New to road bikes - bike selection help please

Goldenstar

Hello

I purchased a mountain bike a couple of years ago to a help get back into shape, at the time I purchased a trek 9.6 super fly carbon 2014.

a lot of the time however I tend to ride on roads or cycle paths which are mostly concrete or compacted gravel, so thought it may be worth getting a road bike and keep my mountain bike for more robust rides..

That said I know nothing about road bikes, I have a local bike shop which I would like to use if possible but only stock GT or Merida which I also have no clue about.

What I do know is I would like to go with a carbon frame for 2 reasons 1, I need to make sure I can't blame the bike for being bad and 2 with a good frame the bike will last a while with just changing components as and when needed.

If I look at the two makes above this provides me with two choices around 2k the Merida ride disc 5000 and the GT Grande Carbon 105 links below

Would anyone one be able to advise if these are good options at this price point or should I look elsewhere.

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Merida-Ride-Dis ... _81933.htm

https://www.evanscycles.com/gt-grade-ca ... e-EV240489

craker

That's alot of cash for something you don't know much about.

How about halving your budget, getting a good (but not great) bike from the likes of planetx, cube or somesuch mail order business so you can see if you ride it and what bits you want to upgrade.

I imagine most responses to this will be 'get something that fits properly' (which makes mail order a bit iffy), a properly fitted cheap bike will be loads more use that an expensive bike that hurts to sit on.

Or, it's your cash, wander into the shop and get the one you like the best. Upmarket shifters, brakes and the like are a pretty subtle upgrade unless you know what you're after.

singleton

The links don't work for me.

Don't assume you need carbon. I've got 2 aluminium bikes and the newer CAAD12 is probably a better frame than I will ever need. It's probably also better than a lot of carbon frames - depending on what is exactly meant by "better". If you want carbon then go for it, but don't assume it will be better.

Fit is critical as mentioned above - you will spend a lot of time in basically one position on a road bike, so the frame size and geometry is a lot more important than on a mountain bike. You can do things to try to make the "wrong" frame fit you such as changing stems and moving the saddle, but it's much better to buy the right thing.

Go to a few shops and get advice. Sit on some bikes. buy a cheapy second hand off ebay and ride it for a while.

If you really want a new bike now, I'd recommend looking seriously at a CAAD12 105. According to cycling plus it's the bike of the year even beating bikes that cost double or triple the price.

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/arti ... 016-46720/

dj58

Your links did not work on my PC. The GT Grade gets good reviews and is a good choice if you want to ride on/off road, likewise the Merida both similar endurance type bikes with hydraulic brakes. As you have not owned a road bike before you are best to visit your local bike shops and try the bikes and others that you may be considering, for size/fit.

If however you are only going to ride on the road look at bikes like the Cannondale Synapse, Specialized Roubaix, Giant Defy, Trek Domane, and the Merida Ride you have already listed.

Goldenstar

Thanks for the replies so far.

I have tried to fix the links hopefully they work now