which bike? claud butler roubaix or carerra vanquish ?

andy743

Hi

I have a £500 cycle to work voucher to spend. I only have 2 shops to choose from,my local bike shop which deal claud butler and falcons or halfords. The above 2 bikes are the 2 which fill this budget?

I prefer the 'looks' of the roubaix but Im guessing the vanquish has better components (i know nothing about bikes !).

It will be used for a daily 4 mile round trip to work. The journey is mainly on a new purpose built cycle path with the return journey up a gradual incline followed by a steep hill.

thanks

andy

davis

500 quid is quite a lot of money for 4 miles/day -- in all honesty it's too much if this is the only riding you'll be doing.

Having said that, yep, it looks like the Carrera has got better bits on it, but not by a huge amount. It wouldn't sway me towards it if I preferred the looks of the other; plus you'd be buying from an LBS which is (usually) much better than Halfords, though it obviously depends on the exact staff you get. Buy the pretty one.

UndercoverElephant

There aren't many bikes that wouldn't be OK for four miles a day, but I would agree that the Carrera is better specced. Who knows, when you get bitten by the bug, you may start to do a lot more riding, having a decent bike in the shed often helps with this. If this does happen, the Carrera would probably be the better of the two, it has much the better wheels and that makes a massive difference.

tailwindhome

For a such a relatively short journey I would be awkward and say neither.

I'd go for Halfords and consider their very well thought of budget MTB range. The Carrera Vulcan, Vulcan Disc or Vengenace Ltd would all be suitable for you and the atsk you describe. Stick a set of slick tyres on and you're ready to roll.

These bikes will all come in well under your £500 leaving you plenty to spend on other really important stuff - lights, lock, pump, track pump, Crudcatcher Mudguards, mitts, shorts, and a helmet (if you want one!)


ETA Have a look in the MTB section of the Forum - these bikes have had a lot of discussion.

andy743

Hi thanks for the replies

I will be using the bike to go to the gym and for exercise as well.

I'm tempted by the roubaix but it seems a tad heavy at 13.5kg?

Ive been told by a colleague who's been into halfords that the gears on the vanquish are also a level up from the ones advertised for the model on their website making that bike on par with bikes of a lot higher spec?


The claud butler criterium and san remo are also tempting as at £280 and £350 respectively they both only weigh 11kg net!

rolf_f

TailWindHome wrote:

For a such a relatively short journey I would be awkward and say neither.

I'd go for Halfords and consider their very well thought of budget MTB range. The Carrera Vulcan, Vulcan Disc or Vengenace Ltd would all be suitable for you and the atsk you describe. Stick a set of slick tyres on and you're ready to roll.

Why would a budget MTB be better than a budget road bike for a commute that is all road and no off road?!! The hill might be an issue but to buy the wrong bike for the sake of the few weeks you need to get used to your commute seems a bit extravagant!

king_jeffers

davis wrote:

500 quid is quite a lot of money for 4 miles/day -- in all honesty it's too much if this is the only riding you'll be doing.

Get the best you can afford

It will last you and you'll probably enjoy it more especially when you get the bug for it.