Your bike of choice for under £1000

FoldingJoe

Guys,

What would be your bike of choice for under £1000.

I need it for, mainly, road rides with a group of friends, in and around Cornwall, so plenty of ascents (and descents).

Tried out a Trek yesterday (1.5 IIRC) 56" frame (I'm 5'10" and wear 30" inside leg trousers) so that bike seemed a tad too big for me.

Liked the look of the Felt Z85 they had in (had Shiman0 105 groupset as well) which also sounded like a good option.

Then I could go for either a Ribble Sportive, or a Planet X and go the carbon route, but maybe wouldn't get as good a groupset for the £1000.

Any recommendations on where to look? Bearing in mind that I have to be able to do this through CycleScheme.

Cheers,
FJ

dhope

Usual suspects
Boardman Team Carbon always good
Cannondale CAAD9

clarkey cat

for a grand... Genesis Equilibrium 10 would be my choice.

bails87

I got a Ribble through C2W. They let me add a litle to the voucher, so I've got a Carbon Sportive with 105. It's not the most practical commuter, but my commute is a long, 'open' one and I can get everything I take with me in a small backpack so the lack of pannier rack attachments isn't a problem.

unixnerd

Cannondale CAAD9

+1

iPete

Focus Cayo 105

il_principe

Yeah I'd have to go Focus as well. I have one as a winter bike (Variado Expert 06) and my bro just bought a Variado 10. Excellent bikes and unbeatable VFM.

Wrath Rob

This month's Cycling Plus covers exactly this. Can't remember the winner but there was a very good racing bike, a very good sportive bike (which sounds like the sort that you want), a "best of both" and then the Releigh which finished last in the test. Have a quick look at the mag as my memory is shot.

UndercoverElephant

Il Principe wrote:

Yeah I'd have to go Focus as well. I have one as a winter bike (Variado Expert 06) and my bro just bought a Variado 10. Excellent bikes and unbeatable VFM.

Doubt you'd get one on cyclescheme though.

il_principe

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

Yeah I'd have to go Focus as well. I have one as a winter bike (Variado Expert 06) and my bro just bought a Variado 10. Excellent bikes and unbeatable VFM.

Doubt you'd get one on cyclescheme though.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/h/option/cycletowork

FoldingJoe

Wrath Rob, yeah, I read that. I think the KHS Flite 500 sounds like the one you are talking about, although the Moda won I think it is more of an out and out racer.

Read the article, but was hoping for a bit more of an expansive range of possibilities.

Yeah, looks like only Wiggle do the Focus, and they don't do C2W.

Thanks for all the input so far.

...well, not CycleScheme anyway.

UndercoverElephant

Il Principe wrote:

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

Yeah I'd have to go Focus as well. I have one as a winter bike (Variado Expert 06) and my bro just bought a Variado 10. Excellent bikes and unbeatable VFM.

Doubt you'd get one on cyclescheme though.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/h/option/cycletowork

Wiggle's Cycletowork scheme is not the same as, nor compatible with cyclescheme. Sadly. Cyclescheme is a way to cream 10% off LBSs.

UndercoverElephant

Canyon have a pretty tasty-looking bike in that price range. They seem to be very well received too. That said, nobody has ever said anything bad about a CAAD9.

FoldingJoe

That's why Ribble charge you £65 and Planet X 10% of any bikes bought through the scheme then!!!!

UndercoverElephant

FoldingJoe wrote:

That's why Ribble charge you £65 and Planet X 10% of any bikes bought through the scheme then!!!!

Oh yes, and why many LBSs won't allow cyclescheme on sale items...

calonuk

What about the Cube Attempt.

This has had very good reveiws onthis website and else where. It also has the complete Shimano 105 set

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... e-11-43155

tredz normally fall under cycle to work and offer under £1,000

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Cube-Attempt-Co ... _39709.htm

il_principe

calonuk wrote:

Cube attempt

Cube fail.


Sorry.

Mr Plum

There are some second hand bargains around at the moment. Full carbon + Ultegra = change from £1k.

FoldingJoe

Il Principe wrote:

calonuk wrote:

Cube attempt

Cube fail.


Sorry.

