Going roadie

Citizen Smith

***Updated post replies***

OK people, as I discussed at previous Friday beers, I have my heart set on buying a new bike, specifically a road bike that I can use predominately for weekend riding / sportives and occasional summer commuting.

Annoyingly, this is long range prospect since my flex benefits at work does not open till December when I can apply for Cyclescheme vouchers but I hope you will indulge me with this - like any big purchase, this requires lots of recon and consideration and spouse approval.

I have done some initial research based on previous threads (props to DDD's search) and T'interweb searching / magazine reviews and I am yet to do any test rides but that is the next step.

I would appreciate if anyone has any thoughts / experience / additions around this pricepoint:

My requirements

Budget = £1500ish
Location = preferably (South) London (for fitting & test ride)
Size = 56/58cm (6 ft, 33 inch leg, 13 and ½ stone)
Frame = Full Carbon or possibly Carbon/Alu Mix
Groupset = No pref

THE LIST (models also listed where known)
Shortlist - ** (based upon the SCR hivemind/BR reviews and initial personal bias)

Italian
Bianchi Via Narone**
Willier Mortirolo**
Viner Magnifica
Colagno
Cinelli Winnin
De Rosa
Pinarello
Fondriest RP3

American
Scott CR1**
Giant TCR Advanced 3
Specialized

Upstarts
Argon18
Kuota Kharma**
Focus Cayo Expert
Boardman Pro
Ribble Sportive Racing**
BeOne Storm / Rosso

Brits
Planet X
Dolan Mythos
Pearson

Niche / Others
Eddie Merkx
Ridley
Alan Max
CUBE
Condor
Viper
La Pierre
Kinesis

Shops
De Ver – Streatham
GB Cycles – Croydon
Action Bikes – Victoria
On Your Bike – London Bridge
Sigma – Kingston
Condor – Holborn
Cycle Surgery - Holborn
Luciano Cycles - Clapham Junction
Prologue - Sheen
Holdsworths - Putney

DonDaddyD

Don't get a Kharma they're sh*t. (Though a proper Italian frame)

I'll make the list easy:

Wilier Mortirolo (Veloce or 105)
Giant TCR Advanced 3 (105)
Agron 18 (just to see what its like but sourcing in London may be hard)
Focus Cayo Expert
Ribble Sportive Racing or Fondriest FP3 (Luciano Cycles - Clapham Junction)
Condor

6 bikes. You should visiti Condor, DeVer and Luciano cycles.

The Ribble, Cayo and Argon are probably leaps of faith as you'll have to get them from the net.

GraemeT

The general advice is usually 'try them all out and then pick the one you feel most comfortable with'

So, that should easily keep you busy until December

jonginge

If you're near Sheen/RP you could pop into Prologue. Plenty much bike pr0n in there and they're pretty friendly. http://www.prologuebikes.com/

From personal experience both the CR1 and planet-x are good buys in that price-range.

For that sort of money (slightly over budget) you could get a planet-x carbon dripping with the new dura-ace: http://www.planet-x-warehouse.co.uk/aca ... elset.html

simonaspinall

For such a purchase i'd strongly recommend the bike shop option - They will give you so much more support and piece of mind than the interweb. May not be quite as cheap but well worth it.

Although, Planet X bikes are tremendous value for the spec and I know of no-one who has had any probs...loads of people on the local race scene use them and nothing but praise. Full Carbon frame and dura-ace for £2000 new? Bargain!

il_principe

Shops - IMHO

De Ver – Streatham: Good shop for roadies
GB Cycles – Croydon: Never been
Action Bikes – Victoria:  Ok.  Local to me but I went to Sigma... 
On Your Bike – London Bridge:  Commuter centric, not ideal for roadie purchase. Nr my office and I've not been impressed really.
Sigma – Kingston: Bought my Pinarello from them, big fan!
Condor – Holborn: Marmite!
Cycle Surgery v Holborn:  Again a little commuter centric
Pearson – Sutton: Excellent.

As for the bikes - just try as many as you can. My heart would say Wilier/Pinarello but there's better value to be found. For that money any decent shop should let you spec the frame as you wish.

cjcp

Another one for the CR1 here. However, I have the old/pre-Addict CR1. The CR1 is being relaunched (later this year?) with a longer head tube so the geomtry is more suited to sportives.

