Good Road Bike between £700-£800

Sparksflyer
Sparksflyer Posts: 3
edited April 2019 in Road buying advice
Hello,

I am looking for a road bike for around £600-800. I currently use a battered, heavy mountain bike to commute to and from my local station. Its a climb on the way home and cant say how much I would prefer a lighter bike, although silver lining is my legs are getting a lot stronger! Looking to get into long rides, I have signed up to the London to Brighton and really pumped to start riding longer distances once I get a road bike!

So having read similar threads it seems that a good option is the Triban 520, but I wondered if anyone had any preferred alternatives they would recommend?

I like the idea of getting a good frame I can upgrade as I go along, as I am really keen to learn how to build/upgade a bike. Is the Triban a good bike to upgrade? Are there other better frames you would recommend with maybe not so good mech but that I could replace at a later date?

I am also not against looking second hand (which I saw someone suggest in another thread), however as an amateur I have no idea where to start! Let alone all the brands, you have people selling bikes from all different years.

Really appreciate the help! Thanks!

Comments

  • joe_totale-2
    joe_totale-2 Posts: 1,333
    Decathlon is currently selling the Ultra AF 900 for £700 which is a complete bargain and is a much more capable bike than the Triban as it has a frame which is a fair bit lighter and would be better for upgrades.
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    You leaving it locked up at the station?
  • Sparksflyer
    Sparksflyer Posts: 3
    Joe Totale wrote:
    Decathlon is currently selling the Ultra AF 900 for £700 which is a complete bargain and is a much more capable bike than the Triban as it has a frame which is a fair bit lighter and would be better for upgrades.

    Thanks! Will check it out.
    keef66 wrote:
    You leaving it locked up at the station?

    Yes, will be chaining it near to the station (rural town outside London).
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    In that case spend a lot on a lock and not so much on the bike. I certainly wouldn't leave a shiny new bike at a station, however rural it is. Known far too many go missing.
  • lettingthedaysgoby
    lettingthedaysgoby Posts: 1,732
    Keep the old bike for the staton run, buy a shiny one for training for London to Brighton.
  • yiannism
    yiannism Posts: 345
    By the way the 52 x 36 chainset its a killer for a new cyclist, especially if you live on a hilly place. Chose the compact, 50x34 if you have that option. Other than that good speced bike, you will only need to upgrade the wheels. 105 is great groupset.
  • joe_totale-2
    joe_totale-2 Posts: 1,333
    edited March 2019
    YiannisM wrote:
    By the way the 52 x 36 chainset its a killer for a new cyclist, especially if you live on a hilly place. Chose the compact, 50x34 if you have that option. Other than that good speced bike, you will only need to upgrade the wheels. 105 is great groupset.

    No need to be over dramatic, 52-36 is not a killer and not a lot different to 50-34 IMO, if you said 53-39 I'd agree with you.
    Those bikes are specced with a long cage rear derailleur which means you can fit a 11-32 cassette, 36-32 will get you up everything.

    Also Mavic Aksiums are decent wheels that don't need upgrading for a while.
  • N0bodyOfTheGoat
    N0bodyOfTheGoat Posts: 6,065
    36/52 chainset with 11-34 cassette will give a very similar easiest gear of 28.6 gear inches, compared to 34/50 chainset with 11-32 cassette (28.7 gear inches).

    All depends on your general fitness; your fatigue level; the typical hill gradients you encounter and how far into a ride you are when you hit that "wall" climb.
    ================
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  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    lettingthedaysgoby wrote:
    Keep the old bike for the staton run, buy a shiny one for training for London to Brighton.

    This. Or get a Brompton and take it with you. That'll do London Brighton no bother.
  • yiannism
    yiannism Posts: 345
    NitrousOxide wrote:
    36/52 chainset with 11-34 cassette will give a very similar easiest gear of 28.6 gear inches, compared to 34/50 chainset with 11-32 cassette (28.7 gear inches).

    All depends on your general fitness; your fatigue level; the typical hill gradients you encounter and how far into a ride you are when you hit that "wall" climb.

    I was talking about the current setup of the bike, and indeed ive missed the long cage rear derailleur, thats why i suggested the compact crankset, but anyway the gear ratio that this bike has is not suitable for a beginner.
  • Mad_Malx
    Mad_Malx Posts: 5,183
    YiannisM wrote:
    NitrousOxide wrote:
    36/52 chainset with 11-34 cassette will give a very similar easiest gear of 28.6 gear inches, compared to 34/50 chainset with 11-32 cassette (28.7 gear inches).

