£2500 Bike Choice

swj1

Coach H wrote:

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

I just heard back and the Cycle scheme will not deal with Canyon or any other online retailer they say (Canyan) . shame as that is a very very nice bike.

symo

Planet X ti road pro according to their latest magazine is £1999 with Ultegra groupset. Leaves £500 for upgrading the wheels.

I have the lynskey incarnation and if I had the money again, I would go back with the titanium from PX.

swj1

Hi All,
I am still looking, there seems to be so much choice around this price point!

Does any have any opinion on the Planet X RT-58?

mechanism

I'm hoping to be in the market for a bike around this price fairly soon and you're right, there are lots of brands to choose between. Blind prejudice seems a fairly solid basis for eliminating all but a few, so some current favourites of mine are the Canyon CF SLX (if they sort out their supply issues) and Giant Defy or TCR. I'll probably wait a bit to see when Ultegra 6800 appears, and possibly announcements of 2014 bikes.

markp80

swj1 wrote:

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

If you are looking at the Boardman Elite bikes but don't want anything too agressive, wouldn't the Air Road be more appropriate than the SLR Road? All the articles/info I've read suggest that the Air is more suitable as an all-rounder than the SLR.

Cheers,
MarkP

swj1

symo wrote:

Planet X ti road pro according to their latest magazine is £1999 with Ultegra groupset. Leaves £500 for upgrading the wheels.

I have the lynskey incarnation and if I had the money again, I would go back with the titanium from PX.

I have seen that but I know nothing about Titanium, what are the benefits?

galatzo

Website says they have them in 52cm, 54cm and 56cm - if they do then they look a pretty good deal if you can handle the standard double chainset.....

http://www.kbcycles.com/more_details.php?id=102714

carrock

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.

Ermm..... Isn't Boardman built by Merida?

Bar Shaker

Mechanism wrote:

I'm hoping to be in the market for a bike around this price fairly soon and you're right, there are lots of brands to choose between. Blind prejudice seems a fairly solid basis for eliminating all but a few, so some current favourites of mine are the Canyon CF SLX (if they sort out their supply issues) and Giant Defy or TCR. I'll probably wait a bit to see when Ultegra 6800 appears, and possibly announcements of 2014 bikes.

I hear that Canyon are currently taking orders for mid 2014 delivery.

Bar Shaker

carrock 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.

Ermm..... Isn't Boardman built by Merida?

Yes, as are Specialized and Cav's new CVNDSH bikes.

The perception of the Merida brand depends entirely where you live. In the UK it has almost no marketing as we are a predominately Specialized territory. In other countries, the roles are reversed and Merida is the brand that gets the advertising bucks.

I think the point was that the Boardman Elites have a very good LBS network. Their stockists tend to be amongst the best shops in each county. This was the major factor for me choosing my SLR over a Canyon SLX. That and the fact that the SLR was in stock and, as they are assembled in the UK, could be built to my own spec and delivered to my LBS within 48 hours of ordering.

MarkP80 wrote:

If you are looking at the Boardman Elite bikes but don't want anything too agressive, wouldn't the Air Road be more appropriate than the SLR Road? All the articles/info I've read suggest that the Air is more suitable as an all-rounder than the SLR.

Both are pro level race bikes, like many bikes at this level and are not intended to be comfy sportive bikes. The AiR is aimed at Tri racers (and is hugely successful) whilst the SLR is a very light weight club race/climbing/sprinting machine. The AiR frame is slightly heavier than the SLR because its users are more likely to be riding time trial type courses so want aero and ultra stiffness. My SLR ditches aero in the search of a mega stiff bottom end. The fork is aero, the rest is just purely functional for translating pedal power into motion. I choose Force chainrings over Ultegra and the whole bike weighs in at 6.8kg. I believe the AiR is about 250g heavier. The SLR is explosive in the attacks.

In short though, you will feel fast on any £2500 bike and the bike will force you to up your game, to be worthy of it. Let us know what you buy.

symo

swj1 wrote:

symo wrote:

Planet X ti road pro according to their latest magazine is £1999 with Ultegra groupset. Leaves £500 for upgrading the wheels.

I have the lynskey incarnation and if I had the money again, I would go back with the titanium from PX.

I have seen that but I know nothing about Titanium, what are the benefits?

springy like steel and almost as light as carbon. Frame to potentially last a lifetime. The current ones as made by van Nicholas for px to the pro road dimensions. So if it has the same geometry as mine it will be amazingly good value. I did l2p for 3 days in absolute comfort despite the racy position, they are an absolute steal.