New bike for new road rider

nmdbase

Hi

I'm looking at buying myself a road bike. I've been riding mountain bikes for years but I'd quite like to ride from my door instead of driving to ride.

I have narrowed the choices to;
Giant Defy 2 http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p5923/GIANT-DEFY-2-2015
Cannondale CAAD 8 Sora http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p6402/CANNONDALE-CAAD8-SORA-COMPACT-2014
GT GTS Elite http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/gt-gts-elite-105-10-speed-road-bike-id86553.html

I'm sort of leaning towards the GT and Giant as the groupsets are better, but the CAAD 8 is a great frame from what I've read.
Any opinions gratefully received.
Thanks

smmjrr

It is better if you can try them, last year bought my first road bike saw a couple online that were great deals, I drove an hour to try both and was not that impressed with either, ended up trying a different one which I bought it was super comfy and felt great as soon as I tried it,

On the bikes my friend bought the Giant and he really likes it, if you could try them it would probably be better, Steve

kajjal

I know what you mean i now do both, mainly Road biking when the trails are too wet and mountain biking once things dry out. Road biking is good for controlled power and endurance which helps the mountain biking alot.

The GT and Giant are similar, i would go for the Giant as a 12-30 cassette makes hill climbing easier, especially to start with. One big thing you will notice is how poor rim brakes are especially in the wet. Better pads can help and also upgrading the callipers to 105 or r650 depending if the brakes are normal or long reach. To begin with you can fit MTB flat pedals to the bike if thats what you are used to and then change to clipless if you prefer.

852Kompol

nmdbase wrote:

Hi

I'm looking at buying myself a road bike. I've been riding mountain bikes for years but I'd quite like to ride from my door instead of driving to ride.

I have narrowed the choices to;
Giant Defy 2 http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p5923/GIANT-DEFY-2-2015
Cannondale CAAD 8 Sora http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p6402/CANNONDALE-CAAD8-SORA-COMPACT-2014
GT GTS Elite http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/gt-gts-elite-105-10-speed-road-bike-id86553.html

I'm sort of leaning towards the GT and Giant as the groupsets are better, but the CAAD 8 is a great frame from what I've read.
Any opinions gratefully received.
Thanks

CAAD 8 is more of a Race Geometry if you plan to go fast and get a race-proven frame
Defy is pretty much an all round mile eater and keeps you comfy if you've a bad back or something
Personally I would go for the Defy... and get a disc version if budget allows... coming from the mountain side you should need little explaining http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p639 ... CED-3-2015

But yea, go try at first at a shop before buying.