Options for a full bike in the £1000-1600 range?
Hello,
Long time sine I've been here (long time since I've been on a bike...)
Looking to replace my aging Allez Elite (2009?) and have a budget of around £1500, ideally less, possibly more if it is worth it.
I am relatively tall (6'6" / 198cm) and relatively heavy (fat cnut)
Looking about and it is all changed since my heyday of cycling.
This seemed ok? 105 kit (for the most part), in the right price bracket, 11 speed and disc brakes, all seem to be "good" additions (in my idiot brain)
Is it complete toss? Will I die a fiery death riding it? Not 100% sold on miniature disc brakes (I am a mountain biker at heart and 200mm has always been my default rotor size)
Thanks!
.•´,•*´¨)¸.•*¨)
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(¸.•´ (¸.•` * ¸.•´¸.•*´¨The Amazing Parryman
Comments
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That looks like quite the deal to me, £1300 in this current day, and from a quality well respected retailer is not to be sniffed at.
Personally I would struggle to bring myself to buy a red bike, but even I could probably find a way to make that work for what seems to be a feature packed, and on the whole good looking bicycle.
It's likely not the lightest bike, I see no weight mentioned, and looks to be an older design, but you may not care about an of that, and or might want to upgrade some bits anyway.
105 is solid, and imho a good enough gearing spread there with 50/34 and 11-30 - it won't brake the bank if you want to put a wider range rear cassette on their either, just have to check if it can take an 11-34.
Suspect you will want to change the tyres pretty soon as well.
Hopefully you are aware that evans, crc & wiggle are owned by the same company that owns sports direct, so advisable to steer clear of their offerings if you can.
Planet X could be worth a look also, not saying this is something you would specifically want, but my nephew has just bought their titanium gravel bike for £2000, but bought on the C2W scheme, so to him will probably work out about £1400.
Other retailers you could try, and maybe already have, are Tredz & Wheelies (Both owned by Halfords) Pauls Cycles I have often looked at, a they always have discounted older stock, but never bought from: www.paulscycles.co.uk
My most recent whole bike purchase has been from Balfe's bike, and that's been the best retail experience I have ever had, in terms of helpfulness, speed to respond, and then when the bike eventually turned up (Not their fault) they rectified an 'issue' that wasn't overly an issue, at no cost to me.
Felt F70 05 (Turbo)
Marin Palisades Trail 91 and 06
Scott CR1 SL 12
Cannondale Synapse Adventure 15 & 16 Di2
Scott Foil 181 -
Second hand?
GCN just put out a Top Gear style video where they had to buy the best bike they could find for £2k.
They plugged a 2nd hand bike website on there that might be worth a look - I glanced at it on the back of their vid and there seemed to be loads of good stuff on there.
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Leisure lakes have some 22 / 23 bikes at good prices as well.
For what its worth my mate commutes on his Orro and loves it.
Too many bikes according to Mrs O.1 -
The Orro is a good bet for a carbon frame bike within your budget. As others have said the only other real options are find something that has been reduced to within your budget, or look at second hand options.
Lots of bike companies and bike shops are hugely overstocked at the moment due to failing to revise stock levels once the post pandemic bike boom started to wilt. If you have a local bike shop I would be tempted to go in and haggle on something, if you can find the right bike.
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That Orro bike linked in OP only comes with mechanical disc brakes, surely at this time of year when EOL sales are traditionally on for last year's models, there must be some hydraulic disc brake bike deals.
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2020 Voodoo Marasa
2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
2016 Voodoo Wazoo1 -
Good spot - totally missed that little gem on the spec 😱
Having had to deal with mechanical discs in the past, I would avoid like the plague personally.
Felt F70 05 (Turbo)
Marin Palisades Trail 91 and 06
Scott CR1 SL 12
Cannondale Synapse Adventure 15 & 16 Di2
Scott Foil 180 -
At the price point I would stick with aluminium. My next bike will be a custom build on a Kinesis R2 frame for winter riding and commuting duties which will come out signifcantly above your budget, but you can buy an off-the-peg build with Tiagra gears and hydraulic brakes at a good price.
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they have the 12 speed 105 with hydraulic discs on there for just under the top limit of your budget, those orro's have a fairly relaxed geometry so a high stack for reach, but only seem to go up to XL would that work for you at 6'6?
https://www.merlincycles.com/orro-gold-evo-105-r7120-carbon-road-bike-2024-303959.html
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That's a good spot. Full 105 group, deda zero 1 kit, fulcrum wheels, conti tires and prologo saddle fir circa £1500. That looks like rather good value to me.
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IIRC, MapDec did a review of an Orro and slammed the quality. Mebbe a second hand bike? Or get a (say) Alu frame, cheap mechanical 105 and some finishing kit from your Allez?
It's just a hill. Get over it.0 -
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If you fancy something different and multi functional leisurelakes have Whyte Gisburn V5s gravel bikes with Sram xplr etap axs 1x12 with hydraulic brakes and dropper posts. Should have added just over your budget at 2k but that's 1k off rrp.
Too many bikes according to Mrs O.0 -
Surprised no-ones mentioned Decathlon or Boardman - surely one of those has something decent for that budget?
eg this is carbon fibre and has hydraulic brakes:
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Yep nothing wrong with either make tbh. Only downsides are halfrauds bike building can be iffy at some places and some people can be brand snobs. Personally i don't care, had both brands bikes and clothing with no issues.
Too many bikes according to Mrs O.0 -
Thanks for all input!
My procrastination and indecision remains and have toyed with upping my budget to £2k, also with lowering it drastically!
Summer sales are kicking in and some new contenders entered the ring.
Very nearly bought a Cube Attain SLX, but then Ribble 725 (steel fits in with my tourer, fixie and full sus, all in steel) ticks a different set of boxes.
And Merlin have a Willier full carbon with Ultegra that has raised an eyebrow, just more £££ than I think I want to spend.
¸.•´¸.•*´¨)
.•´,•*´¨)¸.•*¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨).•*´¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•` * ¸.•´¸.•*´¨The Amazing Parryman0 -
https://www.merlincycles.com/felt-vr-40-tiagra-road-bike-308072.html looks a good deal (£800) if the 61cm fits, for Tiagra hydraulic groupset on an alluminium frame with carbon fork.
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2020 Voodoo Marasa
2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
2016 Voodoo Wazoo0 -
I have a Felt VR30 from 2018. It's a great bike. Very versatile. Mines a 105 version. The stock wheels I had were shocking so had to get some DT Swiss on there. It's my daily commuter and comfortable. It's not a sporty bike.
Only criticism is the water bottle lugs on the down tube. There are two so you can in effect carry 3x water bottles. The lower one is very low so you have to really reach down to grab the bottle. Tried it in the upper position but it looked silly.
Sometimes. Maybe. Possibly.
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Personally I would go used ,you will find a higher end much loved bike for that budget ,and you'll get higher spec too .
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Why not another Allez?
2023 model is winning most comparison tests and whilst familiar, is a massive upgrade on even last year's model. Speaking from experience of course but at least I've put my money where my mouth is rather than highly recommending something that I just thought looked good value on a website. No offence intended to any other posters.
Truth is, I have an e5 allez which cost.. with haggling about £1300 with excellent Tiagra hydraulic discs. Another £400 on a set of Hunt 4 seasons. Then flog the standard wheels on ebay for £200 . A decent set of 30c tubeless tyres and for well within your budget you'll have a fairly light, good handling, low maintenance bike.
8 or 9 out of ten in every regard. In a nutshell, rain, shine, up hills, down hills , summer and winter.. its never the wrong bike.
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