New rider with a familiar question

jonjay

Hi everyone, appologies in advance for asking a question that is often asked , but it has a very slight twist to it. Promise.

Im back on pedal power after a long absence, since selling my motorbike. My current steed is a very old very rickety mountain bike. My aim is to get in to a bit of road riding, probably nothing to serious, not racing just leisure rides and probably only up to about 20 miles to start with, maybe building up to about 50, but doubt I'll go much beyond (but who knows).

I am on a tight budget and after much internet searching and forum reading it seems pretty clear that for a real tight budget the best bike out there is the Triban 3. I had almost decided this was the one, until I started seeing 0% finance, and cycle to work options.

So the question is. If by using 0% or cycle to work, I could stretch my budget to say £500-£600. Would I be getting a significantly better bike than the Triban? You would think that by doubling the budget this would be a no brainer, but by looking at specs alone I'm not so sure, as the Triban seems up there with things like the Specialized Alez Compact or the Giant Defy 5 or Trek 1.1.

Any advice is more than welcome.

Cheers

cookeeemonster

You'll get some proper answers to your question but one thing I would say is that spending £300 on your first proper bike would be a good idea simply because once you get into cycling, you'll have a better idea of what you really want.

Not really explained myself properly there...what I mean is you could spend £600 on a bike and absolutely love it and use it constantly for years...or realise you've made a mistake after a couple of weeks and realise you should've got a different bike with different geometry and spec and so on (or you might not enjoy road cycling and give up, thus £600 wasted). You could get the triban 3 now then in 6 months use the ride to work scheme to get a significantly better bike.

Anyway, the triban 3 seems to be very highly rated anyway, but try and get a few test rides on different bikes regardless. Also for £300 you can get a pretty decent specced second hand bike.

simon_masterson

CookeeeMonster wrote:

You'll get some proper answers to your question but one thing I would say is that spending £300 on your first proper bike would be a good idea simply because once you get into cycling, you'll have a better idea of what you really want.

Not really explained myself properly there...what I mean is you could spend £600 on a bike and absolutely love it and use it constantly for years...or realise you've made a mistake after a couple of weeks and realise you should've got a different bike with different geometry and spec and so on (or you might not enjoy road cycling and give up, thus £600 wasted). You could get the triban 3 now then in 6 months use the ride to work scheme to get a significantly better bike.

Anyway, the triban 3 seems to be very highly rated anyway, but try and get a few test rides on different bikes regardless. Also for £300 you can get a pretty decent specced second hand bike.

This is moreorless what I came in to suggest.

£300 is a good price to spend on a first road bike. Listen to nobody who insists that you need to spend £1000 first time.

What you pay for in such a bike is light(er) weight, more race-oriented geometry, lighter wheels, and so on. Cyclists these days are incredibly spoiled; the kind of technology available on a budget these days would have been unthinkable even 20 years ago. As the poster above me correctly states, once you need more, you will know about it.

Most amateur cyclists, such as many around here, would be fine with ancient plain-gauge steel bangers from eBay; provided that the bike is mechanically sound, properly maintained and has basic road bike features (drop bars, appropriate wheels and tyres); particularly once you factor in modern luxuries such as clipless pedals (try using trainers and clips) and 9+ speed cassettes (try climbing a steep hill on what a 5 speed allows, and removing an old-style freewheel that's been on there for a bit), brifters (or whatever you prefer to call them), lightweight wheels, the 'engine' becomes most important. Without discussing the other differences, the minimum weight of an alloy frame is also extremely light. An inexpensive alloy frame is likely to be lighter than the frame that Stephen Roche won the TdF on, and that was in 1987.

In your first road bike, look for fit ABOVE ALL ELSE. I would strongly discourage you from buying online; go to a local bike shop and try some. Hopefully they will identify the right size of frame for you and fit you to the bike, too (saddle height and position, mainly). This is critical to your cycling; if your saddle is at the wrong height and position you will be wasting effort at best and causing discomfort and injury at worst.

The other good reason for spending less on your first bike is that it leaves money left over for all of the other gear you'll be needing: Shoes and pedals, jerseys, bibshorts/tights/both, helmet, computer, lights, tools, etc.

uphillslowly

I've just returned to road cycling after 35 years. Done loads of research on the net, also had a fairly restricted budget.
In the end I brought the Triban 3. So far so good, no problems or issues.
I'm 5'10" with 32" inside leg, and went with the 57 frame, and I fits great.
Good luck
Mark

gjpollitt

I bought a Viking Torino 2011 for £350 two months ago. I am 6ft 2 so opted for the 59cm frame.
I don't care if people may sneer at the model. Its my first road bike, it looks good and it works for me. I started off doing 10 miles on it and now do 30. My strength/stamina/fitness is increasing. I now average around 16/17 mph on each ride. I use my iPhone running Wahoo Fitness and Heart Rate Monitor and upload to Strava.

I have replaced the 700C 23 tyres with 700C 25 Continental Gatorskins, the inner tubes with Continental, the brake pads with Parker Road Pads, replaced the 110mm stem with 75mm stem, replaced the pedals with Shimano SPD and added quick release lever to the seat.

Bottom line is to get out cycling but to make sure the bike is set correctly for your body etc so you will enjoy the ride more. I will buy a higher priced, better quality, lighter etc bike next summer when I have spent a year running this bike in and getting fitter! Don't worry about the other cyclists puffing and wheezing on their £5000 carbon road bike (the type I often overtake). They may have the money but that doesn't mean they have the ability!

Simon Masterson wrote:

CookeeeMonster wrote:

The other good reason for spending less on your first bike is that it leaves money left over for all of the other gear you'll be needing: Shoes and pedals, jerseys, bibshorts/tights/both, helmet, computer, lights, tools, etc.

Exactly. I own 3 jerseys, 3 matching pairs of fingerless gloves, 1 pair of tights, 2 front and 2 rear led lights, iPhone holder, water bottle/cage, bike bag(with tools), 2 helmets, bum bag (with tubes/plasters/wipes etc), MTB SPD shoes, helmet cam, BlueHR heart rate monitor and more besides. Add all these things to the cost of the bike and it suddenly becomes an expensive hobby at least for the initial outlay and I've been road biking for only 2 months!