Century Bike

XTC2009

What bike would you guys and girls suggest for my first crack at Ride London - my first 100-mile century? Locally I can get Trek, Specialized, Giant, Scott, Kinesis, Whyte, Cannondale and Boardman, so I'm not short of choice! Narrowing it down to a handful to test ride is proving tricky...

imposter2.0

You can ride 100 miles on practically any bike. Realistically, unless you can offer a bit more in the way of guidance, context, budget, etc, then your question is simply too broad for anyone to answer meaningfully...

singleton

Decide your budget
Go and talk to people at your local bike shops
Narrow your choice down and have a few test rides.
Buy the one that you like best and is comfortable.

XTC2009

My budget is £1000. My LBS have given me different ideas, one offering me an opportunity to build up a Kinesis T3, another steering me towards a Trek Checkpoint and another towards a Specialized Allez. I'm quite taken with the Boardman Road Team Carbon, but also the Giant Checkpoint SL1, rim and disc versions. I also considered the Specialized Diverge, but I'm not sure they offer enough value for money.

chippyk

Are the Diverge and the Checkpoint not gravel bikes?

sloppyschleckonds

ChippyK wrote:

Are the Diverge and the Checkpoint not gravel bikes?

Stick some 30mm tyres on and you'll be fine. Blows the £1000 budget though

XTC2009

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

ChippyK wrote:

Are the Diverge and the Checkpoint not gravel bikes?

Stick some 30mm tyres on and you'll be fine. Blows the £1000 budget though

Yep, but the question was raised by those that I might want something for after Ride London too, as I currently have no bike at all. To be fair though, the gravel bike option is expensive and from experience I'd rather have a dedicated road bike and a dedicated MTB than a compromise.

wotnoshoeseh

The T3 is a good shout - nice bike. I have a T2 which has been pretty good for me. It is used as my winter bike, I have a carbon Felt and just added a Kinesis Aithein for summer duties, as it can take a 25mm. tyre and mudguards.
I'm taking it this morning to have a crack at an aduax.

shirley_basso

For 1k the boardman is a great bike.

At 1k I would go used, though. Incredible value on the second hand market for used bikes.

mrb123

https://www.rutlandcycling.com/bikes/ro ... rey_373882
Extra £50 off that with the discount code on the website.

mroli

XTC2009 wrote:

Yep, but the question was raised by those that I might want something for after Ride London too, as I currently have no bike at all. To be fair though, the gravel bike option is expensive and from experience I'd rather have a dedicated road bike and a dedicated MTB than a compromise.

In which case, buy the bike that you like the most. My feel is that there is too much agonizing about whether a bike is better or worse because it has ultegra over 105, or rival over apex.

If you're buying a bike for £1k from one of the big brands, its going to be decent quality and probably a better bike than you are rider (and me too!). So buy the one that makes you feel special and gets you out on it.

froze

You have some decent choices, I would lean towards either the Kinesis Racelight T3 or the Giant Contend SL1 due to it having an aluminum frame vs carbon fiber for long term durability, plus you mix and match whatever components you want.

On the components if you go with the mix and match Kinesis offer, I would go with Shimano R785 hydraulic disc brakes with a 160mm rotor; use all Shimano 105 components except for the rear derailleur go with Ultegra; wheel wise the shop may have some wheels they recommend, be sure to tell them that you want the wheel strong enough to handle rough roads with ease. But I would be surprised if the Kineses shop can build one for the same price as the Giant that already comes with 105.

Whatever bike you decide on you can usually swap out a part for an upgrade part as long as the bike hasn't been ridden, once it goes out of the shop's door it's considered used and they won't do swaps after that. I would seriously consider swapping the 105 rear derailleur for Ultegra, it should only cost you no more than $36 plus maybe labor unless they do it while they assemble the bike then it might have no labor charge.

If you happen to like the Cube bike mentioned earlier Wibble has it for about $100 less: http://www.wiggle.com/cube-attain-race- ... ke-2017-1/ But the Cube is Tiagra, which is ok stuff but nothing like the 105 and you can't upgrade it to 105 or above later if you wanted to. Another option is this Vitus at Wibble: http://www.wiggle.com/vitus-zenium-sl-d ... road-bike/ for the same price as the Cube but comes with the 105 groupset. The Wibble prices are 2017 closeouts so they are subject to sizes left in stock.

There is another, I think the best option mentioned so far, is the BTwin Ultra 920, this bike comes with the Ultegra groupset! And for under $1,000!! See: https://www.btwin.com/en/road-bikes/spo ... -blue.html What's really weird with this bike is that it comes with the Fizik Arione saddle which is a very comfortable saddle, but it only comes with platform pedals which a lot of bikes do that because it's up to you which pedal and shoe system you'll want to use.

cycleclinic

Budget is not revlavent. Buy the bike that fits the best. For that you need to test ride as you don't sound like the kind if buyer who knows what sizing they need. Also go to shop that knows what a good comfy position is. It is not always upright. My mist comfortable bike has me in a aero position. Done the 24 Hr TT in it. That was a wee bit more than a hundred miles.sovignore the brand. Get to grips with the position you can adopt.

pamplemoose

Boardman Team Carbon is a good shout for a £1k budget. It has very budget wheels and the brakes aren't anything to shout about, but in terms of ride quality it's fantastic. I got one as my first road bike 3 years ago and have ridden bikes that cost 5x as much since then that aren't as nice to ride (I'm looking at you, Specialized Tarmac).

tonysj

Double Post

tonysj

Got to agree with pamplemoose on the Boardman team carbon. I have the 2016/7 model black and yellow I've swapped the brake calipers for Shimano 105 upgraded the wheels to CER0 24 EVO with Pro Ones and I genuinely don't want to buy another bike. Yes we all dream about owning a £4-5K bike but do we need one!!
I'm more than happy with the team carbon, lovely bike and it goes very well for the money. I don't think you can go far wrong especially if you pick one up second hand/not used much as I think people buy them on the Cycle2Work scheme just to save on paying tax and flog them straight after they get them for a lump cash sum, bit like a monthly saving account but back to front lol.

lostboysaint

MrB123 wrote:

https://www.rutlandcycling.com/bikes/road-bikes/cube-attain-gtc-pro-disc-2017-carbon-road-bike-grey_373882
Extra £50 off that with the discount code on the website.

That, all day.