Need Advice

Decebal

Hi there,

I know there's a lot of posts on this subject but I looked through a lot of threads and I couldn't find what I was looking for. I'm trying to decide on an entry level road bike. My top budged would be around £350, maybe a little more if it's truly worth it but I'm honestly trying to keep it at £300 if I can.

The bike will be used for recreation, and perhaps a bit of commuting. I'm 23 years old and 6'5 feet tall. I know that severely limits my choices.

I've heard a lot of good things about triban3 and I would like to hear from people who have tried it and other bikes as well to be able to compare. http://www.btwincycle.com/EN/triban-3-170478497/

I've also considered this raleigh: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/ral ... e-ec038507

and these Dawese http://www.evanscycles.com/products/daw ... e-ec035284 and http://www.evanscycles.com/products/daw ... 784#select

I am currently leaning towards the Triban3 because it's only 10kg, the others seem to be heavier but they're not quoting real weight on evans. And the Triban3 has carbon forks although I'm not sure how much of an upgrade that is.

I would really really appreciate some help on choosing and any recommendations if you think there are better bikes in the price range.

Thanks so much for reading guys.

smidsy

At that budget you could also look at the used route - its entirely possible to get (what would have been) a £1000 bike for that money if you shop around.

sungod

bear in mind that quoted weights may be for the smallest frame size, unless you are doing a lot of long hard climbs, a few kg isn't going to make much difference

the two dawes bikes are 7-speed, the raleigh and btwin 8-speed which should be better

the raleigh has a compact double chainset, the btwin a triple but the webpage gives little detail on the actual spec.

a triple would be handy if you are really heavy/unfit and will be going up a lot of steep hills, otherwise a double looks nice and saves some weight

i suspect the raleigh is a better bike, but that's just guessing and maybe biased by ancient memories of my first bikes (raleighs)

but as above, before buying new, i'd have a damn good look on the secondhand market to see what's about - ebay, cycling weekly classifieds (if you must use gumtree ffs make sure the bike isn't stolen!)

best size depends on the bike's geometry and your body proportions, a 59 or 60 might be ok for you, although i'd guess a 62-ish more likely

Decebal

Hey guys,

Thanks for the advice so far. And especially to Sungod for the very detailed post. I never knew so much about chainsets and such. I'm a bit of a newb right now. I was leaning towards the Raleigh as well, it seems like a decent deal for my price range, hopefully I'll be able to upgrade it eventually or get something better, but for entry I'm quite happy with it.

However I did a bit more reading and a lot of people are recommending the Triban3 as being amazing value for money and better than some £500-£600 bikes out there. The carbon forks also seem like a winner, it's a bit cheaper and I can get it in a bigger frame size (I think up to 63).

I've considered second hand way before I decided to buy new. I didn't find that good of deals on craigslist/gumtree/ebay, everyone is asking for a LOT of money, maybe the bikes they're selling are really good but usually they look in quite bad condition. I know the idea is to shop around but I haven't found anything decent and within my price range. The fact that I need a larger bike because I'm 6'5 also limits my choices by a lot. I've seen some decent bikes that were 54cm and stuff..I don't think I'd be able to pull that off.

Does anyone have any firsthand experience with triban3? it would really be appreciated as I'd like to be able to decide between it and the raleigh.