£1k to spend on first road bike, advice needed!

Painey

As the title says really, I have a £1k budget that I plan on using to fund my first road bike. The thing is, having ridden mountain bikes for 20 years or so, whilst I'm not an inexperienced cyclist by any means I know pretty much nothing about road bikes!!

Main reason for buying is I've become a dad recently and I want another bike in the garage that I can pick up and take out whenever I want, then put back again in the same condition. My full sus mountain bike isn't really suited to winter rides along the south downs where I live, you just spend forever cleaning the damn thing.

The thing I'm not sure about is size and getting to bike shops isn't that easy for me. I'm 6ft2, quite long legs for my height so from what I've seen I'm thinking 60cm frame size or thereabouts?

Quite like the look of the Planet X Pro Carbon which they do with either Ultegra or SRAM Rival gears for £999. Seems to get good reviews from what I've read. Any thoughts on this and if so what gears are better, what are the differences etc?

Thanks in advance for any help, I certainly need it!

Cheers - Chris

diamonddog

I have had a Pro Carbon for a while now and would recommend it. Very good vfm and nice and responsive, as to gears I prefer the Sram set up but there is nothing wrong with the Ultegra it's a very good set up. Sram use double click for changing (one paddle to change up or down the cassette) Ultegra doesn't but it is just a matter of preference.

Some people will chunter on about cheap carbon frames but a lot of big name frames are made in the same factory using the same grade carbon but with the likes of PX, Ribble and Dolan etc you're not paying a premium for the big brand name hence it's cheaper.
Good luck buying.

Captain Slackbladder

Painey wrote:

As the title says really, I have a £1k budget that I plan on using to fund my first road bike. The thing is, having ridden mountain bikes for 20 years or so, whilst I'm not an inexperienced cyclist by any means I know pretty much nothing about road bikes!!

Main reason for buying is I've become a dad recently and I want another bike in the garage that I can pick up and take out whenever I want, then put back again in the same condition. My full sus mountain bike isn't really suited to winter rides along the south downs where I live, you just spend forever cleaning the damn thing.

The thing I'm not sure about is size and getting to bike shops isn't that easy for me. I'm 6ft2, quite long legs for my height so from what I've seen I'm thinking 60cm frame size or thereabouts?

Quite like the look of the Planet X Pro Carbon which they do with either Ultegra or SRAM Rival gears for £999. Seems to get good reviews from what I've read. Any thoughts on this and if so what gears are better, what are the differences etc?

Thanks in advance for any help, I certainly need it!

Cheers - Chris

I purchased an Allez Elite earlier this year and love it. I'm just a tad taller than you at 6,3 and found the 61cm perfect.
Congrats on the new arrival, my good ladies due in 9 weeks....

kajjal

Congratulations !!!

The main things to look for as well as the spec are the look of the bike, that it is the right size / setup for you and you like the way it feels when you ride it. I am over 6ft6 but ride a 62cm frame as it fits me well for my riding style. I would advise doing a few test rides and see how you get on. With road bikes the trade off is comfort v speed / power so make sure you get the right bike for you.

Have a read round the internet on bike setup and will give you some things to think about. Roughly speaking you are looking at the right saddle height, the right forwards / backwards position of the saddle on the rails, the reach to the handlebars and the vertical drop in height from the saddle to the handlebars. Get that right and you will really enjoy your bike.

Some lights would be handy for riding once the wee one is in asleep

markhewitt1978

Painey wrote:

Quite like the look of the Planet X Pro Carbon which they do with either Ultegra or SRAM Rival gears for £999. Seems to get good reviews from what I've read. Any thoughts on this and if so what gears are better, what are the differences etc?

This is what I was going to post for the price. I'd get the Ultegra but that's just personal choice, either would be good.

bikemanspen

I've recently bought a cube agree pro 2013 which I'm getting on with well! Might be worth a look as they were 1400rrp

Painey

Thanks for the comments. Must admit, I already have some serious lights for off road riding at night so these will be going on the road bike as well.

One thing I'm curious about is the different actions of the Sram/Shimano shifters. Can anybody easily explain how they work? I had a look on their respective websites last night and couldn't see any videos etc.

diamonddog

Have a look at this for Sram, as I said in my first reply the system works very well just one action to move up and down the gears.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeRGhcyt ... detailpage

diamonddog

Sorry first link is more techno info than use info so try this for Shimano/Sram.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... I20wocqZRE

Edit: It is American so make allowances for the brakes being on the opposite side to UK, the actual shifting is the same as UK.