Looking A Road bike under 500 quid please.

MinhDinh · World Chat Champion Joined: 01 Jan 2005 Karma :

I don't have a big budget and believe sub 300 or 400 are crap. I was ridibg a GT XC3 mountain bike with road tyre, but after a week with a cheap viettese sprint (140 quid) I realise road bikes are the way to make your legs feel a lot less tired and also your commute times reduce a lot.

I looked at Halfords, but no clue.

I can't go anymore but if there's a much better bike for a bit more, I will consider it.
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MinhDinh · World Chat Champion Joined: 01 Jan 2005 Karma :

Oh and needs to be durable. I have heard pure road bikes are delicate at times. I am naturally quite heavy handed/footed and things fall apart on me.
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JonB · Afraid of Mileage Joined: 03 Jun 2004 Karma :

Extend your budget by £100 and get yourself a truly excellent specification for the money. If you are a bit heavy handed then aluminium is more robust than carbon, but 105 groupset, fulcrum R7 wheels for £600 is an absolute bargain IMO.

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/moser-bikes-speed-105-2012/
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D O G · World Chat Champion Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Karma :

Fuck me that is good value. I'd say that was almost exactly the spec of my bike, apart from the fact I have campag shizzle.

I have the same wheels, weigh 86kg and have never had an issue with them.

G · The Voice of Reason Joined: 02 Feb 2002 Karma :

I'm happy with my circa £300 (rrp £630, price now gone up on wiggle to £377) road-biased Charge hybrid.

On that:
https://www.wiggle.co.uk/charge-juicer-mid-2012/ comes in under your budget and I doubt is a bad bike for your needs.
[edit]That's sold out, but this is even cheaper https://www.wiggle.co.uk/charge-filter-mid-2012/ though slightly more on the 'comfort' side.[/edit]

MinhDinh · World Chat Champion Joined: 01 Jan 2005 Karma :

G · The Voice of Reason Joined: 02 Feb 2002 Karma :

The bike I got is a Charge Scourer - which is now at £377 with limited sizing.

Not the one I linked to as mine is a hybrid as opposed to 'road bike' - though it's basically a road bike with flat bars and a wider rear cassette (which is nice as we have hills up here!), but that's another matter!

Build quality seems good so far.
Other people with them have commented the tarty paint may be a little thin - but general welding etc looks good.

chris-red · Have you considered a TDM? Joined: 21 Sep 2005 Karma :

Wiggle are doing 10% off orders over £100

use code 10off
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G · The Voice of Reason Joined: 02 Feb 2002 Karma :

Knot600RR · Scooby Slapper Joined: 25 Aug 2011 Karma :

Great bike for the dosh and save money!

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-3-id_8167038.html

JonB · Afraid of Mileage Joined: 03 Jun 2004 Karma :

MinhDinh · World Chat Champion Joined: 01 Jan 2005 Karma :

furry-ninja · Two Stroke Sniffer Joined: 16 Apr 2011 Karma :

Mondeo Man · Trackday Trickster Joined: 21 May 2011 Karma :

Halcyon bikes are good, eg Camino.

That's the bike I have. awesome

Only £170 ish, though, so like most cyclists you won't be happy unless you are able to waste another 200-300 pounds on a name.

J4mes · World Chat Champion Joined: 18 Mar 2011 Karma :

Just to change the question/ jack the thread a bit, what is the best sub £500 used buy?

OP, one of my guys at work bought a used Merida for £600 from a local bike shop, had 50KM and was originally £800. Merida own Specialized, I'd never heard of them but the guy in the shop explained that because Merida aren't very well known they can afford to spec up the bikes a bit higher than the equivalently priced Specialized.

Not sure if BS or not. Sounded good though. Tis a nice bike too.

JonB · Afraid of Mileage Joined: 03 Jun 2004 Karma :

Just a word on used bikes. I personally wouldn't touch a used carbon frame bike with a barge pole.
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

smegballs · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Karma :

When it comes to road bikes, how relative is "good"? My brother started out on an 80's puegeot with steel frame, 6 speed freewheel, etc etc and still got to the level of doing 100+ mile days around cornwall and dartmoor.

I want a "road bike" by which I mean: "something with drop bars and 700c tyres". Will something old but quality be better than new and cheap? My dad got some ancient specialized mountain bike at a car boot. Old and battered yet you can tell just by looking at it, that the build quality is fucking good.

