Best road bike for around £1000

jibberish

I just posted a question on whether or not I can top up on the cycle to work scheme:

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12693999

If this is true that I can - can anyone recommend a road bike - commuting central London around 20 miles per day? I'd like to go full carbon with a Shimano 105 set and I'd like to try and stick to as close to £1000 as possible, but I don't mind going slightly over for a decently upgraded bike.

I have to get my bike from Evans.

Thanks

Jib

The Spiderman

If you are limited to £1000 and Evans you might get 105 but won`t get carbon.
However if you are commuting,and given the state of roads in central London you may well find more comfort going for a steel framed bike like the Genesis Equilibrium.
Can take guards and a rack,which may be useful for the commute too.

I have an old 531 steel framed road bike and a more modern Trek 1200 aluminium framed bike and the steel one is much more comfortable on poorly surfaced roads.

jibberish

Hi thanks for that

Looks as though I can go over the £1000 so ideally I'd like to go full carbon with Shimano 105. Any recommendations?

Cheers

:-)

rbf1979

if you can go to halfords, boardman £1000, sram rival good groupset. 10/10 by cycling weekly

jibberish

@rbf1979 thanks mate....I've got to get it from Evans though.

Evil Laugh

Felt Z35 if they still have them

KillerMetre

CAAD9 simples!

jibberish

@evil - they only have 56cm left and I'm 6'2" Looks ace though

jibberish

@killer - i really want to get a carbon one....can't help myself

KillerMetre

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/PBP ... sram-rival

jibberish

@killler - thanks again dude....i have to get it from Evans though

The Spiderman

If you are restricted to Evans about the cheapest non sale bikes that fit your criteria are the Specialized Tarmac or Trek Madone at around £1600.

Not sure CTW covers bikes in the sale.

Bear in mind that you will normally only get the first £1000 tax free.

So you may have to reconsider your criteria,or up the budget.Or not buy on ctw and get the Boardman or Planet X...........

rich164h

I'm in a similar position and unfortunately when you're limited to Evans the choice is difficult at this price point. Carbon is simply not an option I’m afraid, and even 105 as the groupset is limited to the Trek Pilot 2.1, the Genesis Equilibrium or the Specialized Secteur Elite (all at £999). Two of those are rather more relaxed that I’d want and I’m not convinced that the Trek meets my needs in other areas, although it might be fine for you. This is why I’m pretty much choosing between the Compact CAAD9 and the Colnago Prima. They are aluminium and “only” have Tiagra but they do appear to be the best deals for a race bike at this price point.

The other option is to go for a sale bike but at the moment there is nothing that fits me (58” standard frame needed) so it’s a case of waiting until the next sale come along and hoping that a better deal can be found. Maybe there's something that does fit you though?

I’ll probably end up testing the Cannondale and the Colnago when the CAAD9 is finally back in stock and going for one of those as I don’t want to waste the summer in the hope that something better might come along later.

It’s a shame really as I’d really like an Orbea T105, Boardman Team Carbon, P-X, Ribble or possible one of the discounted Focus bikes from Wiggle, but they’re just not options I’m afraid.

Rich

Edited to add that I'd missed the Pinnicle Sentinel-3, Fuji Roubaix and Raleigh Avanti U6 Pro off that list, so perhaps your choices are a bit wider than I had though. Personally I'm not convinced by the Pinnicle and the Fuji's geometry is too relaxed for me, but the Raleigh looks like a nice bike both in terms of spec and in the metal. Worth a look I'd say.

thedevilhimself

I know you say you must get the bike from Evans, but under the Cycle to work scheme you get a voucher for the bike value and you can use that voucher at ANY participating dealer. On this scheme I have bought bikes from all over the country including Ribble, Condor, Merlin and even a shop in Northern Ireland. If you can indeed go to ANY CTW dealer I'd put my money on either the carbon Ribble with 105 for £1k or the equivelant Planet X.

thedevilhimself

Further to the above, you are unlikely to get a sale bike on CTW as CTW charge the shop 10% of the voucher value in commission, hence a shop which has already reduced its bike price won't be too eager in letting the sale bike go on CTW. This is why shops with low profit margins such as Ribble and Planet X charge an admin fee to CTW applicants

alfablue

thedevilhimself wrote:

I know you say you must get the bike from Evans, but under the Cycle to work scheme you get a voucher for the bike value and you can use that voucher at ANY participating dealer. On this scheme I have bought bikes from all over the country including Ribble, Condor, Merlin and even a shop in Northern Ireland. If you can indeed go to ANY CTW dealer I'd put my money on either the carbon Ribble with 105 for £1k or the equivelant Planet X.

This is a common source of confusion:

"Cycle to work" scheme, "Bike to work" scheme etc are generic terms for the government Cycle to Work Scheme ( http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/c ... kguidance/ ).

Now, an employer can buy bikes and set up salary sacrifice under the scheme themselves (without using a third party scheme provider) and they/their employees can use any shop they wish.

Many employers however, use a third party provider such as "Cyclescheme" which is an independent company. Most LBS's will accept "Cyclescheme" vouchers, but Cyclescheme do not work with some mail order only companies or Halfords.

Other employers use schemes run by the likes of Halfords, Evans, Wiggle etc. In these schemes you can only use your voucher at Halfords, Evans, Wiggle etc. (There are some exceptions, Leisure Lakes and Condor Cycles claim to accept any vouchers).

The Dev, it sounds like you are in Cyclescheme, or your employer is doing it independently, but on other schemes you can only use the vouchers in the company's own outlets.

alfablue

thedevilhimself wrote:

Further to the above, you are unlikely to get a sale bike on CTW as CTW charge the shop 10% of the voucher value in commission, hence a shop which has already reduced its bike price won't be too eager in letting the sale bike go on CTW. This is why shops with low profit margins such as Ribble and Planet X charge an admin fee to CTW applicants

if CTW = Cyclescheme, then yes.