Which should I buy

[D18OCK]

I have been looking at buying a basic road bike for the summer - I don't really want to spend more than £500 as it is the first road bike but I want a half decent frame! I also spent alot on my soft roader last year. I have seen the following;

Giant Defy 4 - £450 - http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bikes/model/de...

Claud Butler - San Remo - £449 - http://www.evanscycles.com/products/claud-butler/s...

or

Specialised Allez - £499 - http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/al...

So what should I do?

[Zippee]

At that price in all honesty they're going to be pretty much the same so buy whichever one feel the most comfortable.
I recently bought a road bike but had £800 to spend, ended up with an Allez elite as it fitted me best and felt right when riding it!

[Gooby]

Try riding them, see what fits.

[Superhoop]

How fussed are you about about having a 2010 bike/colour scheme?

I've just got last years Trek 1.2....

A new 2010 bike is £600, the 2009 bike was £440 (and was retailing for about £575 last year) The same store (Bike Plus in Croydon) were also selling the Trek 1.5 at £540, with this years version being £800 - If they had my frame size available, I would have had that instead...

Have a look around on the internet, but most of the big stores are still selling last years bikes with good discounts - It'll basically get you a bike from the next price bracket up, but in the price range you're looking at.

[aberdeeneuan]

Giant use the same frame on all the alu Defy range, so it's a decent frame, but road bikes really are all about fit. Try it, get to a good bike shop and see. And don't assume it's the same sizing across the different brands, I needed a smaller frame on the Trek i tried over the Allez I also tried .

Of those, I'd be trying to get a decent deal on a Defy though.