Need a Bike ??

hutch-judge

Hi, newbie here, not only to the road forum but to road bikes pretty much....

Ive been riding BMX/MTB for along time but over the last year have got into road riding..... Have been riding a borrowed Large Planet X Nanolight from my brother (he's been injured) but now he wants it back.

Ive been searching the classifieds and ebay for the last week or so but if i'm honest i cant see the wood for the trees, so wondering if anyone can help, im looking for a large frame (i think as i'm 6'1") preferablly 2nd hand, if i'm honest im not a big fan of the "large corporate brands" but on saying that if they are best i will go with them, and i've got a budget of upto £1500.

So can anyone point me in the right direction or know of any bargains ??

Cheers

smoggysteve

Cycling weekly has a good classified section. Ebay can be a bit of a risk to the new, so get your brother to lend some advice if he knows his stuff.

Thousands of bikes out there for the price range you are looking at. Try sitting on a few in a LBS and take it from there.

Now sit back and wait for the numerous plugs from everyone bigging up their bike.......

smidsy

You could also look in the classified ads on this site.

I bought my first bike off here and it's been great, still going strong as my wet weather bike.

passout

I'm not taking the pee here but pop into your local Halfords, they have some good, great value options - especially Boardmans (although I don't have one myself as the don't do cyclescheme but their own version of it). Service can be hit & miss but this is also true in many local bike shops.

hutch-judge

Hi, Thanks for the advise so far.

Whats people thoughts on these ?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... TQ:GB:1123

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/kuota-kharma- ... _362wt_959

Also Planet X RT-57 direct seems like a good deal ?

Cheers

passout

Yes to Planet X, that or a Ribble Sportive might be my choice.

hutch-judge

Anymore thoughts ?

Camcycle1974

Definitely look at PX, especially if you have experience of the Nanolight already. Triathlon Zone in St Albans stock their stuff if you are down south or obviously Rotherham if not. Ribble also a good bet. Leaning towards PX myself, going for a fitting on a PT-57 tomorrow.

antonyfromoz

It is really hard to make suggestions for questions like yours as the choice of bikes is such a personal thing and the range of available options is immense. The best thing is to do is to reduce the range of options by thinking about what you want the bike for, ie long rides like sportives, commuting, racing, time trials, touring, cyclocross racing, etc as this will have an impact on the type of bike you are looking for. If you are commuting all year, for example, then you might want to have provision for mud guards and possibly larger tyres. If you are looking at using the bike for touring then you want something that is comfortable on long days and which can take some form of luggage ie with a rack or panniers (or both if you are really keen). If you are just going to use the bike for riding with friends and the occasional longer ride in reasonable weather then the mudguard issue is not important but a more relaxed "sportive" geometry would possibly suit you better. If you want to race then a shorter wheelbase,shorter head tube and quicker steering might assist you. Of course all of these things (except the provision for mudguards and luggage bearing capacity)are entirely subjective - what I think is a quick steering racing oriented bike might be an all day comfortable ride for you. All this means that it is next to impossible for us to suggest a bargain to you until you (and us) know a bit more about what you want - a bike you don't like, that won't do what you want it to do is not a bargain at any price really...

hutch-judge

Hi thanks for the reply, and i see what your saying...

The bike will be used for sunday rides with freinds, and occasional sunny mid-week rides, and hopefully a few sportives this year (already booked on the 75 mile Lincoln GP) although idont think racing will ever happen, we do tend to average 30 to 60 mile rides and if i'm honest have a laugh with some banter and racing between ourselves.

I really like my brothers Nanolight, but cant find any advertised, i could go buy the RT-57 or Pro Carbon (think the N2A is out of my reach) new direct in Rotherham but if i'm honest was hoping to maybe drop on a better spec'd 2nd hand one. There are obviously alot of makes i have no idea on such as the Kuota and the Canyon listed above, i was hoping people may be able to open my eyes to other makes / models which i may overlook or adverts for bikes i may have missed or overlooked.

antonyfromoz

For the type of riding you are intending to do there are often a lot of recommendations for the ribble range of bikes and the Sensa bikes from Merlin seem to be getting very good reviews too - http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/b ... nsa-bikes/ with many of them at reduced prices at the moment. There have been a lot of recommendations lately for the Cannondales from Paul's Cycles (where there is often very good prices for last year's models) such as this Supersix http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.p ... 7b0s6p4506 (Smaller frame sizes are even less expensive with SRAM Apex or Shimano 105 gears) and this Synapse http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.p ... 7b0s6p4324 I know you are not so enamoured of the big brands but by all accounts these are lovely bikes with the Synapse having more of a "relaxed" geometry than the Supersix (but I have read that some still race with this frame so, as i said earlier, everything is subjective). My best advice is to get out a ride a few bikes - if you have not already done so you will be amazed by the differences in the way they feel.