Bike buying advice

Syn

Hello all,

I have been cycling a mountain bike for a while now and after training for and participating in, the London to Brighton cycle I have decided to buy a road bike. My intent is to take a more competitive approach to cycling, with the primary goals of:

Participating in road races (around 70 miles or under)
and Time trials.

I plan on buying during the sales in September with an approximate budget of £800-£1700.

The two bikes that seem to fit my interests are: Giant propel advanced 1 and Specialized Tarmac Sport.

My question is; are these a good choice for my intended usage? What other bikes would you recommend?

Thanks, Syn

DeVlaeminck

Yes fine either of those is a race bike and if they fit you will be fine. The only thing you might want to think about are the wheels as not all bikes come with wheels which match the quality of the frame and other components and wheels are probably one of the things that can make a noticeable difference to a bike. If you are new to it be careful you get the right size bike with a geometry that suits you.

dean7879

There can be lots of crashes in road races,especially amateur ones. If you are new to racing do you really want to risk your pretty new carbon bike?

I would go for an high end aluminium frame:

Caad 10
Canyon AL SLX
Bowman Palace
Kinesis Aithein

These bikes are just as light if not lighter then most carbon bikes,( you can get them all below 7kg) and they are built for racing. And the main thing is they will be more durable in the event of a crash

iPete

I'm going to assume you are looking to ride sportives, else consider something you'd be happy to crash if racing.

Now, do you plan on riding all year round? I've started to think a great first road bike is one that takes native mud guards that will keep you going all year around. Then, if you want to race or get something more specialist you can start to grow the stable..

I recon you could build up a Condor Fratello for that budget and certainly a Ribble Audax.

If you want an out and out roadie, then CAAD 10s come up for great prices, I've had a quick google and at a glance really like this..
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p5167/CANNONDALE-CAAD10-ULTEGRA-DI2-BLACK-2013

Syn

Ok thanks guys there are some good points to take into consideration.

There are some points that I am unclear about:

-Wheels seem to be a difficult thing to gage regarding quality, besides matching the fundamental features of the components to use, for example looking at rims there are features to consider such as weight; section size, clincher/ect and braking surface, it seem as though subjective reviews are one of the main ways (without personal experience) to get an understanding of the quality of wheel. Is this the best way to gage the quality of wheels?

- Regarding the aluminium vs Carbon choice as far as I am aware both are pretty strong however aluminium tends to bend or break at wielding points whereas carbon is brittle and therefore snaps/breaks. One thing I am curious about is whether a crash of the same force which would cause a carbon bike to snap/break would cause sufficient bends to an aluminium frame (specifically that of a light aluminium frame), to render it unusable?

Thanks syn