Carbon Road Bike

[connor87]

Good Morning.



I am looking to buy a new carbon road bike to replace my current bike (specialized secteur sport) and am looking for some advice. My budget is approx £1600 and I probably average 100 miles a week of cycling. I am fairly new to cycling and a complete technical virgin. Would appreciate some advice.

 

[VamP]

You'll need to tell us a little more than that in terms of your riding preferences, plans and ambitions. Otherwise you'll just have people offering up their favourite brands

 

[stu1903]

I have the 2010 Cube Agree GTC Pro and love it. You get a lot of kit for your money.

2012 Cube Agree GTC Pro is £1,549.99

 

[PaulSecteur]

I have a 2010 secteur elite and love it, it is now used as my fast commuter, with crud guards (fitted with specialized 23mm tyres that are more like 25s) and topeak rack and bag. I also have a 2011 roubaix elite, and that is the bees knees too. Used for longer pleasure rides and hopefully oodles of sportives next year.

If you like the secteur, then going up to the roubaix might make sense as you will already be dialed into the riding position. For 1600 you cna get the new 2012 one with the 10 speed tiagra, or a 2011 elite with 105 might still be knocking round for a bit less.

 

[smokeysmoo]

Save yourself over £600 and buy one of THESE, (while you can at this price!). It's the bargain of the century, I know it's not carbon but that's because it doesn't need to be

Do yourself a favour though and read as many independent reviews as you can, not just of the CAAD, (I am a tad biased BTW), but of any potential purchase. You need to try bikes for yourself too, because what's good for one simply won't suit someone else

Welcome to CC BTW

 

[Stephen wilby]

Save yourself over £600 and buy one of THESE, (while you can at this price!). It's the bargain of the century, I know it's not carbon but that's because it doesn't need to be

Do yourself a favour though and read as many independent reviews as you can, not just of the CAAD, (I am a tad biased BTW), but of any potential purchase. You need to try bikes for yourself too, because what's good for one simply won't suit someone else

Welcome to CC BTW

You have a caad? Sorry couldn't resist.

 

[Glover Fan]

I hope he gets commission!

 

[smokeysmoo]

You have a CAAD10? Sorry couldn't resist.

You knew it would be coming didn't you

I hope he gets commission!

I don't need paying to promote how fantastic the bike is

 

[connor87]

Thanks for the great advice.

 

[VamP]

I have a 2010 secteur elite and love it, it is now used as my fast commuter, with crud guards (fitted with specialized 23mm tyres that are more like 25s) and topeak rack and bag. I also have a 2011 roubaix elite, and that is the bees knees too. Used for longer pleasure rides and hopefully oodles of sportives next year.

If you like the secteur, then going up to the roubaix might make sense as you will already be dialed into the riding position. For 1600 you cna get the new 2012 one with the 10 speed tiagra, or a 2011 elite with 105 might still be knocking round for a bit less.

Spesh are asking £1600 for a Tiagra bike??? That's insane when you consider you can get SRAM Red carbon bikes for under a grand these days.

 

[Panter]

I have (and can thoroughly recommend) the Giant TCR Advanced 4. Lovely bit of kit

Smooth, fast and very comfortable

 

[PaulSecteur]

Spesh are asking £1600 for a Tiagra bike??? That's insane when you consider you can get SRAM Red carbon bikes for under a grand these days.

That can be taken 2 ways... Either spesh are overpriced, or its such a well researched, designed and expensive frame to make that it cost the extra (I think probably a bit of both)

 

[VamP]

That can be taken 2 ways... Either spesh are overpriced, or its such a well researched, designed and expensive frame to make that it cost the extra (I think probably a bit of both)

I am sure it's a decent frame.


But it is actually becoming really hard to find a bad frame these days, and there are a lot of really relly good frames out there.

I suspect if they saddled it with Tiagra, that the wheelset won't be up to much either, so any advantages from an exceptional frameset will be buried under an avalanche of mediocrity.

 

[Stephen wilby]

Spesh are asking £1600 for a Tiagra bike??? That's insane when you consider you can get SRAM Red carbon bikes for under a grand these days.

You can get the 2011 elite model with 105 all round for 1650. You would be able to knock a couple of hundred pounds off that as if you ask. Not bad for the money.

Tere is no point buying a 2012 model this tine of year. There are big discounts off 2011 stock still which comes with better components.

 

[VamP]

You can get the 2011 elite model with 105 all round for 1650. You would be able to knock a couple of hundred pounds off that as if you ask. Not bad for the money.

Tere is no point buying a 2012 model this tine of year. There are big discounts off 2011 stock still which comes with better components.

While I agree with you about not buying 2012 models, for the sake of comparison let's stick with them.

Someone above suggested the Cube GTC Agree, and for £50 less than the Roubaix you get Ultegra, Easton and FSA finishing kit and even the wheelset is a notch above the Roubaix.

I have not yet seen a bad review of a Cube frame, while opinion on the Roubaix does seem somewhat divided.

I just can't see them being worth the coin. On the other hand, they sell plenty, so at I guess their marketing department knows what it's doing.