Road Bike Novice.

threelions3

How do people,

First post, major important to me, probably posted a thousand times before.

I'm late 40's, 6ft and reasonably fit. I've a budget of about £1300 give or take and obviously I'm hopeful of advice for buying my first Road Bike. I kick about with some mates who are a year in cycling and are upgrading wheels and what have you to better themselves. I know a little about brands, gearing and wheels etc but the choice is unbelievable. Any help would be gratefully received. A bike built for comfort, distance is what I'm after but all and everything will be considered. Thanks in advance!

dj58

Sounds like you maybe need an endurance geometry bike with compact gearing, 50/34 and a 11-28 or 11-32 cassette.

You need to decide what type of frame material you want carbon, aluminium, steel, do you want clearances for mudguards and wide tyres, disc or caliper brakes?

What bikes do your mates ride, any of them a similar height to you, can you try any of them for fit?

threelions3

Thank you for reply.

A carbon frame would be my first choice but I have noticed some nice looking and compatible aluminium bikes. Mud guards and wide tyres are not on my wish list, as for brakes, either is suffice. The 3 mates who are a year in to cycling are all similar height give or take an inch and currently ride Specialized, Focus and Lapierre. The size and fit of each bike seem pretty much bang on to my liking but not having munched any miles on them is not exactly helpful I know.

dj58

Can you ask your mates which models of those bikes they have as that will give and indication as to what their geometry and gearing is? You can then look at bike brands that are similar, go to a few shops and try them for size/fit and see if you like them in the flesh.

StillGoing

Depends how supple you are together with your aims. I'm mid 50's and comfortably ride 100 mile plus with a slammed stem and high saddle with plenty of time spent in the drops without discomfort. Others younger than me and who aren't as supple need a closer bar to seat height for comfort. If you are supple and aim to improve, don't discount more race focused models.

If you're just intending to munch up the miles and don't particularly want a low front end, look at the sportive derived models out there. Value for money, look at the Merida Ride and Scultura models which can be got within your budget with Shimano 105 11 speed. All you'd need to change eventually would be the wheels for something lighter, but the standard ones are good enough for the average rider and every day riding.

http://www.merida-bikes.com/en_gb/bike/finder?year=2015&sort=price&sortDirection=asc&applications%5B%5D=509&price=&travel=

threelions3

Very much appreciated Gents.

I have been out and picked the brains of my local shop 'road bike expert' and he's on the case. He has said pretty much the same thing as the replies I've had and so thank you. Forme Thorpe Sport anyone?

StillGoing

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19690065#p19690065]threelions3[/url] wrote:

Very much appreciated Gents.

I have been out and picked the brains of my local shop 'road bike expert' and he's on the case. He has said pretty much the same thing as the replies I've had and so thank you. Forme Thorpe Sport anyone?

Although I'm a firm advocate of SRAM, that bike only comes with SRAM Apex which is currently 10 speed and it isn't even a full SRAM set up. No doubt SRAM will be upgrading it to 11 speed soon to fall in line with the rest of their road range group sets, but that'd be too late for you. Other brands would give you a full carbon frameset (including the seat post) with 11 speed 105 or even Ultegra, or SRAM Rival 22 for similar money.

Don't be afraid to go somewhere other than your LBS for a bike. Your LBS is obviously going to try selling you something that they can supply. And don't discount an aluminium frame at the £1,300 price range as it is going to be similar quality to a bottom end carbon one with not a lot of difference in weight. Also look at 2014/15 stock as the stores will be looking to offload current stock at a discount to replace with new models.