The best bike possible for £1000ish

davies_1980

Hi

I am new to the forum and to road biking so I apologise in advance for the little intelligence shown on this subject.

In summary I am looking to spend £1000 on a new road bike on the cycle to work and dont know what to buy.

I had set my heart on a Boardman Team Carbon (once it comes on offer) but reading reviews it is too short for me at 6ft 4????????????????????

What do I buy and what frame size am I roughly looking for? The money is purely for a bike as I already have kit. All of my mates have the bees knees of a road bike so I want the best for my money and fit in, whether it be a 2013 model or a better 2012 model thats on offer.

Help please!

CiB

For that money, your best bet is to march into Evans or some similar mainstream outlet and buy whatever bike makes you go 'oh thats nice'. Or you can read a list of who rides what on here; most of us think that our bike is the best.

hipshot

Yes, just go into reputable bike shop and try some out, and get a bike fit.

Just about any major brand £1000 bike will be a good bike.

If you're assuming carbon is best watch this former cat 1 racer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLLJr0RChDg

antfly

Get a cannondale aluminium bike.

charlie_potatoes

How about a Canyon with Ultegra groupset and under 8 kgs for just over a grand
http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3074#tab-reiter2

Or with 105 groupset, mavic wheels and Conti gp4000s tyres just over 800 quid

http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3073#tab-reiter2

Big sizes in stock.


Edit to say forget that I just noticed the Cycle to Work scheme in your post :oops:

migrantwing

+ 1 for Cannondale and Canyon. If I had £800, I'd snap that 105 deal up in a second. Cannondale and Canyon are workhorses.

Also look at Focus, Cube, Ghost, Sensa and BH bikes (all European brands). All quality bikes with great spec for a great price.

chaymck

Trying using search- this question is asked very frequently

bernithebiker

Ribble have excellent value bikes.

mroli

Dude - this question comes up a lot and the answer depends on the type of riding you are doing (long rides, sociable rides, racing, triathlon and training etc) At 6ft4, you are looking at a fairly large framed bike and I note that Halfords don't seem to do a bike that fits anyone about 6ft3.

As you say that you are new to road cycling, it would appear that you don't really know what size bike to buy - getting a bike that fits properly is incredibly important for your comfort on the bike.

In relation to getting value for money, the online bike retailers (Planet X, Ribble and Canyon) do the best deals on bikes - they bulk buy components and set up and pass (some of) those savings to the customer. Your more bespoke shops (ie shops like Condor etc) will be more expensive as you can get a bike set up to your exact requirements.

There is some "snobbery" around bike brands, but generally at £1000 you are looking at a good aluminium frame with some carbon frames coming into play at that level. Groupset wise you are probably looking at Tiagra or possibly 105 from Shimano and Apex possibly Rival from Sram (I don't know about Campag).

You want a decent set of wheels with decent rubber - wheels should be under 2kg and not clad in the "cheapest" tyres.

There are/were some decent deals around on reduced bikes as people cleared stock for 2013 models. For example - full carbon Felt at Wiggle for under £1k in a 61 which would appear to be your size here: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/felt-f6-apex-2012/ oh - and if you've never bought from Wiggle before, you can give a mate's email as your "referrer" and they get 10% worth of credit. I'm happy to take that!!!!

Wiggle do cycle to work as well.

Peddle Up!

One question, a thousand different answers. :?

For what it's worth the best money I spent on cycling was on a proper bike fit (I'm your height) which let me narrow down to a short list of bikes with geometry that matched my body size and shape. I'm no Wiggo (very far from it ), but I can ride a 100 mile + and get off without having odd aches and pains and strange "nervy conditions" that affect some cyclists.

giant_man

+1 for getting one that fits, I'm sure there are some models for someone of your size. Lots of choice at this price, but THE most important thing is get one that fits!!

napoleond

This is the first time I've answered one of these Cyclescheme limit type questions...

I've had many a bike from cheap to rather pricey.

I've just ordered a new bike on the Cyclescheme for communting on, went for the Ribble special edition but specced it with Campagnolo Athena and Campagnolo wheels. It came to 920ish.

My intention is to use it for a couple if years then get a new frame/fork and build that up with the Athena etc...

smithy05

You will be fine on the biggest Boardman they offer. I am 6ft5/6ft6 and ride an XL Boardman Road team. This was £1000 brand new a few months back.

alanparsons

I got my Wilier on the Cyclescheme from Cycles UK.
I was told that only full price bikes are included in Tax free bike schemes.
Check first with LBS, this could be rubbish but it is my understanding.
The 2013 Wilier Montegrappa comes with Shimano 105 for £900. I love mine.

http://www.wilier.it/en/products/road-bike/montegrappa/

passout

I'd look at Planet X (http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CBS ... _road_bike) or Ribble, if buying on line. That said, the Boardman looks good to me too. There's a lot to said for supporting local bike shops of course.

One thing to consider - do you want it to take full guards? If so, then it should have clearances & frame fittings for guards. I'd look at well specced Ribble Winter Trainer if thats what you want. Crud products get round the need for this to some extent though.

chilling

If you can use Evans they will include sale bikes in the scheme and don't seem fussed if you want to go over the limit, you just pay the extra.

Thats my experience, it was on their own cycle to work scheme so that may not apply to outside schemes, but its worth checking. It made my choice a bit wider as I could consider sale bike although you are limited to what they stock.

I don't have a final payment either, they just take over the agreement and extend for 5 years for free so after a year of salary sacrifice, you don't get stiffed for an extra fee.

smidsy

@chilling - much of what you describe is probably best not disclosed as it is fraud. The cycle to work scheme is an Inland Revenue Tax benefit and in accordance with Law can not exceed £1000 and you have to pay a final payment of some sort.

I am not saying that it has not and can not be done but it is not lawful so beware.

pippi_langsamer-2

Nice bike if you don't mind steel :

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/YBSH208484/sarto_rovigo_steel_road_bike_rival_54_cc

warrior4life

Love that planet x sarto... Wish I was 2 inches shorter. (or the bike was a 56)

chilling

smidsy wrote:

@chilling - much of what you describe is probably best not disclosed as it is fraud. The cycle to work scheme is an Inland Revenue Tax benefit and in accordance with Law can not exceed £1000 and you have to pay a final payment of some sort.

I am not saying that it has not and can not be done but it is not lawful so beware.

I'm sure Evans have this all worked out with HMRC, if not it's not the worlds most subtle fraud as the Cycle Scheme manager for Evans came into our office and presented these facts to all of us with accompanying PowerPoint presentation and literature.

I the £1000 limit is still in place as I'm not getting any tax benefit on the top up fee I paid, my salary sacrifice is still worked out on the £1000.

markos1963

smithy05 wrote:

You will be fine on the biggest Boardman they offer. I am 6ft5/6ft6 and ride an XL Boardman Road team. This was £1000 brand new a few months back.

How can you know at all. You don't know the OP and any fit issues he may have. What some of the others have said, get yourself(the OP) fitted properly for your bike. It doesn't matter if you spend £200 or £2k on the bike it won't be of any use to you if you can't ride it.
My thoughts would be at that price, buy a quality frame/wheels and cheaper components. The components will wear out anyway in time so you can upgrade later on.