Advice for a noob!

samhedges
samhedges Posts: 83
edited June 2012 in Road buying advice
Asides from using my hardtail MTB on the roads I'm inexperienced within road biking but decided I'd like to take it up this summer.

Who make good road bikes at around the 6-700 pounds mark? I've been leaning towards Giant so far and their Defy range, perhaps the Defy 4 or is it worth spending the extra for the step up to Defy 3? Who else is worth considering? The Specialized Allez isn't good for me as I have short reach so it feels uncomfortable but I don't know about the Secteur?

So basically what are the best sub 700 pound bikes with a short reach?

Comments

  • mattmaximus
    mattmaximus Posts: 132
    The Giant is a great bike by all accounts and they have an excellent test ride program.

    In your position I'd give a lot of thought to the Merckx AMX-1. The 2011 bike is £612 at Winstanleys at the moment (no connection) and that seems like a hell of a lot of bike for the money.

    http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/produ ... _Bike_2011

    I tried the EMX-3 (same geometry as the AMX-1 although carbon as opposed to alloy) and a Specialized Roubaix (again, same geometry as a Secteur) next to each other and much preferred the ride of the Merckx.

    If you go for the Merckx, check out the sizing carefully - my 54cm frame is actually more like a 61. Also I hated the prologo saddle, but each to his own!

    Good luck, welcome to road cycling!
  • samhedges
    samhedges Posts: 83
    I was going to say the sizing looked a great deal on the small side. What a bloody lovely looking bike! At 5'10 with long legs which size do you think I should get if I was to buy it? As far as other bikes go, how do the Defy 3 and Ribble 7005 Sportive compare?
  • mattmaximus
    mattmaximus Posts: 132
    I'm 6'3, with similar proportions by the sounds of it. I'd go with the 48, but then I also wouldn't take the word of a random off the internet! :lol:

    I'd strongly recommend using the competitivecyclist.com fit calculator (you'll need a tape measure and, ideally, a spare pair of hands to help) which will give you a decent guess at the dimensions that will work for you. Compare these with the geometry charts for the bikes you're considering.

    Obviously if you can get a test ride (is there an Evans near you?) that will help you with the sizing and whether you actually like the way the bike rides.

    There's a couple of other threads running at the moment covering pretty much this exact topic, which it might be worth keeping an eye on.

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