What Road Bike ?

[dtmpower]

I have given up on my fixed gear bike - sold it recently on eBay.

I already have a cheap daily mtb for work and shopping.

I am looking for a proper road bike, which would be suitable for proper road training.

I visited Evans Cycles and sat on a 58cm Fuji Roubaix which seemed to have a good frame and components.

Is this is a suitable bike for me (6ft1 and 15,5 st) for proper riding. I don't really want to spend over £1000 all in for bike, mudguards and pedals/shoes.

[Rouleur]

I take it that you mean this one? Seems good to me, and looks to have plenty of clearence for mudguards. Looking at bikes between £850-900 nothing else jumps out as being better

[anonymous-user]

why Evans? you will probably get better value from a load of other places. have a look at places like pedalon, hargroves cycles, tredz etc to name but a few...

if you have to go with evans, i would look at the cannondale caad9 with tiagra which is the groupset down from a few bits on the fuji but i would consider the cannondale is the better frame and tiagra is perfectly functional and reliable. if you just go for the bike with 105 or maybe even a bit of ultegra on it you will pay elsewhere on the bike, most often with clunky heavy wheels which ruin the ride...

[Rocksteadyeddie]

You'll struggle to beat Boardman for the money

Linky

[itsnotarace]

Would be worth a drive up to Pedalon from your location, they do "podium points" when you buy a bike which give you your choice of accessories free. They are very helpful

http://www.pedalon.co.uk

Or there is Primera in Bournemouth

http://www.primera-sports.com/

Both are specialist shops, and will do you a proper fitting session. Evans are not very good to be honest. I bought a bike from them a couple of months ago and wouldn't go back

Edited by itsnotarace on Thursday 8th April 10:04

[dubbs]

I'm using those crudcatcher road racer mudguards on my commuter and they're light and don't seem too bad at all - they are a VERY snug fit on the tyre so will fit almost all road bikes. Quite discreet too so I'll probably keep them on even through summer.

Everyone goes on about the Boardman comp so I'd certainly have to take a look if I were you.... how about a Focus? I've heard thye're quite good.

Second hand Cervelo S1? Now THAT is a damn good bike and one you can swap components on without worrying about the frame not being up to the job

[anonymous-user]

see my post under boardman comp for my views on boardman... in short, if thats a possibility you wont get a better bike for the money.

havea look in the back of cycling weekly too, there was a very nice specialized tarmac for under a grand last week with ksryium wheels...

[dtmpower]

I only considered Evans as the website was easy to navigate and I was in London this week to view the bike in one of their shops.

I like the idea of a Boardman - but not that it's from Halfords.

[Rocksteadyeddie]

dtmpower said:

I only considered Evans as the website was easy to navigate and I was in London this week to view the bike in one of their shops.

I like the idea of a Boardman - but not that it's from Halfords.

I think you can buy them online through Boardman's website

Although this could just route you back to Halfords. I haven't actually checked

[anonymous-user]

dtmpower said:

I like the idea of a Boardman - but not that it's from Halfords.

on what basis? buy it boxed, take it home, build it yourself. heres what you will have to do. put handlebars and stem into head tube. tighten up headset. put on pedals. put on wheels. adjust brakes. adjust gears. congratulations, your bike is now built. all you will need is a 4/5/6 mm allen key and a 15mm spanner

there are lots of "how to" guides on the park tools website

[Floor Tom]

pablo said:

on what basis? buy it boxed, take it home, build it yourself.

This is the only way I would buy a bike from Halfords. I am sure they have some good mechanics but I have experienced too many dodgy ones to risk it.

[dtmpower]

I want the bike absolutely ready to go - the reason I sold my old bike on eBay was that I didn't trust it mechanically

[Floor Tom]

Go and talk to your local halfords branch, if it seems like the mechanic knows what he is doing then get them to build it. If he doesn't then go somewhere else. It should be possible to work out if he is a mongo or not.
I would say it is worth considering the Boardman even with the reputation that Halfords have.

[dtmpower]

I didn't get round to buying the bike - still investigating a bike2work scheme through my employer.

Thinking of making up another fixed gear bike for the short commute to work. Recently sold my heath robinson fixed gear project - seems I made a mistake with the wheel size (huge gaps above the tyre)




So am looking for a time trial or low profile frame to make a short commute bike... any suggestions.