New guy looking for an entry bike.

[Mike V]

Hi guys,

I recently sold my car and have freed up some cash so I thought what better time than now to get into cycling properly. I have always been interested in road cycling but due to lack of funds have had to stick with a basic mountain bike. Anyway, my price range is £500-£700. I would prefer to be closer to £500 seeing as it will be my first road bike. Can anyone recommend a well spec'd entry bike?

There is an Evans store nearby and this store. I have been to the Evans store and I like the look of the Allez T. Im just not sure if it would be good for me. I am 6'1 and 180lbs.

Any help greatly received.

 

[Paul_L]

Well i'm 6'0 and 14st and i bought the spesh allez triple a couple of months back, and am very happy with it.

 

[Sittingduck]

Rarely seen a bad word spoken about the Allez on the forum here - a great bike by all accounts...

 

[ianrauk]

Welcome to the forum, and welcome to the world of cycling. Adding to what the OP's said, you can't really go wrong with a Spesh

 

[Mike V]

Sounds good, thanks for the welcome guys. I will most likely be heading to the Harry Hall store in Manchester tomorrow, to see what advice I can pick up and see if I there's something there I like. As a beginner is there anything I 'must' do? i.e. make sure the bike has at least Tiagra shifters? Or a certain brand of wheel etc etc... (just examples)

 

[HLaB]

I've no idea what the model up is but if you can, avoid Sora Shifters, with these you can only change gear on the hoods which is a pain.

 

[jimboalee]

I've no idea what the model up is but if you can, avoid Sora Shifters, with these you can only change gear on the hoods which is a pain.

Yeh, make Tiagra the ultimate low.

 

[palinurus]

I've got a four year old Sora equipped Allez. I don't mind the shifters, and I'm not going to upgrade them, but the Tiagras on my cross bike are much better. If I was making that choice now I'd go for a groupset or two higher.

I'm still using the bike quite a bit, the original wheels were replaced with some handbuilts when they wore out, and the brake calipers have been upgraded from the original unbranded jobs.

 

[Mike V]

What do you guys think about the Carreara Vanquish (trying to sound like two cool cars).

I have seen it recommend on here yet two things put me off. Halfords and the fact that I don't recognize the name. Someone told me if I recognize the name I cant go wrong.

I also got the feeling that if I purchased one and took it to the LBS (learning the lingo already) I would be laughed at for buying it.

Any comments?

Bike in question: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_272633_langId_-1_categoryId_165710

 

[Sittingduck]

FYI, The Spesh Allez is SORA equipped (just incase you get there and are dissapointed)

 

[Mike V]

FYI, The Spesh Allez is SORA equipped (just incase you get there and are dissapointed)

I just noticed in the advert on the Harry Hall website.

How about the halfords bikes?

 

[Ivan Ardon]

I've ridden Sora equipped bikes and Tiagra equipped bikes.

I prefer Sora, but then I ride almost always on the hoods.

 

[Sittingduck]

The Vanquish is Tiagra but you may like to save an extra 100 quid or so and look at the Boardman bikes...

 

[Mike V]

The Vanquish is Tiagra but you may like to save an extra 100 quid or so and look at the Boardman bikes...

Thanks for the replies guys.

Im just reading the other thread regarding the Boardman bikes. Everyone who has one seems very happy as long as you get them from a good Halfords store. It also seems recommendable to change the pedals to ones that suit you and have the bike checked by a LBS incase it wasnt put together very well.

So if it came down to it and the choice was something like this Chris Boardman or Allez Spesh 09

??