Check out Holdsworths on the Lower Richond Road (Putney) too.

And have a look at the Pearsons too (own brand; shop in Surrey/Dorking way?)

MattFT

I love my condor Italia, and it would be in budget for you.

Gazzaputt

Cannot fault my Focus Cayo Expert especially for the money.

biondino

Gazzaputt wrote:

Cannot fault my Focus Cayo Expert especially for the money.

Amen - although I think when it finally expires I might go for something more, I dunno, classic. Though I'm not sure I want to corrupt my lovely Japanese groupset with a dirty Italian frame...

carrock

surely for £1500 you should be looking at a roubaix rather than allez?? Allez are ali frames anyway

2010 bikes start at £1700 rrp but you should be able to get a 2009 Roubaix elite for £1350ish- I did.

stuaff

What's a Viner Maximus? Magnifica (if you don't find a cheap one ) is over your budget at 2009 pricing (£1799 for typical Veloce build). Very very nice bike though, I know mine's going to get a lot of use. Link to my gushing report
The Gladius (their entry-level carbon frame) starts at £1299 (well, at the moment....) for a Miche chainset/Veloce mech build. Taiwanese frame rather than Italian-made, but BR liked it: http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... s-07-22908
London dealer wasn't to LiT's liking, so I'd suggest either following her example and going to Epic (also stockists for Scott, Bianchi, Orbea, Colnago, Kinesis, Argon 18, Cinelli, Look...) or go to my LBS down here, Velocity, who have a wall of Viner loveliness that played no small part in tempting me down that path.....
No wrong choices here, really, though. Try before you buy probably a good idea, either at LBSs or via helpful forum members.....

The Chingford Skinhead

I shall resist the temptation to ask "have you considered a hybrid?"










Damn!!! :roll: :twisted:


sorry couldn't resist - please don't destroy Citizen Smith's thread by responding. I know where I'm not wanted

DonDaddyD

Citizen Smith.

Take yourself down to DeVer, they're selling off their Scott CR models for cheap to clear space for the new incoming models.

I suspect Wilier Izoards are going to have a price drop as its an outgoing model.

In fact most bike shops are going to be clearing stock for the nw range of 2010 models, so bargins are to be had.

UndercoverElephant

It's like most of these threads, you'll get a load of, "I have an X, and it's brilliant!". People love their bikes, but they do have to fit, and all of these things are a personal feel anyway. I took a bit of a chance and bought my bike off the net having never even looked at one in the flesh. It turns out I got it right, but it could have gone wrong - and I wasn't spending half of what you are.

All that said, I have a BeOne Mistral and it's brilliant! I'm very sure that if you got the BeOne Black race, it would be even better. Stunning bike. If it fits. Mind you, it's £250 under budget - enough for a plane fare to Belfast and back

MrChuck

I'd imagine that list gets a lot shorter if you restrict yourself to what's actually available in the shops within a reasonable distance. I think having a spin on a few is essential really.

At the sort of price/spec you're looking at I don't think you can really go wrong- personal preference aside, none of them will be bad bikes so even in a much shorter list you'll still be sure to find something.

And with that out of the way...

It's like most of these threads, you'll get a load of, "I have an X, and it's brilliant!".

I have a Scott CR1 Team and it's brilliant! So if you can get one cheap as DDD suggests it'd be as good a place to start as any.

teagar

Might be worth checking the road section on the forum if you want advice on what road bike to get.

kingrollo

DonDaddyD wrote:

Don't get a Kharma they're sh*t. (Though a proper Italian frame)

Whats happened to the Kuota then? - you loved it a couple of months back ? - or is it you don't want another on the road to reduce the exclusive factor ?

DonDaddyD

kingrollo wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Don't get a Kharma they're sh*t. (Though a proper Italian frame)

Whats happened to the Kuota then? - you loved it a couple of months back ? - or is it you don't want another on the road to reduce the exclusive factor ?

The Kharma is exclusive to me.

"This Kharma is mine, there are many like it but this one is mine!"

Kieran_Burns

Unbelievable - my exact specs and requirements - except for the location.

Apologies to the OP, but if anyone can amend their recommendations with a good shop in Derby area I would really appreciate.