AndyB1989 · Scooby Slapper Joined: 04 May 2011 Karma :

sub £500 road bike for a novice

£499 giant defy 5 Yes there are bikes out there that look like a better spec then the giant for the same money from people like viking (fucking heavy and shit) from boardman (poor frame quality) and from countless others but having seen lots of cheap roadbikes through the door of the bike shop i work in there are some truly horifyingly shit bikes on the market. we have seen stuff with a split handlebar only held together by the stem and that scares me.

tbh you cant go wrong with giant Absolutely fantastic warranty department and good value for money i have a couple of warranty stories for you
customer with an older giant road bike about 6 year old think it was a tcr had done over 15,000 miles on it came in for a service and we noticed a hairline crack at the seat tube top tube joint emailed a picture to giant warranty and the next day we had a brand new 2012 equivalent complete bike FOC.

and just yesterday we rang up because a customer had taken away his new defy on saturday and managed to get a flat and carry on riding and trash his rim so we rang up to buy a new wheel from the warranty department as it was clearly his fault and they sent us a wheel again FOC

you cannot go wrong with the service like that that comes with probably the biggest bike manufacturer on the planet.

JonB · Afraid of Mileage Joined: 03 Jun 2004 Karma :

Poor advice from someone who has been sucked in by the marketing department. I would never buy a cheap giant on the basis that for the money you would get piss poor componentry.

Boardman frames are actually really decent. The fact they are sold in Halfords is irrelevant. I don't think an ex pro like Chris Boardman would put his name to a bike that was going to be of poor build quality.
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

AndyB1989 · Scooby Slapper Joined: 04 May 2011 Karma :

ok tell me your basis for saying boardman frames are really decent ? best thing you can do with a boardman is buy it and throw the frame away put the bits on a decent frame their road bikes especially flex like a bastard actually have enough flex side to side at the bb to change gear on the back when climbing hills when i test rode one about a month ago. (admittedly im 6"2 23 stone and leg press over 500kg so theres a fair bit of force going through.

and if you read the post the guy looking for an entry level road bike is cearly a novice and for a novice rider who is unlikely to notice the difference between componentry having a big company you can go back to if you do get a problem is invaluable .

as for being sucked in by the marketing department ... hardly however reading your comment " I don't think an ex pro like Chris Boardman would put his name to a bike that was going to be of poor build quality." you clearly are someone who is sucked in by advertising.

i have personal experience and have customer experience of the poor quality of boardman frames and you look at them and say oooohhhh it might have somethin vaugely to do with an ex pro it must be fucking excelent.

JonB · Afraid of Mileage Joined: 03 Jun 2004 Karma :

Guess what? You work in a bike shop. Expect to see broken bikes.

I don't own a Boardman bike and have no loyalty to their brand whatsoever, but many of my club mates own one and there has been no question over build quality on any of them.

My next purchase could well be a Giant TCR Advanced, but i'm not going to wax lyrical about them at the £500 price point. You can not get away from the fact that at £500 Giant do not offer good value for money. Yes, their frames could arguably be of better quality (but I still don't know any people who have had a frame spontaneously combust - unless they have had an accident before), but the componentry at that price point is absolutely abysmal. Meaning anyone who then decides to take cycling seriously will be wanting to open their wallets again in 6 months time to upgrade components.

Let's be honest 90% of all modern frames are made in the Far East, with a minority still made in the USA and Europe. I am alarmed at the amount of Titanium Van Nicholas frames I see cracking at the chainstays and they are meant to be good quality!

I have done 5,000 miles on my Focus Cayo Carbon with no problems whatsoever and it is not considered a top brand. But for £800 I got a full carbon frame, with Shimano 105. An equivalent Giant you are looking at, at least £1500.
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

Drew · Banned Joined: 09 Aug 2006 Karma :

AndyB1989 · Scooby Slapper Joined: 04 May 2011 Karma :

well all i could put it down to was frame flex as the gears were properly set up and was a new bike .....

CDM_Murphy · L Plate Warrior Joined: 26 Nov 2012 Karma :

i have a late 90's Dawes Super Galaxy which i bought for £300 several years ago. it has quite a lot of rust round the frame where the cranks go through. i know i should post pictures and stuff, but can anyone give me a rough estimate on how much it could be worth?

MinhDinh · World Chat Champion Joined: 01 Jan 2005 Karma :

Hey, well I am still looking. Been looking at Hybrid's atm, and waiting for some sales in January. I am on a little Teeman ATM which is a hybrid and I prefer the speed with the way I sit on it. However it is crap quality.

400 is my budget so I can't go over that.

So far the Specialize Sirrus seems OK. What do you guys think?

https://www.cyclesurgery.com/specialized-sirrus-sport-2012/hybrid/bikes-components-bikewear/fcp-product/40780
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