BEST ROAD BIKE UNDER £500 LONG DISTANCE...

MRLEON83

Exactly what it says ibn teh subject , any suggestions? , i'm happy to go second hand but would like tome pointers on models/makes etc... I really want to get into long distance riding if that makes nay difference...

rick_chasey

Try looking in the road beginners / road buying advice section.

There's a LOT of info on road bikes and the kind of riding that you want to do over there, especially within your price range.

UndercoverElephant

How long is long distance? It varies from a long commute (perhaps 15 miles at a time) to brevet distances, depending on your viewpoint.

Monkeypump

The title really doesn't say much other than you want to spend under £500.

What's your definition of 'long distance'? What's your definition of 'best', for that matter? I know it sounds like I'm being awkward, but if you can narrow those down you'll get more appropriate guidance.

At RC says, head over to road beginners as there is lots of info there.

rick_chasey

Monkeypump wrote:

As RC says

I'm not arsey

EKE_38BPM

Rick Chasey wrote:

Monkeypump wrote:

As RC says

I'm not arsey

MP, RC gets arsey if you call him RC.

MRLEON83

haha, yeah I'll have a look in the road beginner section, to be honest its more for long leisure rides than commuting so i guess its the wrong section, i've done 60 mile rides on my hybrid but struggled with massive hills and have come to the conclusion that a proper roadie might be the way to go.....

Mr Plum

If you look around you can get a Specialised Allez for £450 at the moment.

sketchley

What's the hybrid? Often they will have smaller gearing than a road bike so the road bike maybe harder up hill. Also in what way did you struggle?

MRLEON83

its a Canull .... unknown brand it seems ... seems ok though, but I'm new to this malarky so I don;t know any better.the gears are shimano alivio....

if you know the run between leicester to northampton via market harborough there are just endless massive hill followed by slow drops.... may just be fitness but I managed the brampton valley way way, which is pretty flat...

EKE_38BPM

MRLEON83 what gearing do you have, not just the make and model of gears?
The different amount of teeth on the chainrings (the cogs near the cranks) and the sprockets (the cogs on the rear wheels) tell those in the know a lot about how fast on the flat/downhill and how easy to climb hills the bike will be.

Time to get your fingers a little dirty (or look in any owner's manual you may have) and count the number of teeth on the chain rings and count the number of teeth on the largest and smallest sprockets. The number of sprockets is interesting too.

For example, looking at a Specialized Allez on Evans' website it says:

Evans wrote:

Chainrings: 52 x 39T
Cassette: Shimano HG-50, 8-speed, 13-26

So that bike has two chainrings (called a 'double'). One chainring has 52 teeth and the other has 39 teeth. The cassette (the name for the collection of sprockets) has 8 sprockets, the smallest has 13 teeth and the largest has 26 teeth. The other 6 sprockets will be fairly evenly spread. The Shimano HG-50 is the make and model of the sprocket.
I would say that that gearing would give a bike with a reasonable top speed, but not as fast as a bike with 11 teeth on the sprocket, and a reasonable climbing ability, but not as JonGinge-like as a bike with a smaller chainring. I think I'm right in saying that 26 teeth is about as big as sprockets get.

If you know all of this, apologies for trying teach you how to suck eggs.

So, what gearing do you have?

MRLEON83

no man not at all... its all new to me , I'll count them later and come back here after.... I've learnt so much from this forum its awesome!

tailwindhome

Since when do we send posters to other forums?


Not sure what's on the market at the moment as I'm trying to wean myself off the bike buying.

Usual suspects would include the Carrera Vanquish from Halfords and Decathlon.

Your best bet is picking something up in the tail end of the sales. It'll most likely be Shimano gearing, don't go less than Sora and aim for Tiagra. Both work well, the Tiagra is better.

Push the budget to £600 and there are options a plenty

Ribble Winter Trainer/Audax

For my money the Ribble is hard to beat, Tiagra, bombproof wheels and they've been making the same bike since Greg66 was a boy

Caad8, Defy 2, Synapse ----all good bikes

EKE_38BPM

TailWindHome wrote:

Since when do we send posters to other forums?

Very good point. We know everything here in Commuting Chat.

TailWindHome wrote:

For my money the Ribble is hard to beat, Tiagra, bombproof wheels and they've been making the same bike since Greg66 was a boy

...and that was before wheels were round. They had a very bumpy ride, I've heard.

t4tomo

2nd hand Bianchi via Nirone? Relatively relaxed geometery for long rides with a splash of Italian style.

UndercoverElephant

MRLEON83 wrote:

haha, yeah I'll have a look in the road beginner section, to be honest its more for long leisure rides than commuting so i guess its the wrong section, i've done 60 mile rides on my hybrid but struggled with massive hills and have come to the conclusion that a proper roadie might be the way to go.....

