Felt F95 vs Triban 5

sonofsouth

Going for my first road bike, budget is £400 - £450. I narrowed it down to these two options:

£400 Felt F95 Wiggle
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/felt-f95-sora-wiggle-exclusive/

£430 Triban 5
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-5-a-i ... er_opinion

This will also be commuter bike so I'm putting mudguards on but Felt has no eyelets and I was told on triban 5 mudguards can be fitted even on 25mm tyre. I would also jump on triban 3, if I could find right fit, for being so cheap.

Spec-wise what do you guys think?

negativelycra

Imo you're mad. For that outlay you could have a much better 2nd hand bike - you're only going to mash it into the communal bike park anyway.
Out of the 2, i'd have the btwin. It's more suited to guards / panniers, and looks less nickable. Felt looks nicer by a mile tho.

kingofthetailwind

It there a Decathlon near you? Personally if it's your first bike then there's a real benefit in buying it somewhere local. Any problems and you can take it back, Decathlon's customer service is excellent.

Having said that the Felt frame is probably slightly better, wheels too.

Fitting 'guards to the Triban is difficult but doable.

ju5t1n

KingOfTheTailwind wrote:

Decathlon's customer service is excellent.

I heard this too. A friend of mine bought one of the expensive carbon ones. It developed a mysterious clicking sound which they couldn’t locate the source of. So they replaced the whole bike. I can’t imagine many LBSs doing that

duckson

Stretch the budget to the Merlin Malt-R? Tiagra, 1700g wheels, carbon fork.

arlowood

Don't know what size you need but as said above, if I were you I'd be looking in the classified section on here or possibly on Fleabay for a 2nd hand bike.

For example this:-

viewtopic.php?f=40090&t=12949603

or maybe this:-

viewtopic.php?f=40090&t=12949658

Or if you are willing to consider a flat bar alternative, this:-

viewtopic.php?f=40090&t=12947029


Of the above the Surly is probably the most flexible in terms of fitting guards. panniers etc for commuting duties.

Gunnsie

Also have a look on some websites for Shop Soiled bikes (ex-demo).

http://www.evanscycles.com/categories/b ... iled-bikes

feemackenzie

1700 miles in 10 months on my Felt F95. Looks good, handles well, slightly rarer than the mainstream brands and upgradeable when your ready. Junk the stock tyres - I'm using Gatorskins 25mm happily.