£1200 at Evans?

vjncorp

Hi guys, need some help as a newbie.

After a few years of not cycling and mainly using my old GT Traffic Hybrid I wanted to purchase a proper road bike mainly for keeping fit.

I’ll be using the work “Ride to Work” scheme and can spend upto £1,000 at Evans Cycles (exclusively) but am willing to stretch the budget to £1,200.

Can anyone help with some suggestions please? I wanted a minimum of having the 105 drivetrain and a decent frame may it be alloy or carbon but as light as possible. From the reading I have done not all bikes have decent wheels but I am willing to upgrade those when necessary. Important thing is that the frame and components are good.

I’ll be doing mainly comfortable riding so nothing too aggressive.

Appreciate your help.

mrb123

Seem to be plenty of options at that price. Cannondale, Trek, BMC etc. You're probably best off going in to a decent sized Evans and having a look at a few bikes in the flesh and hopefully getting some clues as to what fits you best.

arlowood

This could be a contender if you're after a light frame

https://www.evanscycles.com/trek-emonda ... e-EV217036

Ultegra groupset also is a plus. The Bontrager wheels are passable but could do with upgrading. I'd consider fitting 25c tyres if the frame allows

vjncorp

Thanks arlowood,

MrB123 - if you had to purchase one what would you get?

Just looking for opinions. Thanks

mrb123

CAAD12 disc looks great but depends if the fit is too aggressive for you and whether you can manage with a semi-compact chainset rather than a full compact.
https://www.evanscycles.com/cannondale- ... e-EV239394

JesseD

arlowood wrote:

This could be a contender if you're after a light frame

https://www.evanscycles.com/trek-emonda ... e-EV217036

Ultegra groupset also is a plus. The Bontrager wheels are passable but could do with upgrading. I'd consider fitting 25c tyres if the frame allows

Thats a hell of a lot of bike for the money, gets great reviews as well!

bendertherobot

If it was me, and it sounds like one bike to do all, it would be the CAAD12 disc.

daniel_b

I hope I am wwrong, but I do not believe, unless your employer is in agreement, that you can top up the voucher value.

vjncorp

From the Evans wesbite:

What if my certificate doesn’t equal the exact cost of the equipment?

If your certificate value is more than the cost of the equipment, it is not possible to get a refund but you can include more accessories. If your certificate value is less than the cost of the equipment you can add your own money to it.

vjncorp

If I was to get the Trek, any recommendations on 25cc wheels at a reasonable price? Doesn't have to be from Evans as I'll be buying them myself (not through the cycle scheme).

bendertherobot

I'd be looking for at least 2000cc wheels. No one has less than 2 litres nowaday

Seriously though, wheels will take 25c tyres routinely. IF those TLR wheels are the same as have been tested elsewhere then they are about 1750g and tubless ready. And, it seems, a wider rim. IF that's the case I'd stick with them. That's not unduly heavy and I doubt you'd see a huge difference between that and a £350 pair of 1550g wheels.

dinyull

JesseD wrote:

arlowood wrote:

This could be a contender if you're after a light frame

https://www.evanscycles.com/trek-emonda ... e-EV217036

Ultegra groupset also is a plus. The Bontrager wheels are passable but could do with upgrading. I'd consider fitting 25c tyres if the frame allows

Thats a hell of a lot of bike for the money, gets great reviews as well!

Is the listed weight correct?

Carbon frame 56 with full Ultegra and 1800g wheels @ almost 9kg doesn't sound right to me.

bendertherobot

The tyres need to go mind. Straight away.

daniel_b

vjncorp wrote:

From the Evans wesbite:

What if my certificate doesn’t equal the exact cost of the equipment?

If your certificate value is more than the cost of the equipment, it is not possible to get a refund but you can include more accessories. If your certificate value is less than the cost of the equipment you can add your own money to it.

Understood, but I believe it still requires the agreement from your workplace, as your partial spend confuses a clear issue - ie the bike is no longer 100% owned by them, and you are buying it off them.
My place will not do it, though I wish they would!

Plus, I think you will need to provide a qoute from the supplier for which bike you want to buy, and they will provide a voucher based on that - as I say, I do hope I am wrong here, but it might be best to check with your employer first before getting set on a £1200 bike.

wotnoshoeseh

arlowood wrote:

This could be a contender if you're after a light frame

https://www.evanscycles.com/trek-emonda ... e-EV217036

Ultegra groupset also is a plus. The Bontrager wheels are passable but could do with upgrading. I'd consider fitting 25c tyres if the frame allows

Sorry about this but I clicked on the link and had a question - I thought the Emonda was supposed to be the light bike of Trek's range, but this thing weighs in at 8.72kg for a 56 frame - surely not??
Not quibbling about the bike, or quality of same, and it looks a steal at that price; but I just thought that was heinously heavy, or am I missing something??

