Advice on buying a new road bike

Jeremy31

Hi Everybody,

I'm looking for some advice on which racer to buy: I've just moved house & now have a 10 mile each way commute (Wimbledon to Regent's Park in Central London). I am borrowing a friend's racer at the moment, but am looking for a new bike. I have £1000 approx to spend (thanks to ride2work) and am looking for a balance of speed, robustness & build quality. I cover the journey in 35 mins (target is 30) - which does mean hitting the odd divot/ drain cover. I'd be really grateful for any advice or suggestions about which make or model I shoud be looking for.

Thanks very much

Canny Jock

Are you limited to £1000 or can you top it up yourself? Also, is ride2work the Evans scheme? If it is you will have a fairly wide choice.

If you like your friends bike, it might be worth going for something similar, or trying out a few others to see what suits you.

There are loads of good options for a decent commuting road bike, might be worth starting here:

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... 500&_brc=0

cjcp

Welcome to the forum!

You can get a lot of bike for that price.

Have a look at the Planet X SL Carbon or the Boardman range. They'll happily deal with drain covers and the road surface.

jazzkailey

I have a ribble audax winter bike for year round fast-ish long distance commuting. It's a great bike that will just take 25mm road tyres with the full length mudguards.
If you don't opt for the readymade version you can pretty much spec it as you want eg with a stronger but light wheeset.
Should have plenty of change from £1k either way. Think ribble do cyclescheme.

SimonLyons

Two questions to ask yourself.

(1)Do you want mudguards. I don't think that is as bigger problem as it used to be with the crud mudguards.
(2)At any point do you want to use a rack instead of a rucksack - cashcard touring.

rf6

The Boardman get really good reviews, tho I don't know anyone who owns one.

I bought a Cube Aerial earlier this year, and am very happy with it, but this is well under your budget ( don't know if you want to get a lot of accessories, if so this may be worth thinking about ).

A mate has had a couple of Focus bikes from Wiggle, and swears by them. He commutes 9 miles, with a blooming great hill in the middle.

These makes don't get much kudos with roadies, but you'll get a lot of bike for your money, and the realists amongst us will approve!!!

However, as above, if you like your friends bike may be worth getting something along those lines, there's no substitute for a bit of comfort.

Jeremy31

Some really helpful suggestions - and plenty of good starters. Thanks very much for your help