Beginner Road bike advice, under £400

astrojg

Hi
I am looking to get a road bike , currently have a mountain bike that I ride on the roads occasionally.
My budget is £400 but I'd like something that can handle country lanes and slightly off-road.
I have looked at cyclo-cross bikes and was wondering if they are any of them within my budget and whether they are good enough to do road biking. The main reason I want to get a lighter than current bike is so I can go up hills allot easier (Park Street, Bristol mainly).
Any advice would be appreciated , thanks
John
(P.S. Are something like http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pin ... e-ec044210 or http://www.evanscycles.com/products/daw ... e-ec054788 any good?)

night_porter

Considering your budget the Pinnacle looks like an excellent bike. Obviously it does not have top spec kit but it looks like everything is usable and reliable. It will take up to 28mm tyres (according to the Q&A section), mudguards and a rack if you wanted to use it for commuting and although 23lbs isn't the lightest road bike there are plenty that are heavier.

I don't think the Dawes is anywhere near as good and it has a strange look about it, sort of like a flat bar hybrid that someone has changed the handlebars on.

Anonymous

Guessing you might need/prefer a triple if its hills you are buying the bike for?
Cyclocross are never ever triples and some will have an even higher lowest gear due to 46/36 chainrings.

I would up your budget slightly as you will get better spec and lighter bike.
I would not rule out a compact road bike which can still have a low gear but how about a hybrid bike if you are mainly after lightness?
A single chainring Hoy hybrid (10 speed one ideally) is pretty light and is basically a road bike with flat bars and fantastic (hydraulic) disc brakes.
If the lowest gear is low enough then that should make a big improvement over your MTB.
10 useable gears on one shifter (so no duplicate or cross chain ones) is possibly better than 14/16 with a front derailleur involved.

Evans are doing 0% on 2014 bikes over £500 so you could spread any extra cost over the next 12 months.
They have a great test ride facility too so you could take a few bikes up that hill to see if they were better.

I would rule out the Dawes. Heavy, ugly and terrible spec.

Mad_Malx

The Pinnacle does look quite good for the price. The lowest gear of 34 front 25 back is ok for most stuff if you are reasonably fit, but Park Street will never be easy. Swapping the cassette is cheap if you need to go a bit lower.

kingderham

Have a look at the second hand market.

markhewitt1978

astrojg wrote:

Hi
I am looking to get a road bike , currently have a mountain bike that I ride on the roads occasionally.
My budget is £400 but I'd like something that can handle country lanes and slightly off-road.
I have looked at cyclo-cross bikes and was wondering if they are any of them within my budget and whether they are good enough to do road biking. The main reason I want to get a lighter than current bike is so I can go up hills allot easier (Park Street, Bristol mainly).
Any advice would be appreciated , thanks
John
(P.S. Are something like http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pin ... e-ec044210 or http://www.evanscycles.com/products/daw ... e-ec054788 any good?)

Depends what you mean. Country lanes? You mean with tarmac? Road bike is perfect for this.
Off road? If it's just light gravel a road bike can handle that no problem. Depends if you mean proper off road, like big rocks and stuff?

This one would be ideal http://www.wiggle.co.uk/felt-f95-sora-wiggle-exclusive/
Otherwise check out the Boardman CX range, which is a bit more, granted.

night_porter

Now appears to be a great time to buy bikes because that Felt from Wiggle looks astonishing for the money. It will probably be lighter than the Pinnacle and has better equipment so as long as you are staying on road it looks fantastic.

markhewitt1978

night_porter wrote:

Now appears to be a great time to buy bikes because that Felt from Wiggle looks astonishing for the money. It will probably be lighter than the Pinnacle and has better equipment so as long as you are staying on road it looks fantastic.

The thing about the Felt is the kit level you get with it, mostly Sora groupset when at that sort of price level you would be talking 2300/Claris or more likely below that.

kingderham

I don't advise buying online, go to your LBS and talk to the staff , you need to go and sit on bikes and take them for a test ride.
After 6 weeks you will need to get your bike serviced this is done free by your LBS.
Online company's might sell parts cheaper but they do not fit the parts, you will need to either fit them yourself or pay the LBS a labour rate to fit them, LBS might be more expensive for parts but they will fit it for you and probably a cheaper labour charge or might not charge labour depending on how long it takes them and what need's doing
The online company wont fix your bike there and then a LBS probably could, depending how busy they are.
Some LBS will give you say 10% back to spend on accessories in store, if you buy a full price bike.