Good, cheap(ish) entry level road bike?

[biggs682]

@adao I have a couple second hand bikes that should be ideal size and price ie £200 area. Will pm you some details later

 

[confusedcyclist]

Hi,

IMO you rapidly will discover a decent road bike is a lousy commuter.
They are also lousy urban bikes, and IMO pretty useless for any
ride less than about 20 miles as a round trip, i.e. your second
bike should be a nice road bike for the weekend road warrior.

I wouldn't be so fast to write off road bikes as commuters, my defy 1, while it cannot take panniers as it doesn't have dedicated eyelets, has an extremely comfortable frame geometry for urban riding and the control and lower center of gravity you get while riding with drop handle bars makes navigating stationary traffic considerably easier. All it takes is a set of full fenders to make it commuter worthy.

Not having rack eyelets is my only gripe, but I understand you can get racks which mount to the frame using p-clips.

If I could only have one bike, it would be a road bike, but that's my preference.

 

[BrumJim]

Love my road bike for commuting, and have used it almost daily for 5 years now.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

My road bike doubles up for everything.

 

[outlash]

Hi,

IMO you rapidly will discover a decent road bike is a lousy commuter.
They are also lousy urban bikes, and IMO pretty useless for any
ride less than about 20 miles as a round trip, i.e. your second
bike should be a nice road bike for the weekend road warrior.

At £200 this is a utterly great commuting bike, any way you look at it :
http://www.decathlon.co.uk/hoprider-500-city-hybrid-bike-id_8222609.html
(Just add up the cost of the extra's to fit to a horrible basic £100 bike,
then look at the basic bike spec ignoring all the extras, no brainer.)
Its also a good urban / shopping bike and a decent touring bike,
day jaunts of up to say 50 miles should be fine, taking your time.

What it won't do is tanking > 30miles as fast as possible decked
out in all the lastest road racing kit, for that you need a road bike.
And the best new cheap road bike is a B-Twin by a country mile,
according to very consistent reviews over the recent years. *

rgds, sreten.

* People whinging about the wheels are pathetic. A really good
set of wheels cost more than the Triban 3. Ergo anyone with
such wheels insists the Triban 3 wheels must be crap.

No, IMO the French know a thing or two about building bikes,
especially road bikes, with a passion alien to any pretence.

Say you spent £150 improving the wheels of a £300 Triban 3,
pointless. See what B-Twin road bike is offered for ~ £450.

Sorry, but that's a load of claptrap.
My cross bike doubles up as a winter/urban/over the park with the kids/does everything else bike and it's fine for those purposes. It has mudguards and has mounts for a rack. It's good at low speeds yet it'll happily cover longer rides 'tanking' it as you put it.

Re: the Triban, the wheels are crap (I once saw someone on here refer to them as boat anchors, that pretty much covers it!). For the cost of a pair of Shimano R501's at around £70, it transforms the bike. It's not being pathetic & whinging, it's a fact. I should know, I did it when I owned one.


Tony.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

I wouldn't be so fast to write off road bikes as commuters, my defy 1, while it cannot take panniers as it doesn't have dedicated eyelets, has an extremely comfortable frame geometry for urban riding and the control and lower center of gravity you get while riding with drop handle bars makes navigating stationary traffic considerably easier. All it takes is a set of full fenders to make it commuter worthy.

Not having rack eyelets is my only gripe, but I understand you can get racks which mount to the frame using p-clips.

If I could only have one bike, it would be a road bike, but that's my preference.

Bontrager do a nice albeit narrow road bike rack that works without eyelets. Bottom mount is achieved by the supplied longer QR skewer & top mounting is an arm that bolts to the frame using the brake assembly. Dead easy to fit & doesn't foul the rear brake set up or adjustment at all. ~ £50 but a real rack & for the purists: lightweight and no ugly p clips or bodge job attachments to spoil the lines

 

[shouldbeinbed]

PS apologies for the thread drift. I've had entry level Decathlon bikes before now and they are excellent VFM.

 

[sreten]

1) I'm 5'8
2) based in sw london
3) I havent really got a clue here
4) Not really, probably nothing bright yellow/pink i guess

I am currently using a hybrid bike for my commute at the moment. One i picked up a few years ago - Carrera crossfire 2 i believe.

my journey is around 13 miles round trip into work at the moment.

Hi,

So how can you be "looking to start cycling" ?, "mainly to work" ?

YMMV and so does mine but your current bike seems fine to me,
and perhaps you'd be better off tweaking that than a new bike.

http://road.cc/content/news/72001-best-entry-level-road-bikes-under-£500

rgds, sreten.

 

[slowmotion]

How exactly is a road bike a lousy commuter, @sreten? I've been commuting on mid-priced road bikes through central London for five years. I wouldn't go back to my hybrid, even though I have the choice. Riding a road bike in heavy traffic is a whole lot of fun. You should try it.

 

[adao]

Hi,

So how can you be "looking to start cycling" ?, "mainly to work" ?

YMMV and so does mine but your current bike seems fine to me,
and perhaps you'd be better off tweaking that than a new bike.

http://road.cc/content/news/72001-best-entry-level-road-bikes-under-£500

rgds, sreten.

I'm a bit unsure of your first question, but if it clarifies...

I cycled into work to have a look at my route in using a hybrid bike i purchased a while ago. I cycled maybe twice last week so essentially just started to cycle mainly to work but also hoping to just take up some cycling for fitness anyway during time off and weekends

thanks for the link also, i've seen the link previously during my search for bikes etc

I do intend on keeping my hybrid also, im not really entirely sure what i can change/upgrade cus i hardly know anything about bikes. just wanted to get a road bike as well

 

[PBB]

I have used a road bike as a commuter - it works fine but really is dependent on the road surface. Because of the deteriorating roads near me I am now using a hybrid with wider, lower pressure tyres instead. Hoping that some road repairs will be made soon and I can use the road bike again!

 

[xzenonuk]

i really do not know a lot, but welcome to the forums and yes the triban range seem to be praised around here for the value, i own a b-twin mtb as does my dad and i cannot fault them

 

[Col5632]

I have the carrera crossfire 2 also, I've done everything up to 70 odd miles on it, great bike for the money.

When i wanted a road bike i really wanted the triban 3 and just as I was about to buy it the triban 5 came out, £400 quid later it was mine, the only problem with it is the wheels it comes with are shocking and so are the tyres, upgrade both and you are laughing, I only use the crossfire now when the triban is in the shop or has a problem (slow puncture etc)

 

[mark c]

I would try your Lbs for a second hand one, i bought my Eldest a Defy 3 in mint condition for £230, and now she has a better steed than me which she points out frequently .

 

[vickster]

Another couple of (sub) £400 options here which are a bit different

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/avanti-giro-1-claris-2014/
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/mekk-pinerolo-al-zr-2015/
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/avanti-giro-2-sora-2014/ (Sora, carbon fork)