recommend a racer

[bumrar]

as per title. Im after a racer for cycling to work and back, nothing too fancy, looking at spending circa £400. Any recommendations?
thanks in advance for your replies

[SkinnyBoy]

watching this video might assist you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMYZyUygW6Y 

[mat205125]

This is a bit more (ok, 50%) than your budget, but I bought mine at the start of the year. Really nice bike, and gets used loads.

Maybe it'd be closer to budget with the ride to work thing

http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=87037

[jacobyte]

The Boardmans at Halfrauds might fit the bill. Also, see if your work will offer you the cycle to work scheme, you can save 40 or 50% on it depending on your tax bracket, whilst the company gets benefits in employer NI and corporation tax.

[bumrar]

thanks guys, I'll watch that vid later, youtubes blocked at work, £500 is the very most I can spend, hoping to get shoes, pedals etc with that too, hence looking for a £400 er. Unfortunately the company I work for havent signed up to any ride to work scheme (which is suprising given that its one of the NW's biggest employers and trying to be green)

[Miffy964RS]

£400 is pushing it a bit, for that price you may need to look at a used bike on Ebay.

The cheapest place for a decent new road bike is www.ribblecycles.co.uk
If you chose the cheapest of everything you'd maybe just get in around £400.

[deckster]

Why does it have to be a 'racer' (whatever that means)? Things have moved on a bit since all you could get was a racer or a BMX

What kind of riding is it - stop start in town, country lanes, towpath - how far is it, where will it be left? At that price bracket theres a massive choice of bikes so narrowing the requirements down will make things much easier!

For anything up to six or seven miles through town you can't go far wrong with a Revolution Courier, which I see is down to £199. I can't see anything else touching it for that money frankly.

If you're going further, faster or have some big hills then something more speed-biased will be better although £400 isn't going to get you anything terribly exciting. There's too much choice to recommend anything specific really, anything by Trek, Giant, Specialized or a host of other big players will be absolutely fine.

Alternatively if you want to use it on muddy tracks, towpaths etc. then start looking at hybrids. Not quite as road-focussed as the above but will give you more confidence on non-surfaced tracks and gives you more scope for mucking about at the weekend.

As ever, your best option really is to get down to your LBS, try some out and see what deals they can do you.

[nogginthenog]

the base-model Specialized 'Allez'was £495 when I bought mine a couple of years ago. It has been hacking around London almost trouble free since then, so I can highly recommend it. You might even get a 2008 model on sale now, or maybe wait for the 09 bike to come out & get one of those? It's a little bit over budget though, assuming the price has stayed at £495.

You can sometimes pick up some good sale bikes at :

http://wiggle.co.uk/default.aspx?cat=cycle

or Evans Cycles.

[bumrar]

Hi, I believe your the 'man in the know' when it comes to TV's? I hope you dont mind me PM-ing you but Im after some advice.

Im eyeing up a couple of TV's from digitaldirect.co.uk, the panasonic TH-42PZ80B and the PZ85B. from what Ive heard both these sets are pretty dam good? However, I cant work out what makes the 85 circa £150 more than the 80? is it worth paying the extra? Its going to be used for watching TV (obviusly), DVD's and running an xbox 360 thru. Ive got a 5.1 dolby reciever to connect up too so sound from the TV isnt an issue.

Any advice you can give on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Ste