Specialized Allez Sport 2012 or Cube Peloton Pro 2012

Goalpie

Hi,

I'm a first time road bike rider and am looking at getting a bike on a cycle to work scheme.

I've shortlisted the two bikes in the subject and wanted people's opinions on what they feel is best to buy. The Allez is £749 and the Peloton comes in at £799.

The Allez is sora and Peloton tiagra, the latter of these seemed easier to use.

Thanks.

arlowood

Hi there

If they meet your budget constraints then either bike will offer you quality and good value at that price point.

As far as differences are concerned then these could be down to personal preferences and the kind of riding you are planning to do.

The Allez has a Sora drivetrain with a compact chainset (ie 2 rings on the front with 50 and 34 teeth respectively). The Cube has a full Tiagra 10 speed drivetrain but has a triple chainset (ie 3 rings at the front 50/39/30). The triple will give you a much wider range of gear ratios but they are often frowned upon by the serious road biker as being a bit "wimpish" and adding extra weight (although only 10's of grams in reality). If your fitness level is good then you would be OK going for the compact but if you are not very fit then you might welcome the triple. I started with a triple but now find that being much fitter I can cope with hills using the 39 front ring and a 23 or 25 rear ring whereas before I had to bale out to the 30 tooth front ring

The Cube is described as being more for racing rather than long distance comfort so if you plan to do sportives and other longer rides then maybe the Spesh would suit better.

Your comments suggest that you have ridden both bikes so I wouild advise taking a much longer test ride and basing your final decision on that.