A bike to get my uncle cycling.

daveydave43
daveydave43 Posts: 200
edited May 2010 in Road buying advice
Hi. Trying to get my uncle back into cycling, been on a couple of rides, him using my training bike. He's looking at doing the Manchester to Blackpool soon
Now he wants to get one for himself, and has asked my advice

Looking for a bike in the £500 - 650 mark.

Had a shortlist of

Giant Defy 3 £625
Battaglin Start £600
Felt Slipstream F95 Team £650
Specialized Allez £600
Cannondale Caad 8 Sora Triple £650

Of these, Sora seems standard except for the Battaglin which has entry level 10 spd campag on it. seems a bit of a bargain.

Anyone wanting to particulalry recommend one of these, or tell me which ones to avoid?

Cheers
Go for the break
Create a chaingang
Make sure you don't break your chain

Comments

  • STEFANOS4784
    STEFANOS4784 Posts: 4,109
    None of those bikes will be bad and people will recommend what they happen to own. I was going to suggest Boardmans as they seem highly regarded but checked the Halfords website and
    Halfords wrote:
    The Boardman Road Comp Bike uses lightweight aluminium and carbon fibre materials with Shimano 105 groupset and has a 55.5cm frame

    Checkoing the spec the only 105 part is the rear mech, also it's gone up a hundred notes since last year, still better spec than above though and many would recommend the bikes even if Halfords can be a bit hit and miss :roll:

    My money would be on pre-owned at that price point, or most price points for that matter 8)
    winter beast: http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr34 ... uff016.jpg
    Summer beast; http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr34 ... uff015.jpg
  • daveydave43
    daveydave43 Posts: 200
    have talked about the boardman, but £700 is slightly stretching it for a first bike, which is fair enough.
    I agree, it is a good bike, just unfortunately out of price range.
    Go for the break
    Create a chaingang
    Make sure you don't break your chain
  • skyd0g
    skyd0g Posts: 2,540
    Depending on the age/fitness/flexibilty of your Uncle, the Boardman may also be a little too stretched-out and 'racey'.

    What sort of riding do you see him doing?
    Cycling weakly
  • daveydave43
    daveydave43 Posts: 200
    its mainly fitness riding of an evening and a sunday afternoon.
    as posted above, hes also looking to do some longer distance events.

    races i think can be counted out,

    commuting is most definitely an option.
    Go for the break
    Create a chaingang
    Make sure you don't break your chain
  • ALaPlage
    ALaPlage Posts: 732
    You could always go second hand as there are plenty of nearly new bikes out there and you will get more bang for your buck. Ebay prices are strong but there are some good examples on there and typically you should get a bike costing new £1k to £1.2k for around £600 to £700.

    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Trek-Road-Cycle-P ... 4aa0f62e89

    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Scott-CR1-Comp-ca ... 4aa0e07831

    Worth considering?
    Trek Madone 5.9
    Kinesis Crosslight T4

Categories