Specialized v Decathlon

clarkie28

Good evening all.

Im going to get myself a road bike and had pretty much settled on a Allez. Now, i read a review in Cycling Active which tested some bikes around the £600 mark. On test the Decathlon Btwin sport 2 came out on top beating Trek etc etc, and it is only £499 which has Sora components and carbon front and rear which the other bikes did not have! They also commented on saying even if the Btwin was £700 it would not have surprised them and they would still have bought it!! Bearing in mind the comparable Allez is £599 and does not have carbon at the rear!
I went and had a butchers in Decathlon and the bike is in the sale at £429 and i must admit, it is a very nice looking bike. They didnt have any in stock, but i have my name down for one and i am expecting a call anytime.
So my point is it has a 5 year guarantee on the frame and 2 years on the components, but it is a Decathlon and not a Spesh. Would the frame last any longer on the Spesh than on the Btwin? Or am i being a brand snob?
Some advice to a noob will be of great help!!

Thanks all

toshmund

Decathlon is a superb shop. The money that you save, invest in the workstand at £59 - great piece of kit. As long as you are happy with it and it suits your requirements - bugger what the rest of us think.

The Rock Riders get some cracking reviews as well.

Jimbo.

Don't get too tied-up about carbon this and carbon that. Instead, try both for fit, test ride them etc. and see what fits/feels best.

Slow Downcp

I bought a Rockrider (decathlon brand MTB) after looking at Boardmans, Specialized, Trek, Gary Fisher etc. Nothing could match the RR for spec - more than happy with my purchase. From what I've seen of the road bikes, they're the same amazing value for money.

london-red

What components do the others have? Sora isn't the best and you might find yourself wanting to upgrade pretty soon.

clarkie28

Thanks for your comments everyone.

The Btwin felt really comfortable to sit on, and it just felt 'right'!

London-Red - In a Spesh road bike i would have to spend £600 to get the same components, whereas the Btwin is £429 at the mo. Or they do the next model up for £599 which has the Tiagra components on!

term1te

My son has a Decathlon Sport 2, and it is a very nice bike. We got a 2008 model at a good price a few months back. The only slight downer about the bike is the wheels which are Btwin own brand and not the best. The rims were not quite flush at the join, so noisy breaking and there is an annoying squeak from the real wheel's plastic boot (the bit that keeps that water out of the hub) when he's out of the saddle. If you go for a Btwin, take it for a quick thrash around the car park when you pick it up and immediately go back if you spot anything wrong and ask for the offending bit to be adjusted or replaced.

edmiddleton1988

You do get a liftetime warranty on the spesh frame, and I suspect there will have been some serious corner cutting on the decathlon to get it to that price eg the wheels.

Slow Downcp

edmiddleton1988 wrote:

You do get a liftetime warranty on the spesh frame, and I suspect there will have been some serious corner cutting on the decathlon to get it to that price eg the wheels.

The wheels aren't the best on the Spesh either, and lifetime warranties aren't always what they're made out to be. The rest of the Btwin is Decathlon branded, but no issues with any of it - no worse than the Specialized branded stuff.

I'd go for the Btwin, and the money you've saved can go towards upgrades (wheels/tyres etc) when needed.

Decathlon make the most of their bulk buying power - their warehouse sized shops in France mean that they can buy at massive discounts and pass the savings on.

JohnnyAllez

I`d pay the extra and go with the Tiagra groupset, the new 2009 Tiagra is light-years ahead of the old Sora IMHO, especially the shifters

edmiddleton1988

The specialized warranty is a proper one, any problems at all in the lifetime of the bike and you get a brand new frame, even if that's years in the future. I've seen them do it countless times for any fault, however small.

Re the buying power, I'd guess that specialized has more buying power in the cycle world than decathlon, the extra money you're spending goes towards an excellent quality frame and great service backup from a network of dealers. I don't know for certain but I'd guess that decathlon shops can't offer the same level of service as they're not dedicated bikeshops.

The tiagra decathlon does sound like good value though, maybe that would be a good option and then upgrade the frame and wheels overthe next few years.

clarkie28

Im sorry but ive been a muppet!! The £600 Btwin model has Compag components and not Tiagra!!!! How does this compare?

JohnnyAllez

Depends on the level of Campag G/S.

giant_man

clarkie28 wrote:

Im sorry but ive been a muppet!! The £600 Btwin model has Compag components and not Tiagra!!!! How does this compare?

Even better value for money then! Sounds like the bike for you, even just sitting on it.

Slow Downcp

Campag Mirage is at least as good as Tiagra - whether it's worth £170 more than the Sora bike is questionable though (as the Sora bike is discounted to £430). A lot will depend on whether which lever you prefer - I don't like Shimano so would go for the Mirage equipped.

Wappygixer

Another good point about Decathlon is that if your abroad and get any problems you can easily get it fixed at any Decathlon store.
The sport 2 frame rides lovely, I had the sport 3 which is the same frame but with the Campag mirage groupset.I used it for 18 months all year round and never had any issues with comfort.
Decathlon has huge buying power and much more than Specialized, remember Decathlon also sells parts too.A couple of years ago they were the second biggest bikes building company in the world, Giant was first.Not sure where they are now.