Deciding on a beginner road bike

viciousmackerel

Hi,
I'm looking to buy a road bike but not willing to spend a whole lot on my first bike. I've recently been out cycling but been using a mountain bike to get around and for the longer distances I'm willing to travel, it's not cutting it. I plan on eventually entering in charity cycling events or races as well as cycling to and from the beach for a swim. I've been searching for a bike online for the price range of which I'm willing to spend, a maximum of €260.

Here's some of the road bikes I was looking at:

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/produ ... _2013_Bike Viking Jetstream 2013

http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/store ... yId_212536 Apollo fusion

http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/produ ... _2013_Bike Diamondback Pursuit 2013

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Woodworm-White- ... dworm+bike Woodworm white lightning

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vittesse-Sprint ... +race+bike Vittesse Sprint

I'd like to get some advice on which of these bikes are the best for the money, or maybe some recommendations.

Eric

simonhead

I would stick some road tyres on the mountain bike and save up for a bit longer. Whilst the bikes you have mentioned may serve you well they are a little below proper entry level and with a budget of £300 or so you can get something that will probably make your ride that mit more enjoyable. I have no experience with any of the bottom three but my neighbours have viking and apollos and are forever popping over asking if i can help them fix something or asjust something else.

A friend of mine recently bought a well looked after Allez second hand for £250 from a guy on here, it was his first road bike and he loves it, he got much better quality and a better ride for the same price as a new entry level bike.

viciousmackerel

simonhead wrote:

I would stick some road tyres on the mountain bike and save up for a bit longer. Whilst the bikes you have mentioned may serve you well they are a little below proper entry level and with a budget of £300 or so you can get something that will probably make your ride that mit more enjoyable. I have no experience with any of the bottom three but my neighbours have viking and apollos and are forever popping over asking if i can help them fix something or asjust something else.

A friend of mine recently bought a well looked after Allez second hand for £250 from a guy on here, it was his first road bike and he loves it, he got much better quality and a better ride for the same price as a new entry level bike.

Thanks for the advice, I went into my local Halfords store and seen they had a Carrera TDF on sale so I reserved it and I'm picking it up tomorrow

simonhead

Good choice and for the price the best of the lot probably by a country mile.

drlodge

For £250 you can't go wrong with that.

LeicesterLad

As above. I have one as a commuter - used to be my weekend bike too but with a standard double and weighing almost 12kg I felt it on the hills. Great bike for everyday runaround though!

diamondbacker

I had one a couple of years back. Loved it, and for the price you got it at it's a great buy. In fact when I was ordering my new bike recently (got rid of my TDF - long story, not bike related) it was a choice between another TDF or Triban 3.

Went for the Triban 3 in red as I was lucky enough to get it whilst it was still in stock and had carbon fork and triple chain set. Think I would have got the TDF at 250 if the choices had been between that and the white Triban 3 at 300.