EDIT: Looks like dinyull has the same misgivings as I have.....

vjncorp

wotnoshoeseh wrote:

arlowood wrote:

This could be a contender if you're after a light frame

https://www.evanscycles.com/trek-emonda ... e-EV217036

Ultegra groupset also is a plus. The Bontrager wheels are passable but could do with upgrading. I'd consider fitting 25c tyres if the frame allows

Sorry about this but I clicked on the link and had a question - I thought the Emonda was supposed to be the light bike of Trek's range, but this thing weighs in at 8.72kg for a 56 frame - surely not??
Not quibbling about the bike, or quality of same, and it looks a steal at that price; but I just thought that was heinously heavy, or am I missing something??

EDIT: Looks like dinyull has the same misgivings as I have.....

Thats what it says on their website aswell.

Would you say thats too heavy for a carbon bike? Would the CAAD12 be my only option?

keef66

I wouldn't get hung up on the weight of the bike. Get one you like the look of, that fits you properly, and you feel comfortable riding. At that kind of price it would be hard to buy a bad one.

The Emonda might look a bargain on paper but for £1200 I'd want a nicer looking bike...

Thigh_burn

Anyone have any feel for how much further prices might come down in the sales over the coming weeks? I'm really tempted to get a carbon bike, something very different from my current steel Condor Fratello. The sales of BMC SLR02's, Genesis Datums and Cannondale's look might tempting, especially if those prices keep coming down.

keef66

My recollection of past years it's generally August - October when they try to shift old stock for the next year's stuff coming in. Much later than that it's usually odd sizes that appear at even greater discounts. It's a bit like a Dutch auction; you have to hold your nerve if you want a really cheap bike. Helps if you're not after a particular brand / model.

bendertherobot

They may have reached the bottom now. My SuperX was £1699 v a rrp of £2199

Only Pedalon were doing that, now everyone is. It may get a hundred quid less but I doubt it will fall much. From recollection my Supersix took some time to get to the Pauls price AT Evans but eventually got there. So some will cut earlier than others.

bobmcstuff

Daniel B wrote:

vjncorp wrote:

From the Evans wesbite:

What if my certificate doesn’t equal the exact cost of the equipment?

If your certificate value is more than the cost of the equipment, it is not possible to get a refund but you can include more accessories. If your certificate value is less than the cost of the equipment you can add your own money to it.

Understood, but I believe it still requires the agreement from your workplace, as your partial spend confuses a clear issue - ie the bike is no longer 100% owned by them, and you are buying it off them.
My place will not do it, though I wish they would!

Plus, I think you will need to provide a qoute from the supplier for which bike you want to buy, and they will provide a voucher based on that - as I say, I do hope I am wrong here, but it might be best to check with your employer first before getting set on a £1200 bike.

IME the bike shop just provides a quote for exactly £1k to get you the voucher and then you pay the rest of your money as normal.

The subject of bike ownership in that scenario was not broached!

As far as I know it was technically against the rules of some schemes but many bike shops will go ahead anyway, and I also believe the rules changed fairly recently.

Regards legal ownership of the bike it will be a very unusual employer who would actually want to take the bike off you so their interest is purely financial in practice. The 2 times I've used it (cyclescheme in my case) they just make the deductions and have never asked anything further. There was no practical difference in terms of the operation of the scheme between the £800 bike I bought first and the £1600 bike I bought second.

bendertherobot

In theory the final payment to own is skewed. So the HMRC guideline about how much the bike is, in theory worth, is less than it should be.

But, no one cares. That final payment to own is merely a reflection to taxation rules and, yes, you might have a bike that's worth more but you paid the difference anyway. And the HMRC guide is merely an administrative convenience anyway.

koontz

wotnoshoeseh wrote:

arlowood wrote:

This could be a contender if you're after a light frame

https://www.evanscycles.com/trek-emonda ... e-EV217036

Ultegra groupset also is a plus. The Bontrager wheels are passable but could do with upgrading. I'd consider fitting 25c tyres if the frame allows

Sorry about this but I clicked on the link and had a question - I thought the Emonda was supposed to be the light bike of Trek's range, but this thing weighs in at 8.72kg for a 56 frame - surely not??
Not quibbling about the bike, or quality of same, and it looks a steal at that price; but I just thought that was heinously heavy, or am I missing something??

EDIT: Looks like dinyull has the same misgivings as I have.....

I was looking at buying this bike a few months back but changed my mind when I emailed trek and the frame and fork weight for a size 56 is 1.8 kilos not massively heavy but you can get better for the price, I went for a canyon endurace which is around 1390 so nearly half a kilo, and you can get this bike with full ultegra for £1230 at the moment plus p@p, I got mine just over a week later. Obviously cant use the ride to work scheme though.