Triban RC 520

ravit50

Looking to buy a new bike for commuting to work, My commute is 3 miles each way and is a mix of rough potholed roads and a couple of hills, I am looking for something comfortable that will handle all road conditions, this will be my sole bike so will be used all year round, after doing some research I keep coming back to the Triban RC 520 being the best bike for the job and the best value for money I have a budget of around £700-£800
Before I pull the trigger are there any other bikes in this price range that would be a better buy in my price range?

chippyk

I’ve been looking for a bike at a similar price point, maybe up to £900, for commuting but mainly touring with some racks on and keep coming back to the Triban. Have a look at Planet X for a London Road, at that price point you might get SRAM Rival 1 and hydro discs. Unless you go second hand though I haven’t found a fat lot else.

sandyballs

For 6 miles a day go second hand, some great deals around from newbies not liking the sport and selling after being nagged.

To be honest I’ve not bought a new bike in 10 years.

shiznit76

Decathlon bikes are very good, but like others have said, if you go on gumtree or ebay you will find local sellers selling very good second hand bikes at good prices (we cyclists like to upgrade all the time!)

N0bodyOfTheGoat

My standard best bang for the buck bike for short journeys like this is https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/ ... -20-frames , it can take up to and including 700x50c tyres and has proper hydraulic brakes. Comes up in promos as cheap as £320.

An alternative to the above 3x9 gearing is the 1x10 geared https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/ ... -20-frames , can be had in promos as cheap as ~£400.

But the one I'm most curious about seeing in the flesh at the mo is https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/calibre-st ... ke-p433473 , which IIRC was ~£320 around Black Friday. It's 2x8 gearing (says 11-34T cassette but no mention of chainrings, looks like the big ring is 50T in zoomed photo so I suspect 50/34), but the bit I'm most curious about is the claimed weight... It's ~11Kg, making it ~2.2Kg lighter than the Marasa and ~1.6Kg lighter than the Agwe with default spec (those Vee tyres are quite heavy on the Voodoos and the honeycomb tread is a nightmare for small flints/glass being driven into the carcass for fairy visits).

If you wanted a sub £800 drop bar bike that can take up to ~40mm tyres and have proper hydraulic brakes, I'd throw https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXFMAPE ... ravel-bike in the mix.

https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s197p ... d-Pro-2018 is great if you are ~5'8-5'11.

If your budget allows, https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/EBPXLONRD ... rce-1-bike looks interesting for £1000.

Or if you can wait, I'd put money on https://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/ ... nture-bike being in a promo before the end of March.

The RC520 could have been a great budget adventure bike, but it's in that no man's land of 36mm max tyre size and their hybrid hydraulic brake solution looks awful on the front! I guess you could always spend £240 on a pair of https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/GLSHRS505 ... nt-sti-set (flat mounts can be adapted to fit post mount, but not other way around).

cookeeemonster

To be honest if your commute is that short pretty much any bike will do within reason, and forget cycle specific clothing unless it's raining as you'll spend more time getting changed than you will be riding.

If you also ride longer at the weekend etc then fair enough, decathlon bikes have a great reputation - you can't go wrong with them and I'd go with that assuming you have somewhere safe to lock it at work

MishMash95

I'd highly recommend Giant Defy 1 if they still did it ):, I have the 2016 model and picked it up for £660 new from Rutland cycling. Shimano 105 groupset, 9.2kg total weight w/o bottles.

Closest I could find within the price range was the Cube Attain SL 2018, 9.4kg, Shimano 105 50/34, 11-32 for £799. (https://www.evanscycles.com/cube-attain-sl-2018-road-bike-EV319178) The only thing I can see is that apparently, the tyres that come with the bike are trash, so you would probably want to swap them out with some Continental GP 5000s, though naturally increased cost.

Depends how much weight and components matter to you, though I am definitely a great advocate of a 105 groupset if you plan on doing a decent amount of non-commute riding as well.

A few other potentials:
- Giant Contend SL2 Disc (£750 (sale) - 9.7.kg) https://www.cjperformancecycles.com/38244/products/2018-giant-contend-sl-2-disc-road-bike-in-charcoal.aspx?currency=GBP&gclid=Cj0KCQiA68bhBRCKARIsABYUGieh68Tn9HHBBOeqKJZKOaO0EG92JwYUK0khaoFpevRE7Sj01ThYSVQaAjf0EALw_wcB - will be a bit heavier as disc breaks

- Giant Contend SL1 Rim-brakes (£779 (sale) - 8.8kg ) https://www.devercycles.co.uk/5457/products/giant-contend-sl-1-2018--road-bike.aspx?currency=GBP&gclid=Cj0KCQiA68bhBRCKARIsABYUGifFaIHDcEMniAj8dFXQPFzdn4Me4SmmMC2uL0up5FwuOUK81lIqePQaAqnAEALw_wcB - better spec than the one above (Shimano 105), - this may be a bit of a misquote as the bike's RRP is £999, but this one is on sale.

What tends to happen with bikes is people see one they like and then end up getting it anyway. This isn't a problem at all, as I believe it's important to be able to fall in love with the bike you are looking at getting The triban definitely has good components and is good value on that front, and the bike will probably be very reliable with the disc brakes, but if you do live somewhere heavy, i'd be keen to opt for a lighter bike, as 10.8kg can be quite hefty

ravit50

Thank you all for your helpful comments. I’m coming from a 9 years old giant defy 3 which sadly was stolen a couple of weeks back. So am know in the market a for a new commuting bike. I loved the dropped handle bars so is the reason I’m going for another bike with drops. What i didn’t like was the thin 23mm tyres and the hopeless rim brakes. So one of my priorities is to get a bike with decent brakes and decent tyres for rough roads. I will take a close look at all the recommendations under £800 unfortunately I would love to get the Planet X London road but it’s a bit too pricey for what I use the bike for which is to get to and from work.
Thanks for all your contributions.