first bike advice, live in valley lots hills, small budget

david1980

Hi All,

I'm new to cycling and i'm lookng for advice on my first road bike.

I'm 5"7' tall and weigh 140 lbs.

I live in a valley surrounded by hills, so i'm looking to get they best bike I can to make those hills a easy as possible.

I have a small budget of £200 and at those prices i'm looking at something second hand.

Within my budget I have seen:

These are the ones whos names I recognised
B'twin Triban 3 £200
Giant Defy 3 £200
specialized langster £170
Carrera Virtuoso £135
Raleigh airlite £135 (all red frame version 14 gears)

These are the ones whos names I did not recognise but looked like decent bikes
claude butler road bike £200
pulse gtx £200 (new)
diamond back sprint £190
Dawes Giro 200 £130 - £175 or Giro 300 £200
viking ventura £100 or viking sprint £150 (new) or viking scirroco £175 (new) Viking Giro D'italia £170 (new)
vitesse sprint race £130 (21 gears)
barricuda £120
optima corsa £100 (14 gears)
falcon peleton £175
salcano racer £105 (21 gears)

Other than that it was pretty much an old peugeot, raleigh etc vintage racer going from £20 up to £200


Hope you can help as I know very little about bikes.

chadders81

There's a reason you've heard of some bikes and not the others.

The ones you've heard of a reliable bikes from reputable brands. I'd go for the Giant out of those. Everyone I know who rides a Giant is happy with it.

Avoid the Langster - it's single speed so not ideal for getting up the side of a valley.

Barbarossa

More important than the make or model are

1 - It has to fit. At 5'7", I guess that you need a 52cm frame.
2 - If you live in the hills, the chainset (front gears) needs to be either 'compact' (50 tooth and 34 tooth gears) or a triple (3 gears)

on-yer-bike

Specialized Allez might work there seems to be loads on Ebay. Dont take any notice when the seller says what height rider their bike will fit. Its important you buy the right size.

david1980

Thanks for the quick reply.

That narrows it down:
B'twin Triban 3 £200 - 21 gears - triple chainset 30/39/50 - Rear cogs 7 spreed 12/25 - 10.5 kg - 51, 54
Giant Defy 3 2010 £200 - 27 gears - triple chainset 30/42/52- rear cogs 8 speed 12/26 - weight 10.6kg - M 50, M/L 53.5
Carrera Virtuoso £135 - 16 gears - compact double chainset 36/50 - rear cogs 8 speed 12/26 - weight 11.5 - M 51, L 54
Raleigh airlite £135 (all red frame version 14 gears)
Specialized Allez £175 - £350 lots of different versions out there over the years.

Bobbinogs

on-yer-bike wrote:

Specialized Allez might work there seems to be loads on Ebay. Dont take any notice when the seller says what height rider their bike will fit. Its important you buy the right size.

Yepp, great bikes that can either be used for beginners or cat 3/4 racers. £300 will get you a decent one (good spec and a couple of years old). Agree that a Small (52cm) seems about right but be careful as the bike is a compact design so many folks make the mistake of measuring BB to Top Tube, which is not applicable. Some sellers will let potential buyers view the bike which can be helpful (but not many will let you go on a trial ride for fear you won't stop at the end of the road ). Don't go for anything with a noticeable dink and don't be afraid to ask about provenance prior to bidding (genuine sellers will be more than happy to explain where they got the bike and provide receipts where appropriate).

Compact gearing (50-34) with a 12-27 at the back will work for most. Don't worry about the bikes generally coming in 8 or 9 speed as that is more than enough gears, although the 9 speed Tiagra is worth looking out for rather than a Sora mix.

Allezs can be good and bad when it comes to the market place. When buying one you won't find many out there that are a real bargain (so be suspicious if you find one) but that is a good thing when it comes to selling because they hold their value very well...so if you want to sell the bike this time next year you may only lose as little as £50.