£800 Road bike - options?
Discussion
JPearson said:
OP would you say it was a decent buy? Im looking at my first road bike in the region of £5-700 and had been looking at a Cannondale Synapse Alloy 7 Sora 2012
Can still be swayed by something else though, i have a cannondale sl2 '10 and am really impressed with the build quality as i use it off road, am hoping the build quality will be the same as that!
Whilst many would argue that the frame is the most important bit, with the gears less so (and they'd be right), personally I'd look elsewhere. Sora is distinctly "meh" at best: its 9sp only (a rarity in the roadie world), and the shifters are just all wrong. I'd look for something Tiagra as a minimum (the old Tiagra was 9sp, the current one 10sp). You can pick up a Ribble Sportive 7005 with Tiagra and Shimano R501s for £699.95: that's where I'd be starting...Can still be swayed by something else though, i have a cannondale sl2 '10 and am really impressed with the build quality as i use it off road, am hoping the build quality will be the same as that!
Out on the new C2W road bike for first time over weekend. Paid 950 for this. Easy 25 mile ride, first 10 mins stuck in top gear as couldnt work out how to change, found out by accident that its the brake levers that do this (what a doughnut) Bit of a sore neck and adjusting to traffic on the more busier roads, but loved it. So different to the Kona it replaced which was last years C2W.
Think the last drop handle bike I owned I stuck cow horn handlebars on it within a month, much to my Dad's annoyance.....wont go down this route this time. Need some additional items like you guys have suggested like proper shorts and alike...can see this £800 road bike game being very addictive.
Flares and Chestwig said:
Out on the new C2W road bike for first time over weekend. Paid 950 for this. Easy 25 mile ride, first 10 mins stuck in top gear as couldnt work out how to change, found out by accident that its the brake levers that do this (what a doughnut)
And now you've figured out how to get it to the big cog at the back, you just need to figure out how to take it back the other way again!
Edited because the name "Flares&Chestwig" confuses the hell out of the PH hamsters, so it had to be changed to "Flares and Chestwig" to make it work.
Edited by Kermit power on Tuesday 3rd July 16:17
Good job I left out the one falling off as couldnt get my shoe out of the cleat, as these are new to me as well. Additional downside was that this was outside the Pub, fortunatley is was a more upmarket establishment so nobody was really rude, but have never seen so many people outside the Pub looking at their shoes with their shoulders going up and down. All the gear but no idea comment from someone was harsh but fair....Just earning me cycling stripes.
Gizmoish said:
Anyone who uses clip pedals who says they've never fallen off at a standstill is either lying or they've missed out the "yet" from the sentence.
Done it on my MTB a couple of times but not yet on my roadie. Been very close though, and wonder if I'd look less stupid picking myself off the floor than hopping around like a demented banshee desperately trying to unclip and not fall over!Dizeee said:
Just to throw in my recent purchase as I do think it worth mentioning, currently in a sale at Evans is the 2012 Impulso with 105 groupset... Had mine 2 weeks and still over the moon.
I think there are only a handful of these left now, £999 so a lot of bike for less than 4 figures...
That is indeed a lot of bike for £1k.I think there are only a handful of these left now, £999 so a lot of bike for less than 4 figures...
What's the weight, out of pure curiosity?
Gizmoish said:
That is indeed a lot of bike for £1k.
What's the weight, out of pure curiosity?
The weight is 9-9.5kg (20-21 lb) which I got from the internet. What's the weight, out of pure curiosity?
Apparently the wheels are on the heavy side so an upgrade would make a difference, however I am too new to the road world to consider that yet!
Dizeee said:
Gizmoish said:
That is indeed a lot of bike for £1k.
What's the weight, out of pure curiosity?
The weight is 9-9.5kg (20-21 lb) which I got from the internet. What's the weight, out of pure curiosity?
Apparently the wheels are on the heavy side so an upgrade would make a difference, however I am too new to the road world to consider that yet!
JPearson said:
OP would you say it was a decent buy? Im looking at my first road bike in the region of £5-700 and had been looking at a Cannondale Synapse Alloy 7 Sora 2012
Can still be swayed by something else though, i have a cannondale sl2 '10 and am really impressed with the build quality as i use it off road, am hoping the build quality will be the same as that!
Really impressed with the build quality on the CAAD8. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a bike in this price bracket, but only for the £675 I paid - not for the £900 original price. For that money, there are some lovely bikes out there from Canyon or Ribble.Can still be swayed by something else though, i have a cannondale sl2 '10 and am really impressed with the build quality as i use it off road, am hoping the build quality will be the same as that!
If you go for the Cube Peloton Tiagra I doubt you'll be disappointed, although I never had a test ride of one, just looked at it in the shop - it appeared to be light, well-specced and well-made.
mig25_foxbat2003 said:
If you go for the Cube Peloton Tiagra I doubt you'll be disappointed, although I never had a test ride of one, just looked at it in the shop - it appeared to be light, well-specced and well-made.
'Tis. I came within a whisker of buying a Peloton, but then I found a 2011 Streamer (105, rather than Tiagra) for the same price,so went there instead.Not looked back so far. Mainly because I swerve into the road when I do
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