Verenti Belief 2013 Tiagra ... as a first road bike?

grafas
grafas Posts: 4
edited May 2013 in Road buying advice
hi,

considering my first road bike. What do you think about Verenti Belief? Currently it's on sale for £600 ?

I know it's wiggle's own brand, but it has Tiagra and is really cheap... Review on wiggle are quite good but, there are only few of them.

Found one in spanish .. it give 8.5/10 as for beginner bike, so maybe worth a shot?

Comments

  • t4tomo
    t4tomo Posts: 2,643
    very good value, and it has decent components in the essentail place. not riden one or seen in the flesh but its £200 cheaper than equivalent Giant defy ....
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  • plumpy
    plumpy Posts: 124
    I wouldn't worry about it being "only Wiggle's own brand". Their in-house kit (bikes, clothes etc) isn't cheap and nasty, it's usually pukka and good value. If you're worrying about brand snobbery from other people...it's utter nonsense anyway, but it's beyond nonsensical to apply brand snobbery to a "starter" bike. No-one with a brain will.

    I agree that it's very good value for the spec at this price. On the plus side, the tapered headtube and internal gear cabling suggest a fairly sophisticated modern frame (rather than a respray of a job-lot of elderly alloy frames). Carbon fork blades and an external BB are notable at this price point too.

    The only downside I see is that if you become utterly addicted to cycling, which you will, and very soon hanker after a spanky carbon bike, which you will, the traditional justification for the upgrade (to self or spouse) is that the first bike then becomes your "winter" bike. This doesn't have threaded eyes for full-size mudguards which reduces its "winter bike" suitability.
  • grafas
    grafas Posts: 4
    i don't care about brand coolness or any other stuff. I just want to know are they any good:) as for winter... where i live we have a lot of snow so cross country skiing is the way to go:)

    Also i'm a bit lost in bike sizing... according to my height, i should get the M size( i'm 184cm) butaccording to my inner leg length (87 cm) i should get the L size.

    There wasn't too much help from Wiggle staff either- i asked a question on their website and they said that i should go for M but consider longer stem, but through email they suggested that i should go for L because of my arms length(187cm)
  • jameses
    jameses Posts: 653
    Looks like a pretty decent machine for the money. From the geometry chart (and being the same height as you), I reckon you could probably make either fit - the M with a longish stem (and probably a stack of spacers, unless you're really very flexible) or the L with a short, slammed stem. Personally I would go for the smaller frame, but your best option is to actually give both a test ride and see which feels right for you.
  • grafas
    grafas Posts: 4
    I'm not in the UK, so .. cannot test it, i must (haha) get it right from the geometry chart.

    Have been reading about top tube lenght http://www.velofitter.com/blog/2010/6/2 ... -bike.html. And base on the formula (87*0.655) - centimeter for my inflexibility and constant hourly speed i get 56 centimeters.

    I'm not that flexible (i cannot reach floor, just somewhere near my ankles), so yes, i guess i will need (?) to extend my stem, just not sure what length it should be...
  • nferrar
    nferrar Posts: 2,511
    I like the look of them to, certainly look better than the Merlin offerings but as you say not much out there on them. I'm also looking at something to replace my winter bike so it's lack of mudguard eyelets and seemingly tight tyre clearances put me off - for a budget main bike though it looks good to me.
  • Courage Monsieur
    Courage Monsieur Posts: 534
    Do it

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