty Dog

If that's your budget, I'd seriously consider buying used - you could get a 2-3 year old bike with carbon frame and mid-range groupset rather than a mediocre aluminium frame with Sora if you're lucky.

reevie25

Thanks for the advice.
Do you know any Internet sites which sell used road bikes in the UK apart from BikeRadar Classified.

dot1

ive just bought a Saracen Tour 2 with carbon forks for 300 smackers! brand new!

http://www.bikes2udirect.com/B2363.html

i had a saracen x-ile years ago and it was strong as an ox. i feel saracen get a bit of a hard time as i feel they offer some awesome bikes for the money!

still got the old saracen frame, just looking for an excuse to build it up again!

The Spiderman

I bought an immaculate Trek 1200 for £300 a few months back.Nice frame and mainly Tiagra components.Ebay is always worth a look,but it seems that the price of secondhand bikes has gone up a bit recently too.Its worth trying a wanted ad in the classifieds.Cycling weekly is worth a look too.

gtitim

+1 for buying used in your case. ebay is always good but steer well clear of anything that looks too good to be true. Its either stolen, crashed or a complete con. Treks are always good value for money on ebay as are Bianchi. I got my Bianchi with Dura Ace groupset and Carbon forks etc from ebay for around £400 a couple of years ago. However, whilst it was ridable I did have to change the wheels, new cassette and chainrings, new bottom bracket etc. But I was able to stagger the cost of doing these things and I was a student at the time so it worked out well for me. But of course, none of these problems were listed in the auction listing.

3 years on, still loving my Bianchi

Good luck with your quest, let us know how you get on.

billy whippet

undoubtably 2nd hand off ebay - should get something interesting for the money - a condor or ribble maybe? If you're new to cycling, you may be better with a cyclocross bike - v versatile... would recommend a 2nd hand kona jake the snake (06 on) which you'll be able to get for £500... if new, and could stretch to £575, you could get a ribble winter trainer? Hold out for something with 105 or better, or sram/campag equivalent...