Boardman Team TT Bike / B'Twin 700 AF Road Bike

AKindChap

Hi,

I'm looking for 2 bikes for me and my brother, both through the Cycle 2 Work (Halfords) scheme. They have to be under £1000, one a road bike, the other a TT bike if possible.

I'm not sure if Decathlon do Cycle 2 Work (I heard they do), but I read that Halfords can source almost any bike if you contact them. I saw the B'Twin Ultra 700 AF bike. I'm a complete novice when it comes to cycling, but aside from the ugly bar tape, everything else seems okay and the reviews rate it well.

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/ultra-700-af-road-bike-105-id_8324331.html

The only TT bike under £1000 that I can find is the Boardman Road Team TT bike. My problem is that, when most other TT bikes seem to start at around £2-5k, I worry about how they got the price so low! There's almost no reviews other than the 2 on the Halfords site and a small article on the Boardman Bikes site.

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/boardman-road-team-tt-bike

Does anyone own either of these bikes or have an opinion to offer?

Thanks!

super_davo

Both are great choices for the money. They are both cheap for the same reasons; big retailer with lower mark ups and both have alloy frames. Nothing wrong with an alloy frame, at this sort of money the bike is inevitably better for it - never mind the arguments about cheap carbon vs premium alloy, the important thing is that there are way less spec compromises.
On the TT bike, I'm not sure whay it says Apex22 - I thought Apex was 10 speed, so not sure what you'll actually get (though photos clearly show Apex mech). Of course there are loads of good value second hand TTs, but not on Cycle 2 Work.
For your first TT bike, I'd also get a skinsuit, overshoes and TT helmet pronto, as they made a massive difference to me, all at relatively low cost (deep section carbon wheels can wait!)

AKindChap

Thanks a lot for the reply. Made me feel a lot better about the TT bike! I think it was a mistake with the gearing. On the specs it does say 10 speed.

timothyw

I happened across this the other day:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/fuji ... prod149500

A new TT bike well under £1k.

Ribble also do a couple:
http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/bikes/tim ... =price_asc

I don't own any of them so can't really comment further - what I do know is that getting your position right so that you are as aero as possible while still sustaining as much power output as possible is key - the aerodynamics of the bike, wheels etc are very much secondary until you get your position and technique right.

shiznit76

Did you find out if can get the B'twin via Halfords cylce to work scheme?

AKindChap

The Fuji one doesn't really do it for me, the Ribble bikes look nice but the bike builder on their site is confusing to say the least for a complete novice!

Unfortuantely Decathlon don't do the Halfords scheme, no.