Please help me - if not a Boardman, what?

ohteddy

After weeks of flicking through sites, I opted for the maximum £1,000 Cycle to Work voucher to upgrade from a Specialised Sirrus hybrid to a road bike for my 20-mile daily round trip. The choice seemed pretty straightforward - a Team Carbon Boardman looked excellent value and handy for longer weekend rides too
So after haggling Halford's down from £1,200 back to the £999 price it was until last week, I got out my voucher. Aghhhhh. They don't take Cyclesheme which is restricted to Evans and shops which stock Marin, Giant, specialised, Trek, Ridgback, GT and Gary Fisher etc.

Suddenly I'm stuck for a full carbon bike. Does that really matter? I'd be grateful for your advice. What's the best road bike for about £1k. Should I - can I? - try and swop my voucher for one that works at Halfords? Or are there any bargains to be had in the sales. (I looked at a Wilier Mortillo Veloce carbon reduced to £1,300 in the sale but that's a more than I really want to spend.)

Thanks

Andrew N

How annoying to do all that research, make a decision and then not be able to get what you want!

However, because you are "upgrading" from a hybrid I think you will find an aluminium road bike (with carbon fork) a massive change and you'll find the 20miles far more fun/fast.

My advice, don't fret about getting a carbon road bike...get an aluminium one and in due course (when budget permits) spend £2000+ on a carbon speed machine!

Philby

I wouldn't get too hung up on a full carbon bike - there are plenty of excellent aluminium bikes out there.

If your C2W scheme can be used through Wiggle their Focus bikes have had a lot of praise on here recently. Otherwise a Cannondale CAAD 8 might be of interest, or for a more relaxed sportive geometry a Bianchi Via Nirone Veloce or Specialized Allez. Or you could get a full carbon bike from RIbble - but unless you live near Lancashire you might have difficulty trying one for size and comfort.

ohteddy

I'm still screaming inside at the thought of starting again and going bike-blind at the computer... but that sounds good advice. Anything stand out from the Evans selection (which always seems the best of the chains)?

ScottieP

There are some good bikes at Evans for the 999 price point:

These are great (I'm still riding mine 6 years later): http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/allez-comp-2010-road-bike-ec019406

If you don't want an all out race bike - these are supposed to be very nice:
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/charge/juicer-hi-2010-road-bike-ec020527

Here's a full carbon bike (Evans own brand):
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pinnacle/aeos-carbon-ltd-2010-road-bike-ec023559

This is worth a look too: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/genesis/equilibrium-10-2011-road-bike-ec024747

Evan's have a lot of choice at the £1,000 price point ... Do some browsing and see what leaps out at you.

Personally from what they have I'd buy the Allez again - but that's just me.

Good luck.

sundog

If you have a 'free' £1000 add some money to it and buy the CAAD10

kingrollo

Planet X - Ribble - both make great carbon bikes for about £1000 - if you search this forum those 2 plus the boardman are the most popular carbon for £1000

RDW

The current cheapest Planet-X builds are £1099, though I imagine you can supplement your voucher by the extra £100. There'll also be a £100 fee (Cyclescheme's 10% commission) to use your voucher at PX. Most £1099 builds are pre-orders at the moment (i.e., out of stock), except a couple of XL frames with Athena. Might be worth contacting them to see if they have any showroom builds not on the website - there was a thread that mentioned this a while ago.

One other alternative is Geoffrey Butler in Croydon, where you can get a PX Veloce build for £1000:

http://www.gbcycles.co.uk/eshop.asp?wci ... 09PXSLPV01

However, they've also had trouble getting stock of PX frames, so phone to check. They don't charge extra for using a voucher with this build (though they may on other builds). I've bought one from them, and they were very helpful (Veloce calipers and better tyres than those advertised, incidentally).

Avanti Roman

I'd go for that carbon Pinnacle from Evans if I were you - excellent spec and a nice looking bike.

The cheapest CAAD 10 is going to be £1,300