£2500 Bike Choice

swj1

Hi All,
Hopefully I can pick your collective brains, I have a max budget of £2.5k and I am looking at getting a road bike. I don't wont anything too aggressive as I will take it on longer rides rather than mad sprints.

So far the Ridley Fenix and the Boardman slr 9.0 have caught my eye but any suggestions would be welcome

Thanks in advance.

markhewitt1978

Have you considered the Trek Domane range as they are designed for endurance riding. £2,100 will get you a 4.5 with ultegra.

swj1

Thanks Mark, I will have a look now

Calpol

£2500 to spend - nice budget. I for one would not consider a Boardman. I admit thats because I am a bit of a brand snob when it comes to those bikes and their distribution channel. The possibilities are vast. I expect Canyon will get a mention soon. How about this for a bit of left field

http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k974/a61759/scultura-evo-905-e-com-di2-carbon-white-red.html

Leaves £500 to upgrade the wheels if you want.

Chrisrebbeck

Really like the Focus Izalco Pro 2 for that money. Awesome frame (bike of the year last year) and Di2 setup. Loads of bike for the money. Thats where my cash would go.

ScreaminWargasm

For that money you can get a real peach. I'd be after a descent discount though if you plan to buy within the next few months as the 'next years' models will be coming out around aug/sep.
I have just bought a new Scott Foil 20 which was priced at £2900 for £2150 without even asking for a discount.

Ultegra is going 11 speed for the 2014 kit, as is SRAM Red and Force so you should find a great bike from this years stock at a good price as they will want rid of the 10 speed bikes.

Mick

swj1

Thanks All, I will go and have a look

galatzo

Scott CR1 frame at Westbrook for £499
New Sram Force 22 £950ish
Mavic, Fulcrum or similar £500
Leaves £550 for some pretty nice finishing kit

Start with that frame a build exactly what you want, equivalent complete bike is going to have Fulcrum 5s maybe and Ultegra and own brand finishing kit so custom build with that frame is the way to go.

Anonymous

Calpol wrote:

£2500 to spend - nice budget. I for one would not consider a Boardman. I admit thats because I am a bit of a brand snob when it comes to those bikes and their distribution channel. The possibilities are vast. I expect Canyon will get a mention soon. How about this for a bit of left field

http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k974/a61759/scultura-evo-905-e-com-di2-carbon-white-red.html

Leaves £500 to upgrade the wheels if you want.

What's the distribution channel that you dislike? Was it one of the LBS you had a problem with, or all of them?

southdownswolf

Calpol wrote:

£2500 to spend - nice budget. I for one would not consider a Boardman. I admit thats because I am a bit of a brand snob when it comes to those bikes and their distribution channel. The possibilities are vast. I expect Canyon will get a mention soon. How about this for a bit of left field

http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k974/a61759/scultura-evo-905-e-com-di2-carbon-white-red.html

Leaves £500 to upgrade the wheels if you want.

The distribution channel of the Boardman is better than having to go to a German company. Or perhaps you think that it is sold through Halfords....?

Anonymous

Boardman at an LBS beats a Merida from a German website any day in my book.

I would say Boardman was a better badge than Merida too from my knowledge of Merida.

dwanes

The boardman for me, good value, very nice frameset and I have no doubt good customer back up.

Calpol

southdownswolf wrote:

Calpol wrote:

£2500 to spend - nice budget. I for one would not consider a Boardman. I admit thats because I am a bit of a brand snob when it comes to those bikes and their distribution channel. The possibilities are vast. I expect Canyon will get a mention soon. How about this for a bit of left field

http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k974/a61759/scultura-evo-905-e-com-di2-carbon-white-red.html

Leaves £500 to upgrade the wheels if you want.

The distribution channel of the Boardman is better than having to go to a German company. Or perhaps you think that it is sold through Halfords....?

Fair point. I stand corrected but as I said I am a bit of a brand snob. I am sure the Boardman is a good bike. Tons of people buy from canyon so I don't expect that is too much different from buying from another German shop. However I do agree that some other people recommendations are much stronger. I was only illustrating what alternative value can be had.

sloppyschleckonds

swj1 wrote:

Hi All,
Hopefully I can pick your collective brains, I have a max budget of £2.5k and I am looking at getting a road bike. I don't wont anything too aggressive as I will take it on longer rides rather than mad sprints.

So far the Ridley Fenix and the Boardman slr 9.0 have caught my eye but any suggestions would be welcome

Thanks in advance.

Short headtube on the Boardman, you may find it too aggressive.

cougie

What bike do you have at the moment ? Is the budget for the bike alone or all of the kit too ?

swj1

Hi Cougie,
This is my current bike
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/jam ... e-ec041440

I will use this as winter bike and the other bike for summer, you can never have to many bikes, well that is what i am trying to convince my better half

The budget will be just for the bike.

cougie

Nice bike !

skinnypunter

I just bought a Focus Cayo 3.0 (SRAM Force) - £2,299 list (but I've promised not to say what I actually paid). it's a great bit of kit - getting lots of compliments on the club rides, and it's a significant upgrade from my aluminium Trek 1.7.

