Carbon bike for close to a grand

John Flanagan

I'm looking at upgrading from my slightly knackered Raleigh 300 to something with a bit more finesse, and while I would love to spend thousands on something really sexy, I can only afford around £1k. The options I have found are:

Ribble Sportive Bianco - with either 105 or SRAM Rival (£1100)

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/bikebuild ... BRC&bike=1

Planet X Pro Carbon - SRAM Rival (£999) or SRAM Red (£1299)

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/bikes/q ... pro_carbon

Carrerra Virago - £999

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165710

Boardman Team Carbon £1199

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... 65710#dtab

GT GTR Carbon Sport £1199

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.p ... 7b0s6p2512

Any advice would be appreciated! I will be using it for commuting, sportives and long weekend rides.

John

John Flanagan

Oh and any advice on SRAM v 105 would be helpful! Thanks :-)

brianonyx

I would go for the ribble, if only because you can specify the build exactly how you want it. I don't have one at the moment but have had two rubble bikes before and thought that they were great value.

rolf_f

brianonyx wrote:

I would go for the ribble, if only because you can specify the build exactly how you want it. I don't have one at the moment but have had two rubble bikes before and thought that they were great value.

He said carbon; not stone

styxd

Dont know about the bikes, whichever has the best bits for the price really. I once had a Planet X, liked it.

SRAM v Shimano is personal preference really, but SRAM Rival is a good bit lighter than 105 and Ultegra, thats why I use it.

alihisgreat

I would go for the Sportive Bianco or the Team Carbon as those are the two that get consistently good reviews.




I wouldn't go for the Virago as the Cycling Plus review in this month's issue wasn't amazing and the wheelset lets it down.

The wheelset on the GT also looks like the weak point.

Whereas the Boardman has Aksiums and the Ribble can obviously be spec'd to whatever wheelset you want.

John Flanagan

Oh and there is this from Raleigh....

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/raleigh-sp-carbon-comp-2011/

bcur7

Anybody know who actually makes the Carrera Virago? Is it the sme frame as maybe Ribble, Planet-X, Rossi (same as Ribble), PedalForce, Dedacciai or some other?