A proper roadie is *always* the way to go

I'd stick with this forum, the Road section are an odd bunch, all shaved legs and funny arse potions. The next question is whether you're more after speed or comfort. There are bikes that do both, but your idea of what's better for a long distance may be different to mine.

My recommendation would be one of these:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=59250

£550 for full Tiagra? Very nice indeed.

Headhuunter

TailWindHome wrote:

Since when do we send posters to other forums?


Not sure what's on the market at the moment as I'm trying to wean myself off the bike buying.

Usual suspects would include the Carrera Vanquish from Halfords and Decathlon.

Your best bet is picking something up in the tail end of the sales. It'll most likely be Shimano gearing, don't go less than Sora and aim for Tiagra. Both work well, the Tiagra is better.

Push the budget to £600 and there are options a plenty

Ribble Winter Trainer/Audax

For my money the Ribble is hard to beat, Tiagra, bombproof wheels and they've been making the same bike since Greg66 was a boy

Caad8, Defy 2, Synapse ----all good bikes

Yeah I was going to say the Ribble Audax but it's hard to know what is meant by "long distance", are we talking 500 mile audax rides with full pannier etc? Or a "long" commute with a rucksack? Hard to know what to recommend...

dhope

To hijack slightly.
My brother is after the same thing. He's not a cyclist (yet) so 'long distance' would be a long commute rather than a 500 miler with full panniers. BeOne over Ribble?

unixnerd

For under 500 I'd be after a second hand Specialized Secteur or a Cannondale Synapse. Relaxed geometry should make the miles a bit easier.

MRLEON83

thanks for all your suggestions, I should've been more clear on my motives....

I really like the idea of doing a long distance ride (i.e. london to paris) but in the mean time would like to get used to a 'proper' bike, and which feels realiable enough to go this distances, I';m happy doing 50/60 miles at the moment with little problems but i'm looking forward to pushing myself further......

ps, I wouldn't used pannniers more of a rucksack kinda guy....

MRLEON83

oh, and speed above comfort everytime....

Monkeypump

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Monkeypump wrote:

As RC says

I'm not arsey

MP, RC gets arsey if you call him RC.

A thousand apologies to Rick Chasey - he's a smashing chap really!






(think I might regret that statement at some point)

unixnerd

ps, I wouldn't used pannniers more of a rucksack kinda guy....

Can I ask why? I've never understood why folk would rather carry stuff themselves rather than have the bike do it. Your back will sweat less and it's easier on the shoulders, especially on long distances.

UndercoverElephant

unixnerd wrote:

ps, I wouldn't used pannniers more of a rucksack kinda guy....

Can I ask why? I've never understood why folk would rather carry stuff themselves rather than have the bike do it. Your back will sweat less and it's easier on the shoulders, especially on long distances.

Rucksack = Fast love-god.
Panniers = Slow dork.

unixnerd

Rucksack = Fast love-god.
Panniers = Slow dork.

I've overtaken many a "fast loved-god" on my tourer despite being a "slow dork" :twisted:

UndercoverElephant

unixnerd wrote:

Rucksack = Fast love-god.
Panniers = Slow dork.

I've overtaken many a "fast loved-god" on my tourer despite being a "slow dork" :twisted:

Of course you have.

SmellTheGlove

Don't recall whether you said it absolutely must be new, but there are some corking 2nd-handers out there e.g. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fuji-Newest-2-0-Road-Bike-Size-M-50cm-/220844307583?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item336b58b47f
(Unashamed plug on behalf of friend and colleague...)

Headhuunter

unixnerd wrote:

ps, I wouldn't used pannniers more of a rucksack kinda guy....

Can I ask why? I've never understood why folk would rather carry stuff themselves rather than have the bike do it. Your back will sweat less and it's easier on the shoulders, especially on long distances.

I tried panniers for a while but could never really get used to the way they change the feel and weighting of the bike, esp on corners and it's even worse if you use only 1 pannier - I can never understand how people can use 1 single, loaded pannier - it just throws the balance completely out! I found it a hassle to try to load stuff evenly into each pannier to make sure they were balanced. It's far easier to throw everything into a rucksack and go. You have a point re sweat, it doesn't really bother me on short commutes to work etc but the rucksack itself does tend to start to hum after a while...

t4tomo

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Rucksack = Fast love-god.
Panniers = Slow dork.

What about messenger bags? Fast love gods with sweat free backs? although I've a rumour that slow love may be better.

UndercoverElephant

t4tomo wrote:

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Rucksack = Fast love-god.
Panniers = Slow dork.

What about messenger bags? Fast love gods with sweat free backs? although I've a rumour that slow love may be better.

I've heard that rumour too, that's why I added in the hyphen.

Messenger bags = Love demi-gods with one numb buttock from the constant batting/rubbing of the bag against hip.

tailwindhome

Doing a bit of window shopping and thought of this thread

Carrera Vanquish


You could do a lot worse for that price, a pretty decent spec.....