Geo555

A couple of bargain Cannondales from Germany

Under budget
56cm frame size
http://www.biker-boarder.de/shopware/Ca ... 76_32.html

Little bit over budget
54cm frame size
http://www.biker-boarder.de/shopware/Ca ... ireusocl=1

Or something a bit different.
Trigon RQC27 with Sram Force
http://www.cycledivision.co.uk/product- ... -pid5.html

stuartknight1

Geo555 wrote:

Under budget
56cm frame size
http://www.biker-boarder.de/shopware/Ca ... 76_32.html

I just bought this exact bike from this store a few weeks ago. Great bike, really comfotable and fantastic service from Biker Boarder. I ordered on Sunday and was delivered on Thursday in an exceptionally well packaged box.

Coach H

Carbonator wrote:

Boardman at an LBS beats a Merida from a German website any day in my book.

I would say Boardman was a better badge than Merida too from my knowledge of Merida.

Not sure your second line makes much sense when you consider that Merida are the manufacturer for Boardman!! :roll:
Also for Specialized (and 49% owner) and MANY other brands.

southdownswolf

Merida DON'T make the bikes for Boardman, however you are correct about the second line......

markhewitt1978

Perhaps also consider the Trek Domane 5.2. A really excellent bike and top of the range before you get to the Di2 and custom models. RRP is £3,100 but with the 2014 models out next month I'm sure you could get it for much less if you shop around and haggle a bit

Anonymous

Coach H wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

Boardman at an LBS beats a Merida from a German website any day in my book.

I would say Boardman was a better badge than Merida too from my knowledge of Merida.

Not sure your second line makes much sense when you consider that Merida are the manufacturer for Boardman!! :roll:
Also for Specialized (and 49% owner) and MANY other brands.

Even if Merida do make Boardman's (seems to be some doubt on that) the second line still makes complete sense.
It says that Boardman is a better badge/brand, and nothing to do with manufacture :roll: :roll:

kleinstroker

Fancy something a bit different??

http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/look-586 ... 66771.html

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/de-rosa-r838-ve ... arter-kit/

Coach H

southdownswolf wrote:

Merida DON'T make the bikes for Boardman, however you are correct about the second line......

Carbonator wrote:

Even if Merida do make Boardman's (seems to be some doubt on that) the second line still makes complete sense.
It says that Boardman is a better badge/brand, and nothing to do with manufacture :roll: :roll:

Merida Taiwan OEM for Specialized, Boardman etc Merida Industry Co Ltd Taiwan Stock Exchange
From http://inrng.com/who-makes-what/ but other sources as well.

If not Merida then who? It was certainly Merida originally and Boardman himself stated this in an launch interview IIRC. Could it now be Giant? I would doubt there was a reason to change OEM's.

Carbonator, IMO your second line is now even worse as it would suggest that regardless of how good the bike actually is (and Merida probably is only just edged out by Giant for the most respected OEM in the world) the badge is more important.

(Sorry OP for going off topic. I would get http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3087 and its under budget )

markhewitt1978

I'd always assumed that most bike companies don't actually manufacture the bikes themselves in their own factories. In fact it's rare in manufacturing for one company to own the entire production process. Just like iPhones are largely made by Foxconn etc.

swj1

Thanks again for al the info so far, I love the look of the Canyon but I have to get this through our Cycle scheme at work which has a very nice limit of £2.5k as opposed to the £1k at my old firm

Coach H

swj1 wrote:

Thanks again for al the info so far, I love the look of the Canyon but I have to get this through our Cycle scheme at work which has a very nice limit of £2.5k as opposed to the £1k at my old firm

Might be worth contacting Canyon as they are setting up Bike to Work availability

swj1

I shall drop them a line, thanks

Bar Shaker

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

swj1 wrote:

Hi All,
Hopefully I can pick your collective brains, I have a max budget of £2.5k and I am looking at getting a road bike. I don't wont anything too aggressive as I will take it on longer rides rather than mad sprints.

So far the Ridley Fenix and the Boardman slr 9.0 have caught my eye but any suggestions would be welcome

Thanks in advance.

Short headtube on the Boardman, you may find it too aggressive.

I have an SLR. The frame is the same on the 9.0 as it is on the 9.8 and the quality is very good. It was used by United Health Care for 2011/2012 and it is a pro level race bike, for which it does not apologise. Whilst it is a short head tube, I have done 7 hours in the saddle without any aches. Your ages and suppleness will be the key to whether it will work for you. In tri comps, Boardman riders are cleaning up.

The SLR frame is very light (850g) but incredibly stiff. It is designed as a climbing/sprinting frame and it excels at these tasks. Many frames at this price break are going to be more race orientated, so I think you should demo a few to see what suits you best.

A Bianchi Infinito is just above your budget but that does have a relaxed frame, if that is a high priority. I also like the Canyon SLX and Aerorad but couldn't spend that much money without a dealer back up.

The Boardman Elite LBS network is very good and buying will include a free bike fit at most if not all dealers. Factor in £200 if other brands/LBS don't include this.