Opinions of this bike?

♠ChumBucket♠

Hi all

I'm looking around for my first road bike. I've been back cycling since April on a MTB with road tyres & now feel I'm at the stage where I could really benefit from a proper road bike.

I've come across this which has just won a group test in the latest Cycling Plus mag- however, it can now be had for £709 delivered!

My biggest problem is that my nearest descent bike shop is 45 miles away so mail order is an option for me.

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/b ... -2013.html

Any comments greatly appreciated.

bigmat

Looks decent, wheel / tyre / saddle upgrade will gave it down to 8.5kg which is good fog alu. Fine as is though for starters.

sharky1029

While I would still recomened going to a decent shop if you are near to one in the near future, if it is impossible then it sucks and mail order may be the only option.
The bike looks nice but make sure you know what size you need as it is a faff sending big things back.
You may also need to buy pedals seperatly so check that before you find yourself with a bike with no pedals.

Also when it comes (which it will) the first upgrade should be wheels and tyres as they are the most effective area to lose weight

schlepcycling

Sorry to muddy the waters but a friend of mine has just gone through this and eventually settled on this from CRC
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=75532

♠ChumBucket♠

Thanks for the comments & info guys.