Former MTBer seeks basic road bike for £400. Help please!
pete236
Posts: 204
Evening all.
Well, it's been a while since I was last online here, and then I was covered in mud and pretending to be a mountain biker! Now I've exhausted the local woodland, my mates have settled down with clingy birds and don't want to travel so I'd like to try some tarmac - but with something more suited than a mountain bike with commuter tyres!
I'm pretty restricted on budget, £400 being the absolubte upper limit.
I've got a decent crash hat, ok SPD's and shoes, other bits are ok for now but will need replacing this year, though there's no hurry.
I've had a quick look round t'interweb, and trawled through the search on here and have managed to completely confuse myself!
I've never sat on a road bike before, I've no idea what to expect. I'd like to build my (appalling) fitness, do some organised rides (like London to Brighton) and I've a pie in the sky hope to try a bi or triathlon in the next year. Summer commuting ain't out of the question if I can find a less daftly dangerous route that avoids the '13 bends of death' as the main road is called!
My eye has been drawn to the Carrera Zelos 2014 on Halfords - to my untrained eye it looks good, seems to have not-too-bad kit and is a perfect price that allows a little over for tinkering. I've read and heard that Carrera ain't the best quality, and that the Halfords 'offer' price is probably the real value of the machine. I'd prefer something new to 2nd hand simply because I'm a tart and I like to know the history of what I'm buying.
So, any advice on a Sub £400 bike for a total newbie, that will be nicely average all round, will be very welcome!
Cheers
Pete.
Well, it's been a while since I was last online here, and then I was covered in mud and pretending to be a mountain biker! Now I've exhausted the local woodland, my mates have settled down with clingy birds and don't want to travel so I'd like to try some tarmac - but with something more suited than a mountain bike with commuter tyres!
I'm pretty restricted on budget, £400 being the absolubte upper limit.
I've got a decent crash hat, ok SPD's and shoes, other bits are ok for now but will need replacing this year, though there's no hurry.
I've had a quick look round t'interweb, and trawled through the search on here and have managed to completely confuse myself!
I've never sat on a road bike before, I've no idea what to expect. I'd like to build my (appalling) fitness, do some organised rides (like London to Brighton) and I've a pie in the sky hope to try a bi or triathlon in the next year. Summer commuting ain't out of the question if I can find a less daftly dangerous route that avoids the '13 bends of death' as the main road is called!
My eye has been drawn to the Carrera Zelos 2014 on Halfords - to my untrained eye it looks good, seems to have not-too-bad kit and is a perfect price that allows a little over for tinkering. I've read and heard that Carrera ain't the best quality, and that the Halfords 'offer' price is probably the real value of the machine. I'd prefer something new to 2nd hand simply because I'm a tart and I like to know the history of what I'm buying.
So, any advice on a Sub £400 bike for a total newbie, that will be nicely average all round, will be very welcome!
Cheers
Pete. One fine day in the middle of the night, two dead men got up to fight. Back to back they faced each other, drew their swords and shot each other.
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Comments
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Superior in every way to the Carrera and also the Btwin is this on offer at Rutland Cycles
http://www.rutlandcycling.com/230968/pr ... white.aspx
10-speed Tiagra and a Shimano wheelset and brakes. Not sure what they have in stock but give them a call to check. Slightly above your budget but well worth the stretch if you can do it.0 -
If you can add a few quid to your budget the Moda Intro can be had new on E-bay with full Tiagra but to answer your question then Merlin cycles own brand is worth a look and this is on budget: http://www.merlincycles.com/merlin-mave ... 55803.html
I wouldn't go for the Carerra myself.'Happiness serves hardly any other purpose than to make unhappiness possible' Marcel Proust.0 -
After a cheap(ish!) road bike myself and after a bit of research I went for
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/moser-bikes-speed-sora/
Arrives tomorrow but seems a good spec for the price, was either going to be that or
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/felt-f95-sora-wiggle-exclusive/
Better wheels on the moser apparently....
Did the refer a friend thing with my daughter so should get 10% of the purchase price credited to my account as well making it just under £400 with quidco as well 0
