new or second hand within £1500

stuyd

Currently saving for a new road bike to replace my cannondale six13. I'll have around £1500 to spend,
Would you
A) get a new complete bike from from ribble/planet x or similar?
shop around on the forums for a good second hand bike.
C) Get a frame and groupset and transfer my wheels (kyserium elites), something similar to the westbrooks deal.

Or any other options I've not thought of, just planning ahead. Would appreciate people's opinion.

luv2ride

I went for a Westbrook CR1 SL frameset deal last year. A slight cosmetic imperfection saw them reduce it to 399 for me. Bought a groupset on a good deal, used existing wheels and other components and sourced some bits from ebay and this forum. All in I think it came in around 1200, and the whole bike had an RRP of 5,300 quid in 2012. A clear bargain.

Only downside was I couldn't try for size first, but if you already have a bike you should be able to tell if the geometry of a different frame would fit. I say go for the Westbrook frame deal. It also doesn't hurt that the shop are to deal with IME. I presume you're looking at their Scott Foil frameset deals? Lots of positive noises on here about them (I'd have too if cash and space allowed )

arlowood

Also don't forget that the 2015 models will start to appear pretty soon.
Bound to be a slew of discounted 2014 bikes on offer as retailers clear stock for the new arrivals.
Keep a close watch on both the big and small outlets and you might pick up a great spec reduced to fit your budget.
That's as long as you don't mind riding "last year's model"

stuyd

I like the sound of that deal luv2ride.

northpole

I would go second hand every time - provided you have a bit of time to search here, fleabay, etc.

Peter

stuyd

50/50 between self build and buying a used bike.

luv2ride

I've built 3 now (ok, got the LBS to do the headsets and Bottom brackets on some) and it's a great way to learn how the thing goes together. Mine have all turned out way better than expected. Rode my first self-build again recently (Tifosi CK7 light Audax/winter bike) and it's still as solid as the day I finished it . You can obviously still bag a bargain 2nd hand, but you'll never really know the history of it.

TerryCTR

Not knowing the history swung it for me so off I went to the LBS to shell out way more than initially planned.

Collecting tomorrow - can't wait!

Colinthecop

What did you go for...?

TerryCTR

Colinthecop wrote:

What did you go for...?

Who me?

I chose a spesh Allez sport, I had to buy her a dolce model so that was just shy of £1500 for the 2 of them

Philby

It would be worth keeping an eye out in your LBS as several manufacturers will shortly announce their 2015 range - I've already seen some 2014 bikes discounted in my LBS.