Orbea, Mekk or Moda

[apguy]

All brands a bit left-field but bear with me.

So it's been 20 years since I was into road bikes and my current stead is a Specialized Hardrock disc so not exactly big money. My firm is now doing Cycle Scheme and I fancy getting back into road riding.

I've always liked the look of Orbea and my budget falls between the Shimano 105 Aqua or the base model Onix. (Aqua being alu, Onix is carbon). I would have to add £300 of my own money to get the carbon Onix.

But then I was guided to the Moda Rubato. Alu frame but wearing £300 of American Classic Victory wheels, odd mix of SRAM and Microshift White gearset. Very light (but mainly due to those wheels).
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/road/...


And then we have the Mekk poggio p20. Stupid name, nice bike. Full carbon, Tiagra shifters, front mech, 105 rear. Almost same weight as the Moda.
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/road/...

Has anyone out there got real world views on these? As the Moda and Mekk seem to be offering a great package coming right in at the magic Cycle To Work £1000 number.

Ta.

[aspender]

Orbea every time for me out of those choices, and stump up for the Orca with Tiagra rather than the aqua. It will serve as a better platform for upgrading and 10spd Tiagra is a decent first groupset. Don't worry too much about wheels. They are the first thing you'll likely want to upgrade regardless of what the bike comes with.

Why the limiting of choice though, do you have a C2W dealer nearby that does Cube for instance?

[spongy]

Might seem like a strange reply but how tall are you sir.

[apguy]

@Aspender. Thanks for the reply. The Orbea is still my favourite but the Onix is over 30% more expensive than the other two, and I can't see where the money's gone when compared to the Mekk. (branding aside)

Good point about why the apparently limited choice, its purely down to what my very helpful LBS stock. They have a decent range including Bianchi, Pinarello and Cervelo. No Cube though.

They are helpful enough that I'm taking a demo ride of all 3 tomorrow to find out a bit more.

Edited by apguy on Thursday 31st May 22:19

[apguy]

spongy said:

Might seem like a strange reply but how tall are you sir.

Happy to answer strange replies if it helps
Short arse at 5'8".

[spongy]

Bloody typical....i have a top end race frame that i mis measured and is tooooooo big for me,im 6ft so will be no good for you was gonna say you would be welcome to it sir as its just sat in my loft collecting dust.
try a cannondale bud if you can i have had mine for years and its a really nice machine.Also have a look on the ribble web site i have just ordered one of their race bikes should be here in the morning so will post up my thoughts over the weekend.....good luck shorty;)

[Crippo]

MEKK stand for Mark Edwards and Ken Knight.....The bicycle trade does not have a high opinion of them.

[itsnotarace]

Crippo said:

MEKK stand for Mark Edwards and Ken Knight.....The bicycle trade does not have a high opinion of them.

Funny because I see them stocked alongside Look bikes and framesets in my local shop

I would go for the Mekk. Low range Orbea's are a bit bland, the Orca framesets are quite nice

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/road/...

[apguy]

Thread resurrection:

My CycleScheme voucher came through (as a bank, my employer was able to able to offer up to £3000 value, nice, but I stuck to £1200). So I found a Cube dealer and was very impressed.

Paid today and picking up a Cube Agree GTC tomorrow from Cycle Surgery here in London. I really couldn't find anything that offered the same spec and build quality at the price and the reviews all appear positive.

[Gizmoish]

Cubes are beautiful bikes. Hope you enjoy it

[kazste]

Crippo said:

MEKK stand for Mark Edwards and Ken Knight.....The bicycle trade does not have a high opinion of them.

Wow five years ago! Has anything changed? Was looking at a track bike and thinking the mekk carbon looks a good choice considering price as have ridden fixie before but never been on a track so wanted something reasonably priced before I get a look.

[Dizeee]

My local sells Mekk, I get the impression that the bike shops who cannot stock Specialized or anything else remarkable sel them.

They seem to appear with the likes of Mongoose, Merida, Raleigh and the like.

[anonymous-user]

Mekk are owned, run, whatever, by the guys who used to run Caratti here in Bristol, Caratti were a big distributor for a number of brands in the 90s including GT. They also had a shop called Bike Tech on the Triangle but for reasons I dont know, it all went tits up. There are rumours that it was something to do with offering Halfords getting exclusive rights to GT which pissed off all the LBSs but I dont know if thats true... www.bikebiz.com is well worth a read for industry stuff like this if you are bored!

I have no idea what the bikes are like sorry!