1500Euro or 1300GBP to spend.....

gez747

All....I currently live in Holland where road bikes are muchos expensive. I currently have a Bianchi ML3, but am looking to upgrade as it is 8 years old.....and I have the Etape this year.
I was looking at the Pinarello FP2, but have just seen the Focus Cayo.....can anyone recommend a decent bike for the 1300gbp range, that would fit the bill? Would like something light (carbon) for the Tourmalet!!!

Thanks.

Gez.

ademort

gez747 wrote:

All....I currently live in Holland where road bikes are muchos expensive. I currently have a Bianchi ML3, but am looking to upgrade as it is 8 years old.....and I have the Etape this year.
I was looking at the Pinarello FP2, but have just seen the Focus Cayo.....can anyone recommend a decent bike for the 1300gbp range, that would fit the bill? Would like something light (carbon) for the Tourmalet!!!

Thanks.

Gez.

Where do you live in Holland.
Ademort

gez747

Over in The Hague. I am back in the UK regularly, so am thinking of picking something up there as the exchange rate is good at the moment.

I see Evans cycles is reasonable for pricing.

Any ideas on bikes??

giant_man

I suppose it depends how long you spend in the UK. Evans are ok and quite accessible in London but if you are prepared to travel ie Ribble, etc you could get more for your money.

And of course it does depend on what frame/bike you are looking for. The Focus from Wiggle is only mail order afaik, but Pinarello dealers are quite widespread over here.

DrDavros

I was in exactly the same position as you at the end of last year, albeit I live in France, not the Netherlands.

I was interested in a Focus given that Wiggles prices were between 30 and (in one case) 50% cheaper than retail prices in France, but Wiggle won't ship Focus bikes outside the UK (that's the deal they have with Focus. How it equates with EU competition laws, I'm not sure!) But if you could conjure up a UK address for them to send it to, you could save a considerable amount.

Evans deliver bikes free to Europe, BTW, and their service is pretty good.

In the end, I settled on a 2009-model Lapierre S-Lite 300 FDJ rep because the frame was a perfect fit (notwithstanding that they're put together not 20 miles from where I live). It is a very nice bike. Similar in concept to a Spech. Roubaix, I guess - very, very comfortable for a carbon frame but almost unknown outside France.

The clincher was that they were available in France for E1500 against RRP of E2,200, (the 2010 S-Lite 100 base model is the same price) – so a good deal. A few are still available at that price in France as far as I know, and I ghuess they'd deliver to the Netherlands (?) Evans did have some at £1500 late last year, but I think they are all gone.

Alternatively, the S-Lite 200 (Ultegra / 105 mix, same frame) is E1299 here (49 & 52 only) – that's a pretty good deal, too.
http://www.troc-velo.com/velo-route-cou ... 282180.htm


I also considered buying from Germany – Bike24.de is worth a look. And I know you said carbon, but I know someone with one of these and it is a very classy (steel) rig and just E1499. Looks fabulous in the flesh and rides beautifully.

http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k94/a1 ... -2009.html

www.bike-discount.de have some other good deals, too (may even be within driving distance of the Hague, I'm not sure).

ademort

gez747 wrote:

Over in The Hague. I am back in the UK regularly, so am thinking of picking something up there as the exchange rate is good at the moment.

I see Evans cycles is reasonable for pricing.

Any ideas on bikes??[/quot

Why not try www.vosfietsen.nl In Amsterdam they have some great deals on bikes at the moment.
Ademort