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advice on 5 bikes im looking at.

by Dixon25
Mon, Feb 17, 2014 22:24
6

Hi

I'm new to cycling having recently decided to lose weight from a 22 stone behemoth and having now reached my goal of 14 stone I'm looking at purchasing a road bike.

I'll be using it mainly for commuting and pleasure weekend cycling and would prefer not to spend to much if at all possible but saying that don't wanna walk away with a piece of trash bike.

Been browsing for a few weeks now and found 5 bikes that seem to have caught my eye and was interested in the opinions of people who know better than I do and any advice would be appreciated.

1 : Giant defy 2 2014.

2 : Trek 1.5 2014.

3 : Specialised allez sport 2014.

4 : Merida race lite 904 2013.

5 : Giant tcr composite 3 2013.

Many thanks.

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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6 comments

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Dixon25 | 11 years ago
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Thanks for the advice everyone , a friend of mine suggested merida scultura 903 2014 as a great bike for me as a beginner and although it's listed as £850 I have managed to find it in town with a few extras for £750.

It uses shimano tergra (not the best but acceptable).

20 gears , perhaps a less aggressive ride position and weighs apparently under 10kg.

All that for that approx price point seems a fairly decent start with me making further upgrades depending on how well I progress.

I have a lot of running events this year (training for an ultra marathon 2 day event) but as it's hard on ky knees from next year maybe later this year I'd prefer to stick to cycling weekends with friends on official rides :-).

I guess I'm looking at whether or not this bike is ok for the price.

Thanks again everyone.

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gthornton101 | 11 years ago
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I would second the point about looking outside the more mainstream brands. I ride a Canyon Roadlite, which I can't recommend enough, and always scores highly in online reviews.

At the upper price band of your listed five, you can get the Roadlite with either 105 or SRAM Apex groupset, plus good wheels and tyres from the get go for £899.

https://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/series/roadlite-al.html

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ajmarshal1 | 11 years ago
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TCR comp is an excellent frame with huge upgrade potential, it's a fast bike too. (Used to be my go to of all my bikes for 'fast' rides) Some people find the geometry quite aggressive but they tend to be fools who follow 'the rules' like the law and have slammed their stem and cut the steerer without a thought for finding a sensible position. I found mine very comfortable.

Wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. But as always, try and see how you get on.

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mooleur | 11 years ago
0 likes

Allez!

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jollygoodvelo | 11 years ago
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All good bikes. Pick the one that fits best, but my first choice would be the TCR Comp and last the Allez.

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jason.timothy.jones | 11 years ago
0 likes

Firstly, well done on the weight loss, i'm trying the same thing, started at 25, now just under 20 and getting frustrated, and a little lazy, but for nothing else, you deserve to reward yourself.

As far as the bikes are concerned, they are all ok and you wont go wrong with any of them, but to be honest, you may get more bike for your buck if you look outside of the big names.

I would first think about what groupset you want, then frame material and work from there. The reason I say this, is that this years models seem to be a little bit more expensive than they should be, but the manufactures have cut a few corners on parts, so you may get a bike thats sold as '105' equipped, but in reality has a few 105 parts, tektra brakes and tiagra chain/cassette, cheap tyres/finishing kit.

If you go to someone like Planet X (I say planet X because they did eventually look after me so I have forgiven 1 ) or any other shop that does not just order off a supplier catalogue...I hear Dolan are good also but have never used them, there are quite a few around.... you will get, or should get a much better bike that has not had the corners cut, and much better customer service if something does not go to plan.

The other option is to built your own to your own spec. Ribble have full 105 groupsets at the moment for £300, and if you look around places like Chain Reaction, they normally have a decent choice of frames on offer as do Ribble, Planet X etcettera, then you just need to finish it off.

At the end of the day, the options are endless, off the rack you will get something good, or with a little work you will get something special, and lets face it, you have lost nearly 1/2 your body weight, you deserve something special

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