Same budget, dimensions yada yada.

UndercoverElephant

DonDaddyD wrote:

The Kharma is exclusive to me.

"This Kharma is mine, there are many like it but this one is mine!"

That's what you think, it just PM'd a load of us, saying it wants a new owner - one with the legs for it. :twisted:

kingrollo

DonDaddyD wrote:

kingrollo wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Don't get a Kharma they're sh*t. (Though a proper Italian frame)

Whats happened to the Kuota then? - you loved it a couple of months back ? - or is it you don't want another on the road to reduce the exclusive factor ?

The Kharma is exclusive to me.

"This Kharma is mine, there are many like it but this one is mine!"

Im pretty pleased with mine - took a few rides to get used to. After all the press about it being heavy Im surprised how light it is...........I seem to be able to push a bigger gear easily on this bike....dunno why, but no problem I guess ....

kingrollo

JE James have a shop in Chesterfield - they do Pinarello - you could get an FP2 - not carbon though - but Damm fast racy bikes

RyanB

On a sidenote about your spouse approval, a point I've always lived by, its trite but its true, and I'm still married:

"Its easier to gain forgiveness than permission"

Kieran_Burns

kingrollo wrote:

JE James have a shop in Chesterfield - they do Pinarello - you could get an FP2 - not carbon though - but Damm fast racy bikes

you're the second person to recommend JE James, so I think a visit on Saturday is in order!

kingrollo

RyanB wrote:

On a sidenote about your spouse approval, a point I've always lived by, its trite but its true, and I'm still married:

"Its easier to gain forgiveness than permission"

I told my Mrs my next bike would be around £2k - I was only ever going to spend £1500 - but when I conditioned her to £2k , she was quite pleased with my thriftyness when I only spent £1500

DonDaddyD

kingrollo wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

kingrollo wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Don't get a Kharma they're sh*t. (Though a proper Italian frame)

Whats happened to the Kuota then? - you loved it a couple of months back ? - or is it you don't want another on the road to reduce the exclusive factor ?

The Kharma is exclusive to me.

"This Kharma is mine, there are many like it but this one is mine!"

Im pretty pleased with mine - took a few rides to get used to. After all the press about it being heavy Im surprised how light it is...........I seem to be able to push a bigger gear easily on this bike....dunno why, but no problem I guess ....

"Ah, another Kharma lover, come lets stand over my mound of scalps and bask in song, wine and women as we share our stories of endless bike battles and glorious victories!

You're/we're able to push the big gears for three reasons.

Reason 1 That oh so wonderful head tube, deep and thick that thing could plot a course to Mars compensate for stella drift and not deviate from the plotted course. Yes it is just that good.

It's ability to pick a line and stay straight is astonishing and is a testament unto itself.

Going downhill the bike can also run away from you and others as it accelerates.

Reason 2 That juicy bottom bracket. The bottom bracket tranfers power perfectly all the while looking back and shouting "I will not flex! More MORE!"

Reason 3The extra bit of carbon that joins the underneath of the top tube and seat tube. I'm not sure what that is for yet except "that which binds the awesomeness together."

Those three things, found at three points of the bike form what I call the "Trinity of power".

I love my Kharma.

Citizen Smith

Thanks for all the replies and advice - much appreciated. I have updated my original post with the suggestions and corrections.

Now just need to get these test rides organised....will update with progress!

Oddjob62

I'm in the same boat... think i've narrowed it down to

Focus Cayo Exp SRAM
Kuota Kebel
Planet X Something (Ti or Carbon?... DA or SRAM Red?, bah... not as narrow as I thought)

DonDaddyD

Oddjob62 wrote:

I'm in the same boat... think i've narrowed it down to

Focus Cayo Exp SRAM
Kuota Kebel
Planet X Something (Ti or Carbon?... DA or SRAM Red?, bah... not as narrow as I thought)

The Kebel will cost you about £1800 with 105. about £2000 with Ultegra.

Not sure if there is value for money there. Never been keen on the shape of Planet X bikes. Focus are cool.

Would consider Wilier, De Rosa or Bianchi.

Greg T

UndercoverElephant wrote:

That's what you think, it just PM'd a load of us, saying it wants a new owner - one with the legs for it. :twisted:

Best post ever.