Helppppppp!

Can we spend all your budget?

Since winter is coming could I suggest a 2.5k bike for the nice days and a 1k winter trainer?

Do you have extra for clothing etc?

Picking up on what Mr Robot said, how about £1000 on a winter/training bike and not buying a 'best bike' until the spring?

Have you figured out your route? timeline? are you going to be supported or not? as this will dictate what you need and it would make sense to take time to figure that all out.

I also plan to do L2P at somepoint in the next year and have in fact just bought a cyclocross bike with this in mind. It'll take a rack, mudguards and the geometry is less aggressive than my road bike. Plus I wanted a winter trainer and this will work for that too. So in a sort of odd way, I'm buying a "not best" bike for longer rides and L2P.

If you're going to be supported and don't have to carry your gear, then a racy best bike may be ok but I wouldn't want to do it on my one.

Edit: just seen that you replied re: trainer while I was typing. I still think the above applies, you need to decide what sort of bike you want, sounds like you need at least two more

Synapse is good as a winter trainer. So, keep that, and figure out what you really want in a bike.

3.5k is a lot to drop. You could do that now and have the bike inside the week. But, how about something really nice? Steel or Ti for example? Handbuilt wheels?

That's cool. To be honest you don't have to know anything. A stock bike at £3.5k will be a wonderful thing. Wheels might be lacking mind. This is a pretty good opportunity to learn about every bit and do something that bit special.

Here are some utterly random examples of really nice and slightly different stuff knocking about under the £3.5k mark. Not necessarily to buy per se, but just as materials to think about.

Nice Ti
http://www.enigmabikes.com/collections/ ... er-special

Nice Carbon (with electronic shifting)
http://www.condorcycles.com/Sale-Bikes/ ... e.tpl.html

Steel stuff tends to come as frames. So you'd be looking to, for example, use Condor's bike builder to spec something up. Have a play with the Super Acciaio builder. Just add what you think looks nice, for now.

If you want all-day comfort then there are various things you want to be looking at like a more relaxed geometry (tall head tube, shorter stem etc) - for sure you should book in for a good bike fit too: The Bike Whisperer is excellent.

As, in many ways, you're pretty similar to me, I'd recommend taking a look at Volagi. Designed precisely for what you're after, fitted with disc brakes, excellent personal service and available in the UK these days. I've done Ireland End2End, London 2 Edinburgh, and (to prove its climbing and descending credentials) Alpe D'HuZes (6 ascents of Alpe D'Huez in a day). The bike always draws lots of admiring comments and I've never seen another (except for the one my brother bought at my recco. There's a few pale imitations from the bigger companies these days.

How about a carbon Synapse - the 2014 model won Cycling Plus Bike of the Year award, and would suit all your requirements and save you a shed load of cash?

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/arti ... deo-40347/

If you want an all-day comfortable bike then most of the manufacturers have some really attractive endurance models. The carbon Synapse gets excellent reviews and looks great, Spesh have the Roubaix, Lapierre have the Sensium and the new Pulsium and Bianchi make some beautiful bikes in your price range. Lots of others available.

However, my advice is to wait a bit and do some research before dropping a block of money on a bike that might turn out to be not what you wanted. Buyer's remorse is a terrible thing.

Try this steel beauty for size


http://www.epic-cycles.co.uk/Genesis_Volare.html


All day comfort and some change for a wheel upgrade if you want it

arlowood wrote:

Try this steel beauty for size


http://www.epic-cycles.co.uk/Genesis_Volare.html


All day comfort and some change for a wheel upgrade if you want it

You can get that frame for £1100 now. £500 for Ultegra, £200 or less for those wheels and £200 for that finishing kit and be well under budget.

I was in a similar position to you this time last year when I got my Orbea Orca SLi2 in the end of season sale for just over £2k. For that money, it's an excellent bike, and much more comfortable for long rides than it's racey looks suggest. And I love the Di2, but that's probably a whole different thread....

Back to this one, and when I say "in a similar position to you", I'd guess I was probably 12-18 mths later (after the bug had bitten!). I.e. I knew much more about what I wanted, and was ready to invest big. For example, my initial instinct was to go for a disc brake road bike....glad I didn't! Much happier with my Orca Di2, and a second bike for the days/months that discs make sense. Not saying disc road bikes are bad (again, another thread), just wouldn't have been right for me.

So my advice is maybe wait a little, and research a lot. There might be some bargains around now, but as someone else mentioned, you won't get much use out of a new "best bike" until Spring anyway.