New bike for Prudential Ride 100

@ judge

The London Prudential will be a walk in the park for you

I'm doing the 100 on my triggers broom, tired looking old BTWIN Riverside 300. I certainly wouldn't risk a nice (new) bike, in any Sportive.

I offer you a small bit of advice, not on the bike, but on the tyres. I did the P100 last year and I've never seen as many punctures before the official start of an event.

The route and pathways around the Olympic park are all coated in a non-slip flint material, best suited for walking on. It is horrendous for bike tyres.

Make sure you have a decent set of puncture resistant tyres and a number of spare tubes, i.e. more than 2. Also, make sure you have a pump, don't rely on CO2, otherwise your event may be cut short.

I did give the organisers some constructive feedback on this issue last year, but i expect little or nothing will have been done about it.

Enjoy the day, it was excellent flying through London early on the Sunday.

Personally I would stick with your btwin, it's a triple crank and will be invaluable climbing the 3 big hills, aswell as the smaller hills like the one in Wimbledon. Fit a slightly larger rear cass with 32T gear.

The weight difference will be negligible compared to the other bikes. A few kilos lost in body weight will give you more performance over a new bike.

Have your bike serviced, new 25mm fast rolling tyres and you will be fine. The most important bit is have you done enough training? As mentioned pacing, eating and drinking is all important if you are under prepared.

It is a tough one. There are many factors to look at. As usual when making a big money purchase we can spend too much time second guessing ourselves.

Things to consider.
Have you thrown your leg over either of them to get a feel of the bike, or seen them to get an idea of build quality?
Is there financial capacity to upgrade components in the future, say 18 months time is buying the Planet X?
Is carbon important, considering that sometimes entry level carbon is no better/ lighter than good quality alloy.
Will you be keeping the Triban 3 as a winter bike? Running Ultegra all year can get expensive.
Do you need the accessory points on the Giant Defy deal?

Now i should state that the Mrs has a Planet X Pro carbon and is very happy with it. I did remove the god awful SRAM and replace with 105 though (she had Shimano on her first bike). Its a cracking bike and does what she needs it to do, i find it a bit soft around the BB (thrash it round the block post servicing) but i am used to a high end carbon frame, so this may not be an issue for you. It's a pretty light bike too (component dependent) so obviously helps on the long/ hilly rides.

I know of several people in the club that have Defy's and love them to bits. I've no personal experience with them so can't really evaluate further.

One last point, the sub £1000 market is VERY competitive at the moment. You may be restricted with what is on offer at your dealer (i note the finance deal) but it is worth having a good shop around to find something that ticks all your boxes.

Hi Gary, firstly have you trained for the 100? There's no point in buying a new bike if you hasn't trained for the ride! If I wer you, rude what you have and pace yourself, just finishing the even is an achievement

Hi Gary

There are plenty of bikes out there in this price range that you can look at but seeing as you have narrowed it to these. i will give you my 2 pence on these options.

are you looking for speed, comfort, lightness, looks (admit it we all value this one as much as the others)

Both will be a great step up and get you round with less effort than your Btwin will.

Giant are great at building bikes and their aluminum bikes are very reliable and the addition of Ultegra (11 speed) will no doubt make this a great bike to ride. having ridden a defy for a little bit and they are very comfortable for long rides like the ridelondon.

The PlanetX/Sram however will probably be lighter overall and help better on the hills in the latter part of the ride (i did the ride last year and the route doesn't show a few of the final hills/kick ups) which would be easier on a lighter bike

the decider for me personally would be what you are after in the long run. Aluminum is very reliable in a variety of weathers and better chance of carrying on in crashes (touch wood you don't crash but it occasionally happens especially in Richmond park last year ) and crisp shifting of Ultegra over lack of weight of a carbon frame and future upgrade ability.

Disclaimer: i've never used Apex so it maybe crisp as well but i have heard club mates cursing their Apex groupsets at some times.

At the end of the day, you need to try to ride both (if possible with planetX) and see which one you think would be better for you and your goals.

But i'm sure both will allow you to enjoy the experience.

Let us know what you go with!