Road bike for £500

phospho123

I've been commuting right now on a old vintage peugeot. I want to start riding in a club and figured I should get a decent road bike.

I'm looking for something suitable on the roads of London, and for club rides, I want something light (my old peugeot was around 9.8kg so preferably something lighter than this), and generally a good road bike.

I've had bad experiences with 2nd hand bikes as all the ones I've gotten have had a lot of problems, so prefer a new bike.

I've searched around and I found the CAAD8 by canondale http://www.evanscycles.com/products/can ... 912#select what does everything think of this?

any other bikes would be appreciated, thanks

Tjgoodhew

I have this all be it with a Tiagra Groupset and i love it.

Its my first "proper bike" so dont really have much to compare it to but from the 3/4 others i test rode this one worked for me.

Its quite a racy geometry and it feels quick and stable when i am riding on the flat as well as up and down hills.

I was living in London and commuted in from Crystal Palace to the City which was about 8 miles. The only issue i had is that some of the roads were so bad i didn't want to damage the bike in any way so in fact looked at getting an old bike for commuting and keep the Caad for "best".

phospho123

Is that groupset better?

kajjal

2300 - 8 speed
Sora - 9 speed
Tiagra - 10 speed

More gears just means it is easier to find the right gear. 8 speed is fine for a first road bike. The most important thing is you give one a test ride to make sure it rides OK for you and is the right size.

Sheldon has a good website on bike sizing and setup but you may find it a bit overly detailed at the moment

bobones

The CAAD8 is a great frame and 2300 components are fine. If you're not concerned about 8 speed or 2300's thumb shifting levers, which are hard to use from the drops then it will give you plenty of miles of enjoyment. Not sure it's going to be much lighter than 9.8kg though. If you can stretch your budget a little, you could get something with 10 speed Tiagra, e.g. this Felt F85

phospho123

I went to my local bike shop today and they had a claud butler bike for £450 with a full service and set up for free. I cant' find it online, but it had a 7-speed on the rear wheel (is this too low?). It was an aluminium frame (I think), and a carbon fork. It had STI gear shifts and had a classic race geometry (like vintage road bikes).

Should I go for that or the cannondale CAAD8? I want to join a cycling club so I just want a decent bike to keep me going for a few years before I upgrade again (if I still enjoy cycling).

edit: this was the bike http://www.ashcycles.com/site/claud-but ... -bike-2013

t4tomo

The CAAD8 is a much better bet than the Claud Butler IMHO.

700c

BTwin Triban 3 £429. Sora Triple, carbon fork, around 10kg in a large.

Just recommended this to a mate on the strength of Cycling Plus' recent review and he loves it.

simonhead

Ribble winter trainer if you can go another £50, or possibly an Allez compact?