Decision time

jbone

Im new to road biking and have got slightly under £1000 to get a bike, the bikes I'm considering are:

-Focus Cayo 105 (£880) (following the merits of another post on BikeRadar) - http://www.wiggle.co.uk/focus-cayo-105-ltd-2011/

-Ribble Sportive Bianco (£942) http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/specialed ... ERC&bike=1

-Specialized allez comp 2011 (£875) http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/speciali ... 62083.html

-Ribble 7005 Ultralite Race (with 105 Groupset £845) - http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/specialed ... ERC&bike=1

Any thoughts or advice, is the extra money getting me anything comparing the Sportive Bianco and Cayo 105?

If it makes any difference selecting between carbon and Al, I weigh about 80kg and am 6ft. I spoke to a few people in LBS and they all recommended staying away from Carbon at this price point as it is a lower grade and flexes too much...I'm a bit lost, so much conflicting advice!

EarlyGo

Hi jbone,

I suspect that the best advice you'll get is to decide what flavour of road bike you need. Is it just for leisure riding or do you want to race or do time trials? Do you want a bike that is comfortable for a 100 mile sportive or one that you can blast flat out for a quick 20miler? Once you know that then go back to your LBS and see what they recommend. Make sure you get plenty of test rides of different bikes. This will also probably help you decide whether you want Alu or carbon.

Many people prefer to ride a quality Alu frame (ie Cannondale) over an entry level carbon frame (Focus Cayo etc) but it's an individual thing. You're certainly not to heavy for carbon though!

Also do you know what size bike you need? I'm talking not just about frame size but also crank length, stem length, handlebar width and seat post length. If not then getting the Ribble is a bit of a gamble as your taking an educated guess as to whether it'll actually fit you or not.

The £1000 price bracket is very competitive and all bike manufacturers have models at that price. A recent edition of Cycling Plus had a £1000 bike group test. Might be worth searching the main BikeRadar web page?

Hope this is of some use!

Regards, EarlyGo

DrLex

Picking up on EarlyGo's point on Alu frames, it might be worth your considering a Boardman bike from Halfords, which look to be good value. From what I've read here recently, use of vouchers purchased via one of the Bike clubs together with discount codes (NUSJAN12 ?) would get you another 20% off the prices.

alihisgreat

I basically agree with EarlyGo:

As already said It really depends on what kind of bike you want ->

Focus - very aggressive (tend to have a bigger saddle-bar drop)
Ribble - should be more relaxed than the allez geometry, but still racey enough
Allez - Race geometry, less aggressive than the Focus.
Ribble 7005 - More classic race geometry (older frame design)


If you're looking for an all rounder i would go with either the Ribble or the Allez as the frames get good reviews -> the allez for its handling, and the ribble for its comfort, handling and value.


others to consider:

Cannondale Caad8
Boardman Road Team
Giant defy 1 2012 (just got a great review in Cycling plus)



and +1 for the sizing thing too... i just bought my road bike, and if i hadn't looked around and sized up my options properly then i would have ended up with a poorly suited/fitted bike.

jbone

Thanks for the advice, think I have my heart set on the cayo but wiggle hav run out of my size in the cheaper 2011 model

I tried an Allez at lbs so figured a Cayo in this size wouldn't b too far out!

Anyway I found this and wanted someone to tell me what i should be paying...http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Focus-Cayo-Ca ... 0731478167

Hopefully the guy who's selling this'd isn't on here :-)