newbe needing advice on buying first decent bike

Bracey1970

hello all

I'm a 41 year old fat short bloke looking to get a roadbike on the cycle to work scheme to improve my fitness to a level that I can join a cycle club,enjoy some club rides and may be do a few TT's

I've narrowed my choices down to these 6:-

Btwin Facet 3 -part alu/part carbon frame, full set 105 - £899
GIANT Defy 2 -alu frame,full set sora -£725
CANNONDALE CAAD8 TIAGRA CD-alu frame,full set Tiagra -£850
Genesis Aether - alu frame,full set Tiagra - £849
Cube Aerial Triple 2011 -alu frame,full set sora -£718
Trek 1.5C H2 -alu frame,full set Tiagra -£875

don't really want to go over £900 for the bike because I want to get clipless pedals and shoes under my £1000 cycle to work limit
which of the above would suit my needs best,and which would you recommend?

cheers

P_Tucker

The one with 105 - its 10 speed whereas the others aren't. Doubtlessly in years to come 9 speed and below will be phased out making it trickier to get spare parts.

Bracey1970

anybody?

smeev

Hi,

I would ask if you can have a test ride if possible. But would narrow it done to at least 3 out the 6 you have choosen, just to make life a bit easier. The top 3 of you list would be in mine & i would pick the cannondale as my choice. Just love the look of the new dales at the moment. Plus i brought some DHB's & some shimano SPD's for £75, so you might be able to stretch your buget slightly.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-pd-r540 ... rt-pedals/

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/dhb-r1-road-cycling-shoe/

Bracey1970

I've sort of narrowed it down to the
Cannondale
Trek
Btwin
although I've just seen the Cube Attempt compact equipped with 105 for £995

going to have a look at all of them tomorrow-any other recommendations?

unixnerd

CANNONDALE CAAD8 TIAGRA CD-alu frame,full set Tiagra -£850

Superb bike, the frame is head and shoulders above anything else in this price bracket. If you shop around on google you might still find the 2010 model for a bit less.

BelgianBeerGeek

Cannondale have a superb reputation for their frames. All the kit can be upgraded, the frame will make or break the bike's ride quality.

mikeyh54

I've just bought the Cube Attempt and must admit the ride is much better than I thought it would be. Bought it as a trainer/winter commute and for under a grand, you can't really ask for more. It feels more upright than my other road bike which I use for club runs and sportives, so makes an excellent first road bike.

It also just got voted the best bike for under a grand by Cycling Plus magazine. But this is still a matter of personal choice.

Get a test ride on the bikes you like the look of, then go for the one which feels the most comfortable. If you find the ride on more than one is comparable, choose the one you like the look of most and/or the best spec.

Forgot to add, the Cube is a good "out of the box" choice as it comes with great spec for under a grand. However, if you want a bike that you can upgrade, then I would recommend the Cannondale as their frames are great, but the spec on the bikes won't be as good as the Cube.

Have you looked at the Cannondale CAAD 8 105?

Bracey1970

just looking at it now and a SPECIALIZED SECTEUR ELITE
I'm never going to make my mind up HELP PLEASE!!!!
the more I look the more I like but the less I know!
I just want to get fit,get fast enough to join in on club runs and try a few TT's for fun!
there must be a bike out their for me

unixnerd

SPECIALIZED SECTEUR ELITE

That's a decent bike. But when I went to look at one myself I thought it was a bit on the heavy side. I also thought the welding on the frame was very rough (the Cannondale I ended up with is a work of art in this regard). The one I saw was the first of the Secteurs about two years ago, I think the newer ones are a bit better. The Secteur is basically a more upright version of their Allez model.

NOJOB

Yeah mate, from that list you gave I would deffo go with the one with the 105 groupie. 100%. frames are frames, as long as its good its all down to the mechanics.

unixnerd

In order of importance:

Comfortable saddle (by a long way!)
Frame
Wheels
Groupset

But that's just my opinion :-) I have Sora on my tourer and 105 on my road bike, both work really well.

Bracey1970

unixnerd wrote:

In order of importance:

Comfortable saddle (by a long way!)
Frame
Wheels
Groupset

But that's just my opinion :-) I have Sora on my tourer and 105 on my road bike, both work really well.

now this is making sense to me
no one has mentioned the Trek 1.5,nobody got any love for this bike?

mikeyh54

I just want to get fit,get fast enough to join in on club runs and try a few TT's for fun!
there must be a bike out their for me

There is and the more you look around the more bikes you'll find that will somehow fit your criteria.

You MUST go to a shop and look at the bikes. It's not good enough just browsing the web as whilst they will give you all the spec, prices, etc, you really need to pick up and ride a bike to gauge if you like it or not.

If you're not too fussed about spec then this is the only way to choose a bike. A bike is always a personal choice and you will find that different people will always have different opinions. Otherwise everybody would be riding the same bike!

Test ride all the bikes you like! It may take some time/organising, but what have you got to lose? (other than the best part of £1000)

Bracey1970

this is very true,that's why I've spent a very enjoyable day trying bikes out at 5 different shops-I love days that !

I've tested (or at least sat on) a Claud Butler Vicenza ,a Bianchi Via Nirone 7 Tiagra, a Giant Defy 1,a Dawes Giro 500, Cannondale Synapse Sora, Cannondale CAAD Tiagra,a Specialized Secteur Elite and a Specialized Allez Sport 27.

Some I sat on in the shop and faffed about with,some I took out for a test ride,this is what I found

The Dawes is too expensive for what it is
The Claud Bulter seemed very bland compared to the others
The Giant seemed very solidly built
The Cannondales have frames like modern art,but a too aggressive riding position(for me)
The Specialized and the Bianchi are really comfortable

all of the above are priced between £800 and £999 and most have Sora or Tiagra or a mix of both,except the Secteur Elite which has Sram Apex.

I can see why people are making a fuss over Cannondale frames they really are something special,but having sat on 2 different ones,it's a shame but they don't fit me,I'm a bit porky to be honest and the Cannondales are too aggressive for me,it's a shame because they are so beautiful.
The Giant seemed to be built like a tank,but didn't have any "wow" factor for me
The Claud Butler seemed very plain jane the Dawes is over priced and too heavy.

So all of the above are out,that leaves the 2 Specialized and the Bianchi

The Bianchi is a nice comfortable bike and very good looking,the 2 Specialized I knew nothing about apart from I like the look of them.
The Bianchi lost out just because you see them everywhere,so it was down to the 2 Specialized,the Secteur and the Allez,2 good looking comfortable fast well built bikes.
Well I've pulled the trigger on the Secteur Elite,the most expensive of the lot but worth it in my eyes,quick comfortable,good looking and with the Sram Apex it should make it up most if not all hills.As I didn't want to spend all my cycle to work grand on a bike because i wanted shoes and pedals the LBS threw into the deal £70 worth of shoes for free,and I pay cash for some look pedals,so that's all good,just got to wait for my cycle to work voucher now! lol

unixnerd

Hope you enjoy the Secteur, I very much doubt anyone's every regretted buying one. It's a capable bit of kit.

Thebigbee

P_Tucker wrote:

The one with 105 - its 10 speed whereas the others aren't. Doubtlessly in years to come 9 speed and below will be phased out making it trickier to get spare parts.

What - in 2020 or something? WTF

You are basically saying that 9 speed and less bikes will be imminently obsolete.

Biggest load of bollocks I have heard for a long time!!