Please help me choose

sancho1983

Have finally decided to buy a shiny new road bike. After 2 years of wanting one and finally deciding riding 20 miles on a road on my mountain bike is daft.

I've narrowed it down to a Giant Defy. (I think)

Within my budget I can get either a 2011 Defy 3 or a 2012 Defy 4.

They seem to be a very similar bike, with very similar components, but wondering what opinions others had

Thanks

sungod

are they both compact chainset (50/34)? or is the 3 a triple and the 4 a compact?

if it's the latter i'd go for the 4, unless you are surrounded by umpteen step hills there's no point in getting a triple

aside from that there's not much between them, so go on price

if you know what size frame you need, and are able to do the searching, secondhand is worth considering too - try places like the cycling weekly classifieds, more likely to find a decent well maintained bike there than on ebay (or the thiefs' favourite gumtree)

sancho1983

Thanks.

The 3 is a triple. I live on the cusp of the fens, so It's pretty flat!

I'm pretty unfit though, so thought I might use the granny ring

The 3 is £125 cheaper, which is steering me towards it...