Aluminium for £1300 (Felt, Giant, Cube, Canyon or Scott)

[leedh]

My head is spinning with all the options available. Just to muddy the waters some more, a colleague rides a Ribble (and after grilling him for about half an hour about it - he must think I'm some sort of cycling nutcase - he used to race against Chris Boardman when they were teenagers. I could digress...)

Anyway he loves the Ribble for his winter cycling and has no issues with Customer Service which I know some people have. This also got me to bring up Dolan on the Google search who look to have a similar business model. With both brands you look to get a lot of bike for your dollar.

 

[vickster]

Ditto Planet X

Also look at last year's models, should get a good discount, e.g. Paul's Cycles

 

[leedh]

I did look at Planet X but from the searches the comments regards Customer Service were shocking. You dismiss a few but there were quite a lot which is a shame as it may have no reflection on the bike itself. But I need to whittle the list down so from Planet X, Dolan or Ribble - I've dismissed Planet X.

A few have mentioned Boardman - the rear cassette is 11-28 on the ones I looked at. Would they upgrade/downgrade (depends how you look at it) to 11-32 because I need the extra comfort as a just in case ?

 

[vickster]

You'd probably have to pay for a new cassette and RD...but you could sell the unused ones

If you join British Cycling for around £35, as well as getting other indispensable insurance type benefits, you get 10% off at Halfords, could save enough to cover the replacement parts

 

[vickster]

Here's a few more options under a grand to confuse...with the gearing you want

https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p6601/CANNONDALE-SYNAPSE-ALLOY-105-DISC-2016
https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p6968/GIANT-DEFY-1-DISC-2016

Tiagra but carbon under budget

https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p6964/GIANT-DEFY-ADVANCED-3-2016

From what I've read, the Contend isn't as well regarded as the Defy and more expensive

 

[Stealthrider1]

Boardman only offer a 2yr frame warranty for alloy frames and 3 for carbon. Pretty poor when the big boys offer lifetime warranties and even the smaller brands are offering 6!!!!

That reads to me that they don't have much faith in their product

 

[winrims]

giant! u can get more for your money and they make their own rims so it tends to be a bit of an upgrade from the beginning!