Advice needed on which road bike - £1,000 max to spend

[Andy OH]

I have been toying with the idea of getting myself a road bike and have decided I will as I can get one through the cycle to work scheme with my company.

I have to purchase a complete bike and the maximum spend allowed through our particular scheme is £1,000.

The roads I will be riding are around the Herts/Essex border so not that hilly and hopefully no kurb hopping or avoiding lots of debris like the roads in London.

I had a quick look on Evans web site and for around this figure it brings up a whole host of bikes including a Specialized Allez Elite, Bianchi Nirone 7 105 Compact, Colnago Primavera Tiagra, Cannondale Synapse 105 and a few more.

I can get almost any bike but it has to be a maximum value of £1,000.

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Andy.


ETA: I'm 6' tall so would an american bike be more suitable?

Edited by Andy OH on Tuesday 2nd June 15:34

[mikee boy]

Personally I'd try to ride all/some of them to see what you like the feel of. I think Evans do hire days (which is refundable against a purchase). The Italian bikes are usually more compact than the American ones, for obvious reasons, so depending on your size you might feel more comfortable on a European or an American one.

I nearly bought the Colnago Primavera as it had great reviews and the 105 groupset is quite good too. Nice colours and a bit of a rarity.

[mk1fan]

Shame you can't use Halfords. Boardman bikes whole range seem to be 'the' bikes of the moment. Great kit, sorted frames quality and geometry.

You do need to try before you buy though. A well fitting bike is comfortable to use and you'll want to use it. A poor fitting bike will sit in the shed. If you're buying from Evans then your local branch will be happy to let you try all the ones you listed.

[arryb]

mk1fan said:

Shame you can't use Halfords. Boardman bikes whole range seem to be 'the' bikes of the moment. Great kit, sorted frames quality and geometry.

You do need to try before you buy though. A well fitting bike is comfortable to use and you'll want to use it. A poor fitting bike will sit in the shed. If you're buying from Evans then your local branch will be happy to let you try all the ones you listed.

OP, can you not use Halfords? The top of the range boardman carbon team would be top of my list....

[Andy OH]

The scheme my company uses is the Halfords 'Cycle2Work' scheme so the Boardman bike won't be a problem, I 'll take a look at these, thanks. Halfords can source any bike as they use another bike chain to supply non stocked Halfords bikes i.e. a Specialized or Cannondale etc.

Thanks so far for your replies & keep them coming

Edited by Andy OH on Tuesday 2nd June 15:36

[snotrag]

Check out the Willier La Triestina too.

Its a lovely bike anyway, and great spec for the money - but if your lucky - Wilier ran out of Mirage components at some point in the year, and a bunch of the Mirage bikes have been sent out with a full Veloce groupset - in othere words - unreal spec for £999. try and get a sit on one.