cheap road bike - but any good?

bd12mz
bd12mz Posts: 79
edited September 2009 in Road beginners
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ventura-Strada- ... 70&sr=1-25

Ventura Strada 60cm Road / Racing Bike Price: £249.00

after going fo rthe cheapest of the cheap with a Halfords Apollo CX10 I want to be more careful with an upgrade.

Opinions on the above?

Comments

  • Mister W
    Mister W Posts: 791
    You're looking at this as an upgrade? :shock: Your current bike must be a real heap.

    Bikes are like many things in life... you get what you pay for.
  • bikerZA
    bikerZA Posts: 314
    What kind of budget do you have?

    As Mister W said, you get what you pay for. If you are looking to become a serious cyclist, a £250 bike isn't going to last you long. If you just want something for commuting, it will probably do the job.
    cyclecomparison.com
  • bd12mz
    bd12mz Posts: 79
    I only do roughly 6 miles per day M-F and going to work is mostly fine on the Apollo as it's downhill.
    coming home is much mire taxing and after trying out my brothers road bike it felt so much better.

    so it's only really a work thing presently.
  • pompeypoppy
    pompeypoppy Posts: 182
    Any chance of doing the bike to work scheme with your employer?
  • bd12mz
    bd12mz Posts: 79
    pompeypoppy wrote:
    Any chance of doing the bike to work scheme with your employer?
    looking around on their interweb site it looks like they do operate a bike to work/salary sacrifice scheme.

    the closest to me looks like a cyclesurgery run out of Snow and Rock.
  • pompeypoppy
    pompeypoppy Posts: 182
    I would expect snow and rock to be mountain bikes, but I may be wrong. Al ternatively, have you had a look on ebay for any bargains?

    For £250 you may be able to pick up a low end Trek or Giant secondhand
  • oscarbudgie
    oscarbudgie Posts: 850
    You'll get a 2 year old secondhand Spesh Allez or similar for £250 which will be miles better than what you're looking at.
    Cannondale Supersix / CAAD9 / Boardman 9.0 / Benotto 3000
  • bd12mz
    bd12mz Posts: 79
    hwo important is cycle size?
    I am 6'4" (inside leg 34") and the charts suggest 61cm frame - but having tried my brothers Raleigh road bike it seemed to fit like a glove.
    he isn't taller than 5'10"

    I find with ebay going for a larger frame severely drops the number of bikes available....
  • geoff93
    geoff93 Posts: 190
    The bike you're looking at even has downtube gear shifters, I agree with everyone else in that you should either spend more on a bike with atleast Shimano Sora (or compareable) groupset or buy something off ebay, again with atleast Shimano Sora. Buying something as cheap as that it a bit of a con, as you'll spend double the price of the bike in repairs and replacement parts, and a new bike when you realise you want something a little less 'robust' ;)
    Trek Madone 3.5 (RS80s, Arione)
    Trek Madone 3.1 (Upgraded)
    Ribble TT Bike
    Trek Mamba (Garry Fisher Collection)
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    Seems to be me that it's on a par with buying one of those ultra-cheap far eastern built super-mini cars to see if you'll like driving, then v quickly deciding that it's slow, uncomfortable and nowhere near as rewarding as you'd expected so you give it up as a bad job.

    Buy cheap buy twice is the rule. It's wasted money, or worse you'll decide that cycling is a big waste of time & effort and consign that thing to the shed.
  • nikgibson_1
    nikgibson_1 Posts: 106
    I would expect snow and rock to be mountain bikes, but I may be wrong.

    I think you are wrong, as the snow and rock store by me (Romford, Essex) has a cycle surgery within it which is what 'bd12mz' said and they do all bike styles. For Road bikes our store mainly stock Wilier and Specialized.
    Dont say \'Can\'t\', just add \'ry\'
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Spend a bit more if you can, that bike is just not worth it, it will be giving you grief after 3 months of riding.
  • bd12mz
    bd12mz Posts: 79
    thanks evryone - I have taken all the good advice on board and will definitely not go for the one I linked.

    I quizzed my brother about his bike - name, model etc and it turns out to be a Raleigh Pioneer and he told me that he has seen it still for sale at Cycle Life here in Bristol.

    so I checked out their website and found it in the 'town and comfort' range.
    so not exactly the 'racing' bike I thought it was :o

    anyhow - the price is very good @ £250 (online but my bro thinks it's £260 in store (nice to have a good haggling point)).

    thing I am puzzled by is that his definirely had the skinny tyres but in the town and comfort range I would expected those to be all hybrids....
  • bd12mz
    bd12mz Posts: 79
    alrighty then....

    after much to and fro over the next bike step it turns out that my good lady wanted to cycle too.
    for her it's been 20 years plus since she tred the peddles (not as bad as my 30ish years) :P

    so we went hunting about and she really liked the look n feel of the Raleigh Pioneer Metro LX and I know that my brothers bike felt good so we ordered his n hers from CycleLife and got a pretty good discount.
    sadly, hers won't be ready until late October but mine should be done in a weeks time.

    we are going to have to get some outside storage if anyone has any suggestions I would welcome them.

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