Second bike, used or new?

garrethbayliss

Hi,

I'm looking to upgrade from my trusty carrera virtuoso, I'm having trouble deciding between something like a used 2010 Boardman Team Carbon or get something like a Triban 5 (decathlon) and spend the rest on accessories and clothing. Obviously this raises the question of full carbon vs alloy along with old vs new. Would be used for 50-100 mile rides. Max budget of £550, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Garreth

Keith1983

If you're happy checking over a used bike then go down that route, you'll get much more bike for your money. Accessories and clothing you can pick up piece by piece.

rafletcher

However do make sure you give any new bike a really good look over before you buy - so I'd suggest trying to buy local, as if you've travelled 100 miles to look, and find it's rubbish (happened to me - a filthy bike, lumps of solid cack on the jockey wheels that had to be scraped off with a screwdriver, rusty screws on the brake calipers etc. etc.) it's sometime hard to turn it down (I didn't - I stripped and rebuilt it lol). If the bikes nice and clean, at least the owner has probably cared enough to look after it, but you could still have a rusty headset, grotty BB, stuck seatpost and cables that need changing (in fact I'd recommend you did that anyway), so perhaps, with a limited budget, something new (the best frame you can afford, the rest you can upgrade bit by bit) might be a better choice. If however you like to (re)build bikes, go decent used, run through the winter, then upgrade/replace biys in the spring.

Keith1983

If you could find another £50 this would be a great new buy http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXRT58AL ... -road-bike

garrethbayliss

Thanks for the help, i'll probably hold out until the start of the new year, perhaps people will be selling on their bikes after getting new ones for christmas hopefully! If not i'll take the plunge and find the best value new i guess.