What's wrong with the Cube's IP?

bails87

FoldingJoe wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

calonuk wrote:

Cube attempt

Cube fail.


Sorry.

What's wrong with the Cube's IP?

I don't know. Maybe it's Armenian?

Topical internet related joke and grammar pedantry in one post, it must be Friday!

Down the Road

FoldingJoe wrote:

That's why Ribble charge you £65 and Planet X 10% of any bikes bought through the scheme then!!!!

This is ILLEGAL.

You cannot charge anything tht is not part of the bike. No service plans, surcharges etc. Only allowed for the bike or safety accessories (shoes and clothes come under this apparently)

Yet again Ribble and other internet stores break the law and get away with it.

bails87

BE WARNED!

antikythera

Wrath Rob wrote:

This month's Cycling Plus covers exactly this.....

Every issue of Cycling Plus covers this "exactly", it's basically a brochure for the advertisers to grab at any punters C2W voucher :roll:

IMO C+ stopped being a serious cycling magazine years ago. Anyone up for a 30 page price list!........... again...........fail

Nik Cube

Cube





Cube




Maybe a Cube
the attempt is excellent and not a fail just a great riding and looking bike

I have no bias what so ever

Tonymufc

Kinesis Racelight TK2 ( in cherry red obviously ) http://www.epic-cycles.co.uk/kinesisTK2.html

ride_whenever

Down the Road wrote:

FoldingJoe wrote:

That's why Ribble charge you £65 and Planet X 10% of any bikes bought through the scheme then!!!!

This is ILLEGAL.

You cannot charge anything tht is not part of the bike. No service plans, surcharges etc. Only allowed for the bike or safety accessories (shoes and clothes come under this apparently)

Yet again Ribble and other internet stores break the law and get away with it.

They just don't give you the paying properly discount that you'd get otherwise. They can charge whatever they like to whoever they like for their own goods. In the same way that you might not get as good a discount in your lbs if you pay by credit card.

tailwindhome

While the CAAD 9 is no doubt a great bike I'd be suprised if there are any availiable anywhere in the UK (new I mean). The CAAD9 was the 2010 model and has been replaced by the CAAD10....I've yet to see any proper reviews...there are few available, Cannondale seem to be having supply problems.


ETA If anyone knows where I could get a CAAD9 in black with 105 groupset new (54/56) let me know.....

tailwindhome

Down the Road wrote:

FoldingJoe wrote:

That's why Ribble charge you £65 and Planet X 10% of any bikes bought through the scheme then!!!!

This is ILLEGAL.

You cannot charge anything tht is not part of the bike. No service plans, surcharges etc. Only allowed for the bike or safety accessories (shoes and clothes come under this apparently)

Yet again Ribble and other internet stores break the law and get away with it.

What are you talking about??

EKE_38BPM

TailWindHome wrote:

Down the Road wrote:

FoldingJoe wrote:

That's why Ribble charge you £65 and Planet X 10% of any bikes bought through the scheme then!!!!

This is ILLEGAL.

You cannot charge anything tht is not part of the bike. No service plans, surcharges etc. Only allowed for the bike or safety accessories (shoes and clothes come under this apparently)

Yet again Ribble and other internet stores break the law and get away with it.

What are you talking about??

I blame Ribble?
Bit of a stretch there.

nation

Ribble's charge is applied outside the scheme.

That is, the voucher pays for the bike, but you have to pay them £65 in cash on top of that. If they were adding £65 to the value of the voucher required then that would be a problem because then the person taking up the voucher would be claiming tax relief on something for which they're not permitted.

sketchley

Been loooking at this http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=2106 which is higher spec than Cube Attempt.

But I will probably go for a planet-x SL Pro Carbon Sram Force.

As for Planet X's C2W charge, It gets waved if your company pays directly. They only charge this if you use cycle scheme or simular who charge bike shop a 10% admin fee. Profit margins are already low so they pass this on. Complain to your work about cycle scheme making 10% when they do very little for it. It's dead easy to administer a C2W scheme yourselve. When I get my PX my company with simply write PX a company cheque, so no 10% fee. I will then instruct payrole to make the salary sacrifice (which is easy stuff for payroll). Finally I'll simple print off the c2w rental agreement form on PX's webstie, sign them and hand to employer. Easy.