Suggestions for a shortlist of bikes around £600-£700

Dazza993

Hi all,

It's my first post in the road bike section of the forum as I'm considering a road-bike to supplement my MTB. I cycle mainly to keep fit and have fun but during the winter months I tend to stick to riding on the roads with my MTB for my morning exercise ride, and hence I'm thinking about a reasonably price road bike that will suit this purpose. Ideally I'd like something that I could potentially try out sportives out come the spring.

It's a bit hilly where I live so either a compact or triple chainset would be required, and as light as possible for my budget As I'd be riding in the winter, I'd want to fit some sort of mudgaurd, though I understand the Crud roadracers will fit just about any bike.

Not knowing a great deal about road bikes could I pick your collective brains to help me gather a list of candidate bikes? Ones to look out for or even ones to avoid.

I've been toying with

Boardman Comp - which seems to get cracking reviews, has a decent spec (105/Tiagra), has a low weight (<20lbs) and is only £650 Specialized Allez or Secteur (like the idea of the relaxed/touring geometry of the Secteur with Zertz inserts) My local Halfoords has a Carrera Virago for £799 - seems very high spec Scott Speedster S40

Not tried any yet just wanting to get a list to go and evaluate. A 2009 bike at a discounted price would seeem like a good bet too.
All ideas/suggestions most welcome.

rbirkett

Boardman gets my vote: super light and great components. Don't know if they ever reduce the price though.

JohnnyAllez

Allez is a popular choice, and a good frame for component upgrades in the future if required (obviously I`m biased !)

juankerr

Allez
Boardman
Trek 1.2
Giant Defy

Out of those I;'d go for the Boardman unless you can find one of the others in a discounted 2009 model which is unlikely this year. For 2010 models, price have gone up or specs lowered on all those apart from the Boardman so it's even more of a bargain now.

skyd0g

+1 on the Boardman (if you can get one!)

Buckled_Rims

Dazza993 wrote:

My local Halfoords has a Carrera Virago for £799 - seems very high spec

I noticed this bike as well, Carbon frame and Ultegra groupset for only £799. I though it might be a "returned" bike. I've only seen it advertised as a TT bike on Halfords and not as a road.

Very tempting.

gkerr4

the sectaur is the only "designed-to-be-comfy" one out of that lot - although I wouldn't describe it as "relaxed / touring"!! - it's still a racy bike just not as much as some on the market.

- the boardman gets good reviews and is well specced
- personally I wouldn't pay £800 for a carrera anything no chance.
- I am a big allez fan - itself it is comfier than most racy bikes - not that much lower front end than the sectaur/roubaix (when I bought my roubaix frame I wished I could just have bought a carbon allez - the roubaix is higher but the tarmac is lower - allez inbetween)

i'd probably go for the allez - but really you need to try them and see what fits best as this is the one you will ride the most.

guilliano

To chuck a left-field option in...... my shop currently has the Gary Fisher AR Super available at £700..... stonking bike for the money!

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/gar ... e-ec017200

This isn't a link from my shop, but it's the right bike