Hi guys (and girls) from a newbie!

[runner]

Hi all I live in Bristol and just love cycling! I commute each day on my genesis day 01 and am about to purchase a new road bike on the BTW scheme in the next 2 weeks. I also enjoy running and have done for many years and am a member of a local running club. I have completed numerous half marathons etc over the years and am at present training for a very hilly half marathon at the end of March near chipping sodbury. Redundancy forced me to take a lowly paid job some 3 years ago but no more car....no more traffic.....it's the bike every day...rain or shine...and I love it!! It's great training for my running as it takes the weight of my joints and at the age of nearly 53 you begin to feel the joints ache B)
So back to my new bike i am considering buying giant defy1 or possibly a condor fratello ( but i fear the condor being steel may be a little to heavy for my needs) What do you think of my bike choices...do you have any advice?

 

[RedBike]

I've no experiance of the Condor but it's a bit of a myth that steel bikes are significantly heavier.

A quality steel frame will probably weigh more than an a simularly priced aluminium frame but the difference in weight between the two could probably be compensated for simply by fitting a few lighter weight parts.

 

[Tynan]

I'm a very happy owner of a year old Fratello, it's exaclty what i wanted for commuting, I wanted steel and carbon to smooth the roads, and to carry a proper rac and pannier I suppose it has to be a bit heavier than alu but I think it's worth it for smoothing the road, I could only afford the now discontinued Xenon groupset although I did upgrade to handbuilt Mavic Open Pro wheels

and believe me, it still goes quick

 

[The Jogger]

Hi Runner
Good luck with the hilly half, been there done that but I jog rather than run
Anyway, what sort of price does the condor come in at?

 

[runner]

Hi Jogger...good to see a fellow runner, it will be my third hilly half...love it..well maybe not love it...espec when I climb that big hill in the middle and I can feel gravity pulling me down. Just done 90mins this morn so together with the bike rides should get around ok...know what i'm letting myself in for...anyway enough of running on cycling chat The spec for the fratello is here http://www.condorcycles.com/fratello.html
I'm looking at the option with 105 shimano and should find out this week if i can get it through the CTW scheme. I'm not totally convinced on the fratello though i think the steel option might be too heavy for what i want the bike for ie to get and keep fit for running. With that in mind i will prob go for either the giant defy 1 http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-GB/bikes/road/2428/32436/
or the specialized allez elite http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?sid=09Allez&eid=115
which looks great. These are more akin to what i am after rather than the fratello which looks slower and sluggish by comparision....oh no i here you say....i am happy to be corrected

 

[The Jogger]

I'm just coming back from a busted ankle and the cold/chest thing did a 3 miler this morning just to get the legs moving again.
Did you check out the reviews on the Condor, your post got me looking at them and they look a cracking bike.
www.fetcheveryone.com a brilliant running site btw.

 

[runner]

thanks for the linke to the running site jogger...are you in a club btw? the fratello has had some great write ups

 

[The Jogger]

No club, runner, just go out and jog around the South Downs, mainly trails and enter the odd race, one or two a year.