    All depends on your general fitness; your fatigue level; the typical hill gradients you encounter and how far into a ride you are when you hit that "wall" climb.

    I was talking about the current setup of the bike, and indeed ive missed the long cage rear derailleur, thats why i suggested the compact crankset, but anyway the gear ratio that this bike has is not suitable for a beginner.

    The top two gears (52-11 and 52-12) aren't going to see much action either, so by going bigger on the front you end up with a 2x9 speed with big gaps between the gears.
  • Klaus B
    Klaus B Posts: 63
    Like stated above, don't leave a new bike at the station. They steal everything from Carrera/btwin and even worse than that.
    No for me the 520 is not a good frame to upgrade.
    For me first has to come a nice frame and than I can chose nice components. That's no point to put good components in a cheap frame.
    The various Cannondale caad12, kinesis aithein or 4s, trek emonda/domane alr to mention some are all good frame to start with but they come at the price that you've got for a full bike (you can find some of them discount ted though especially kinesis). Probably the kinesis t3 comes at a nice price but adding the fork you have to spend at least 380£(Merlin cycles deal).Planet X has got cheap frames but again they're cheap frames so I wouldn't start with them..
  • Klaus B
    Klaus B Posts: 63
    I think the cranks to go for a beginner on mostly flat rides are the cyclo-cross ones. 46/36 is spot on imo.
    To warm up and on gentle slopes the 36t ring is ideal, and if you don't have such big descents 46t are more than enough. And when you get into shape you can fit a 52t ring.
    Regardless the ring choice it's all about the level of fitness, thus for a big lad even a 50/34 with a 11-34 cassette can be a challenge on gentle slopes.
  • Moonbiker
    Moonbiker Posts: 1,706
    How long is the commute & any hills?

    Could fit better tyres to the mtb?
  • Klaus B
    Klaus B Posts: 63
    The specialized allez is the best you can get as a complete bike for that kind of money. But I would invest another 200£ and buy the one with Shimano 105 that comes at 1000£ ish. You can change the brakes asap and wheels afterwards and you've got a tremendous bike.
    The allez has been the benchmark for under 1000£ bikes for years with its frame/ride quality and the new one is even more beginners-friendly with it's taller head tube. The 105 version weights 9kilos so not bad at all considering the basic wheels that comes with..
  • chippyk
    chippyk Posts: 529
    A penny under £500, this will do you. Comes with 28mm road tyres, can upgrade to some Fulcrum wheels for £200, will take up to 40mm tyres if you fancy a bit of off road stuff. Guard and rack mounts. Only thing letting it down is mechanical discs IMO.
    https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXLDNSL ... d-sl-apex1
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Still wouldn't leave it at the station...
  • mr_mojo
    mr_mojo Posts: 200
    With that budget I’d be looking at getting something second hand, lots of little used quality bikes available out there. As others have said a cheap hack for commuting and a nice one for the weekend.
  • warrior4life
    warrior4life Posts: 925
    Joe Totale wrote:
    YiannisM wrote:
    By the way the 52 x 36 chainset its a killer for a new cyclist, especially if you live on a hilly place. Chose the compact, 50x34 if you have that option. Other than that good speced bike, you will only need to upgrade the wheels. 105 is great groupset.

    No need to be over dramatic, 52-36 is not a killer and not a lot different to 50-34 IMO, if you said 53-39 I'd agree with you.
    Those bikes are specced with a long cage rear derailleur which means you can fit a 11-32 cassette, 36-32 will get you up everything.

    Also Mavic Aksiums are decent wheels that don't need upgrading for a while.

    I was thinking the same thing, in the early 2000's you basicall had 53/39 11-25 with a few triples out there that were steered away from.

    Baclk to the OP, at that price I'd be on ebay, the market is flooded at the moment with everyone going aero and disc. £700-£800 should get you an immaculate big brand carbon bike with Ultegra and perhaps a wheel upgrade. Today I was just looking at Cannondale and there was stidy Supersix with Cosmic Carbone wheels at £900 and a Caad 12 Ultegra with spider crank at £750.
  • warrior4life
    warrior4life Posts: 925
    This is a solid option. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EX-HIRE-FELT ... QXnJDKNO4A

    So many on ebay. https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from ... c&LH_BIN=1

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