b twin road bikes?

badbusdriver
badbusdriver Posts: 9
edited May 2011 in Road buying advice
does anyone know anything about these apparently elusive bikes?, i have does some searches and can find no reviews!. looking at the website they do seem to offer serious value for money for the budget concious cyclist. i would be at the bottom of the tree, budget wise(!), so have been looking at their entry level 'road sport' bike, the triban 3. this has shimano 2300 groupset, alu frame and carbon bladed fork for under £300. i am no expert, but that seems a bit of a bargain to me, compare it with the carrera tdf and you will see what i mean, it has the same running gear, alu frame, steel forks though, and although it can currently be had for £350, the retail price is £450!, that is a big difference for what appears to be an inferior bike. moving up the price scale a bit, the triban 5 offers carbon seat stays to go with the forks, and shimano sora running gear for under £500. it is the carbon seat stays which caught my attention, havnt seen them on any other bike anywhere near that price!. moving to the 'road competition' range finds a the carbon framed shimano 105 equiped facet 3 for under £900, an extra £300 will get the same bike with sram rival. looking on bike radar however, you could be forgiven for not even being aware of the companys existence, as it is not even listed in the road bike section!. is there some reason for this?, am i missing something?, surely somebody must know something?!!. one last thing, i could be mistaken, but i have a feeling chain reaction used to sell them a few years ago.

Comments

  • giant_man
    giant_man Posts: 6,878
    They're Decathlon's brand, stores all over the UK. Not that elusive and pretty good value actually. For a starter bike, you could do a lot worse.
  • badbusdriver
    badbusdriver Posts: 9
    giantmancp, i did actually know that they are decathlon's brand, and that they have branches all over the uk, by elusive, i meant the total lack of any reviews, or usefull information on the bikes. in reference to my earlier comment about bike radar, b twin doesnt come up as a manufacturer in the standard search, but if you expand the search to go back a bit farther, to 2008, there is a test of a b twin sport 4, and it does recieve a favourable review. but that was quite a long time ago, and isnt much help in deciding whether or not the current range is any good. i am particularly interested to hear from anyone who has first hand experience of a triban 3 or 5. oh and yes, i am only too aware of the eternal saddle search!.
  • kingrollo
    kingrollo Posts: 3,198
    badbusdriver wrote:
    giantmancp, i did actually know that they are decathlon's brand, and that they have branches all over the uk, by elusive, i meant the total lack of any reviews, or usefull information on the bikes. in reference to my earlier comment about bike radar, b twin doesnt come up as a manufacturer in the standard search, but if you expand the search to go back a bit farther, to 2008, there is a test of a b twin sport 4, and it does recieve a favourable review. but that was quite a long time ago, and isnt much help in deciding whether or not the current range is any good. i am particularly interested to hear from anyone who has first hand experience of a triban 3 or 5. oh and yes, i am only too aware of the eternal saddle search!.

    Yeah - well they aint giant, trek or spesh are they - therefore no reviews.

    I have an old 7.1 sport - probably the equivalent of the base model - for the £250 I paid - its been brilliant - its got me to work and back every day for about 5 years - with no problems.

    Sod the reviews - go buy !

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