New, Cheap Road Bike

peter413

Hi guys,

I'm a mountain biker at heart but have realised I want a road bike for fitness and those days I just can't be bothered to go off road. I haven't a clue about anything to do with road bikes though. First off a good indicator on size would be helpful, I'm just under 6 foot tall with a 33 inch inside leg. Currently ride a medium Marin Wolf Ridge and did ride an 18 inch On One 456 if that helps.

I have a budget of about £350 so anyone have any suggestions on what I should look at? I have my mtb clips for the bike so pedals are sorted and I have saddles if the one on the bike is horrible. I'm currently on the bad side of 100kg right now so something strong would be nice and it will be used a few times a week so reliable bits are good but I can do maintenance on bikes fine.

So far I have seen:
Revolution Cross bike, I know it's not strictly a road bike but I though with it being a cross bike it would be a little stronger, the spec might be lacking though but I really have no idea about what road bits are good and bad.
Revolution Continental, slightly over my budget but if it's worth it I could stretch.
Merlin S2200It's the cheapest by a fair bit but the largest size is out of stock but I haven't a clue if that is what I should be aiming for.
Carrera TDFSeen this in store, not sat on it or anything but it looks alright and I should be able to at least ride it around the car park to see which size I liked better.

Most of the bikes I've seen have been 8 speed so I'm assuming this is what is normal for cheaper road bikes? Parts aren't going to be hard to come by are they?

Any help is much appreciated.

garynevstasche

Of the four above, I've only seen the Carraera TDF in the flesh.

I remember being impressed by it, good bike for the money. It always seems to get solid reviews too.

Wouldn't worry too much about 8 speed, bits should be available for ages.

Only thing that might be offputting is the fact it is a double (rather than a compact or triple). Not sure if that is an issue for you.

Similar spec, but £50 less and with a triple is the following:

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-3-id_8167038.html

I've seen these in the flesh too and for £300 I think it's a good bike.

EDIT - I've just realised the Triban 3 has a carbon fork which is good for the money.

peter413

That Triban does look nice, especially with the carbon fork. I think it's mostly the same groupset as the Carrera as well only cheaper and a much nicer colour. The double didn't worry me, it's what I always run on my mtb's if I don't run single ring and figured I would just use larger rings on a road bike.

Any idea on what size I should be looking at for the Triban?

garynevstasche

peter413 wrote:

That Triban does look nice, especially with the carbon fork. I think it's mostly the same groupset as the Carrera as well only cheaper and a much nicer colour. The double didn't worry me, it's what I always run on my mtb's if I don't run single ring and figured I would just use larger rings on a road bike.

Any idea on what size I should be looking at for the Triban?

Difficult to say precisely. "One of the bigger ones" is probably correct but not much help.

If you're close to a Decathlon then they generally have most sizes on the shop floor to have a go with, the staff are generally good too.

garynevstasche

Just had a look and Evans' road sizing chart suggest about a 60cm frame for someone of your height.

That would probably be the best starting point.

If you can get the chance, stand over one and if you've got about an inch clearance from crotch to top bar you won't be far off.

EDIT - just saw that I misread your height, a 57cm would probably be better.

peter413

I've just look as well and it suggests a 56-58 so I'll go for the 57 I think, I tend to prefer the slightly smaller top tube on the mtb anyway.

No chance of getting near one before buying though, nearest place is Stockport apparently, 3 and a half hours away.

garynevstasche

peter413 wrote:

I've just look as well and it suggests a 56-58 so I'll go for the 57 I think, I tend to prefer the slightly smaller top tube on the mtb anyway.

No chance of getting near one before buying though, nearest place is Stockport apparently, 3 and a half hours away.

Whereabouts are you?

peter413

Near Galashiels in the Scottish Borders.

garynevstasche

peter413 wrote:

Near Galashiels in the Scottish Borders.

Is Glasgow or Edinburgh not closer than Stockport?

peter413

Edinburgh is a lot closer and would be a better option.

garynevstasche

They have a 57cm Triban 3 in stock at the Edinburgh branch.

Reserve online then you can have a look before you buy it.

peter413

Ah that's perfect, might make a trip up there tomorrow.

garynevstasche

Good stuff.

It's worth having a look at the other bike gear they have there too. Cycle clothing and the like is very good quality for the price.

peter413

I've got plenty of bike kit already, although many won't approve of me wearing mtb kit on a road bike I'm sure It is always worth a look though, thanks.

garynevstasche

peter413 wrote:

I've got plenty of bike kit already, although many won't approve of me wearing mtb kit on a road bike I'm sure It is always worth a look though, thanks.

I wouldn't worry about it, I wear my road gear on my MTB, and my road bike has SPD rather than SPD-SL pedals (I like to walk about too!).

peter413

That's a 57 reserved for me tomorrow to go look at at. Thanks very much for the help.

garynevstasche

peter413 wrote:

That's a 57 reserved for me tomorrow to go look at at. Thanks very much for the help.

No worries, hope it all goes well. Let me know if you decided to buy it.

peter413

Yep I got it, see my sig

Seems nice, still playing with the settings a bit but now I've flipped the stem it feels a lot better. Just got to get used to the twitchiness of the thing, the fact I can't go hammering into the rough bits of road and that I can't really stop in any sort of hurry. Bike had a few problems with it like shredded gear cables but to give them their dues they were happy to give me new gear cables to fit, I even had to persuade them to let me do it. Also a few of the bolts were quite loose, so much for the safety check, but I wasn't going in expecting any better than my local Halfords so was checking it all over when I got home. They certainly weren't trying to pressure me into buying anything and spent a bit of time letting me try out the different sizes and explained how the gear shifters and stuff worked (I knew but I thought I would let them do it anyway) and explained how to use the drop bars which was very useful.

Overall I'm happy with it even if it did take 7 hours to get there thanks to a traffic accident.

I did get some strange rubber bits in with the CD that contains the manual. Any idea what they are? http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/8366340/

finlayson99

Good choice that.

I have had my Triban 3 for about a month now and find it totally addictive. I used to see myself as only being a MTBr too but have reminded myself that all types of cycling are brill. I have ridden my Heckler very little in the last month and it feels a bit like riding a sofa after the road bike :shock:
Enjoy your purchase you have done well IMHO.

Oh, and sorry, no idea what those rubber bits are either.

peter413

There's no chance of me giving up the MTB, the road bike is purely to get fitter for that although it was quite nice today with the views on my little ride today.

I've worked out what the rubber bits are, they slip into the top of the shifters/brake levers, seem to hold the levers slightly closer to the bars.

Here I was thinking the upgrade habits wouldn't carry over from the mtb's but alas I was wrong, already looking for some bargains, wouldn't mind some new wheels, don't quite trust them and a new crankset would be nice, just don't trust square taper after wrecking a few cranks on the mtb.