To many manufacturers not enough knowledge!!

woodbutcherer

Evening people,

I am looking to buy a summer bike, my budget is £1500.
Initially i started looking at brand new road bikes but am wondering if ill get more for my money on used bikes?
The biggest problem im having is not knowing much about manufacturers, growing up Cannondale were prevelant with quality and are still going now which is why I bought a Cannondale Synapse Tiagra when i started cycling a year ago and at which point i knew sod all about road bikes.

Im looking for Carbon Frame 105 Groupset minimum 11 speed cassette not concerned about disc breaks as its a summer bike "albeit this is Great Britain - Rain"
Wheels, well something got to give i can upgrade them later!!!
Ive looked at Cannondale again, ive looked at Ribble, Trek, Orro, Cube etc etc.
I really havent got a clue???? Do i go for better groupsets/wheels over frame or more sensibly good frame goodish groupset goodish wheels, i think you may understand my lack of knowledge now??

Cheers

dstev55

Focus Izalco Race 105. The current model can be had for £1400 and the only thing that needs upgrading are the wheels. Outstanding frame, as good as anything you'll get at this price point.

Matthewfalle

Why do you want a carbon frame? At that budget I'd buy a CAAD.

sloppyschleckonds

Something nice about buying a brand new bike as opposed to having someones hand me down

antonyfromoz

Decide which ones you like the look of and make a short list then test ride as many as you can for as long as you can, is my advice. Read a few reviews on those on the shortlist but remember that reviews are really often just an opinion, just like any advice you will be given here is, unless there is fundamentally something wrong with the bike. Avoid non-standard rear brake siting seems to be advice often given, and logically this seems to make sense. I second that there is something good about getting a new bike but it's still worthwhile keeping an eye out on second hand - and there are often bikes that seem to be pretty well looked after and reasonably priced on the forum here too. Enjoy the process!

StillGoing

Merida Scultura 4000. Carbon frame and Shimano 105 5800 £1,307. Wheels are the only thing that would, in time, need upgrading due to weight.

https://www.motocard.com/en/bike/road/m ... c8EALw_wcB

Juraj1711

Caad 12 you can find for that amount even with ultegra.

StillGoing

Merida Scultura 5000 carbon frame with 11 speed Ultegra for £1,300

https://www.cyclelane.co.uk/m4b154s6p11 ... gLVofD_BwE

joe_totale-2

Do you really need Carbon? I'm asking because there's a CAAD 12 available here in 54 or 56 for just over a grand that rides as well as a carbon bike twice the cost:

https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p75 ... 2-105-2017

You'd have £450 left over which is more than enough to get some lovely wheels on it like Cero AR 30's, Fulcrum Racing 3, Mavic Ksyrium's, Campy Zonda's or Hunt Aero Wide's which would make the bike amazing and better than anything else for the same price IMO.

davesnothere

Cube Attain GTC Race - available here for £1,279 - Full Ultegra groupset. Comes with Aksium Elite wheels but you'd have a little bit of change from your £1,500 to put towards a wheel upgrade

https://www.freeborn.co.uk/cube-attain-gtc-race-carbon-blue-2017?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4Im4-Mnc2QIVFY0bCh0K7gghEAQYDiABEgLo4vD_BwE

I have the disc version (Attain GTC Disc Pro) and i love it

marcarm

https://www.moda-bikes.com/collections/ ... arbon-grey

froze

I know that everyone loves CF bikes but keep in mind that a crash that might scratch the paint on a steel or titanium frame could cause significant damage to CF that may or may not be repairable. You can read about some of the issues with CF stuff here; while they point out Specialized in particular these issues weren't uncommon with other brands, but since 2013 Specialize really improved their quality dramatically; anyway see: http://www.newsomelaw.com/blog/2013/05/ ... n-failure/

A silly sword fight involving CF and steel forks: https://vimeo.com/106021360

Kind of a silly video but it makes a point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvk63bmVpck

Another different type of demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0eP-6j8d6s

And there is some new information that shows that CF may go soft over time: https://janheine.wordpress.com/2012/03/ ... oing-soft/

Yeah I know everyone wants CF, it does win in the weight war though, but not in the war against time.

And the really cheap generic made in China CF frames, forks and wheels...I would never trust.

StillGoing

froze wrote:

I know that everyone loves CF bikes but keep in mind that a crash that might scratch the paint on a steel or titanium frame could cause significant damage to CF that may or may not be repairable. You can read about some of the issues with CF stuff here; while they point out Specialized in particular these issues weren't uncommon with other brands, but since 2013 Specialize really improved their quality dramatically; anyway see: http://www.newsomelaw.com/blog/2013/05/ ... n-failure/

A silly sword fight involving CF and steel forks: https://vimeo.com/106021360

Kind of a silly video but it makes a point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvk63bmVpck

Another different type of demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0eP-6j8d6s

And there is some new information that shows that CF may go soft over time: https://janheine.wordpress.com/2012/03/ ... oing-soft/

Yeah I know everyone wants CF, it does win in the weight war though, but not in the war against time.

And the really cheap generic made in China CF frames, forks and wheels...I would never trust.

A carbon frame won't be damaged by any force that is likely to cause a scratch to an aluminium one. Hell, I've crashed at 27mph, over a raised kerb, through a hawthorn hedge, over a barbed wire fence into a field and the carbon framed Basso I was riding had barely a mark. In fact the only visible damage that bike ever sustained was from where it used to drop the chain on the inside and rattle around the BB housing. Now if a chain running around the BB just causes a bit of paint loss and no structural damage, a scratch to the paintwork isn't going to do any worse.

Carbo fibre is a lot more impact withstanding than you give it credit for. These days it is easily repairable in most places. An impact that might snap a seat stay of a carbon bike will dent or buckle aluminium. The carbon seat stay can be repaired. The buckled seat stay can't and will write the whole frame off.

woodbutcherer

Amazing Thank yoy very much for all the replies which i will refer back to on my search for my ideal "in my price bracket" road bike.

Why Carbon? This stems from a chap in the club i ride with whom also works at my LBS. Through conversations it has been put to me that carbon is lighter and the ride on a carbon bike as appose to ali bike is much better especially on hills.

I currently have a Connondale Synapse Claris "albeit this is no.2 as i wrote the 1st one off in a crash". This bike was great when i first started and i knew next to nothing about road bikes, but now, not so much. Plus i dont entirely trust the build of it "more over the carbon forks" The first claris i crashed is a mystery! The road surface was fine when the handlebars were torn out of my hands flinging me and bike into a thick hedge, the impact "so i thought" snapped the forks, but it is the opinion of others on the ride that forks snapping the caused the crash. Whichever is true the outcome is still the same " a huge dent in my cycling confidence"
.
I digress...I have no desire to race, im a Sunday Club rider at the moment and go out my own when time permits, Sunday is No Drop slower pace, but i am determined to get on the Saturday faster paced we are not gonna wait for you rides!! and thats about it really.

I was in my LBS today buying new wheels for my current bike and i mentioned was it really worthwile buying a carbon road bike when my budget is £1500 his face answered my question "not really" strangely he did go on to say that he has a caad12 as a winter bike and i was welcome to take it for a ride, which i will.

Ive got a few weeks till summer and a confidence issue to sort out in the meantime so i'll test a few and see how i go.