Starter bike for road newbie - advice required.

Dazza993

Hi, I've been MTBing for a few years, but during winter most of my fitness riding is done on the roads, so I'm thinking of selling my MTB 'road wheels' and getting a true road bike.

Budget wise I'm looking around the £500 - £600 mark. I've looked at a few and would like peoples recommonedations on the following

1. Boardman Comp. (£650 can get this for about £555 - 10% discount plus another 5% if I pay with vouchers from a works scheme)

2. Raleigh Airlite 400 - just seen one at £550 at my local Evans but I guess they'd price match down to the £499 I've seen this else where

3. GT GTR Series 3 - £630 at Evans.

All of the above have at least tiagra groupsets, which from what I've read is good quality and given the above prices - good VFM too.

Weight wise, the boardman I guess is the lightest, but from what I've read elsewhere on this forum both the Raleigh and Boardman are good bikes. I can spread the cost over 12 months at Evans and 10 months at Halfords (if I forego) the extra 5%). The Raleigh appeals 'cos I could fit mudguards and 700x25 winter tyres (which I'd have to buy for either the Boardman or the Raleigh adding £40). Has anyone who owns a Boardman managed to fit gaurds + 25mm tyres?

I really like theBoarman Team but this is going to cost me £684 at least - would it be worth it given this is supposed to be a winter bike? How good is the SRAM Rival groupset compared to Tiagra?

Any advice most welcome (sorry for the long post)

hopper1

I'd go for a Boardman, though I can't state for sure about the tyres and mudguards.
I'd imagine the 700c x 25mm tyres would fit, and you could always use the highly touted Crud Racer mudguards...
SRAM Rival is far better than Tiagra, more on a par with Ultegra

Slow Downcp

If you can get the Boardman for £555, I'd go for that