Road bike advice.

[Slawek]

@nappadang so happens I'm on the hunt for a road bike myself, so cannot myself call an expert at all. However, one thing that might probably be important is to decide whether you want a bike with more comfort fit or one with more aggressive geometry. Once that's decided, just look up what's available, pop in to your LBS and have a go on number of different bikes. Since you have some experience of your current road bike, you will know whether whatever you will be test riding feels less or more comfortable. I have tried 4 bikes (including the one I rode for 36 miles as my first ever ride on a road bike) and one of those bike felt wrong the moment I leaned on the bars and started pedaling. Could not put a finger on what was wrong but it just did not felt right. What's your budget btw? I started at 400.00, upped it to 800.00 in the end. Though I had a crazy moment of looking at some carbon bikes but managed to calm down and so sticking with 800.00

 

[nappadang]

@nappadang so happens I'm on the hunt for a road bike myself, so cannot myself call an expert at all. However, one thing that might probably be important is to decide whether you want a bike with more comfort fit or one with more aggressive geometry. Once that's decided, just look up what's available, pop in to your LBS and have a go on number of different bikes. Since you have some experience of your current road bike, you will know whether whatever you will be test riding feels less or more comfortable. I have tried 4 bikes (including the one I rode for 36 miles as my first ever ride on a road bike) and one of those bike felt wrong the moment I leaned on the bars and started pedaling. Could not put a finger on what was wrong but it just did not felt right. What's your budget btw? I started at 400.00, upped it to 800.00 in the end. Though I had a crazy moment of looking at some carbon bikes but managed to calm down and so sticking with 800.00

I can keep this bike as long as I like but would rather have my own. I guess negotiations with the wife will start at about £1000 and I'll be haggled down to about £1.39. Hopefully around the same budget as you, £800

 

[Slawek]

I absolutely love cycling and always had but I never really paid much attention to what sort of bike I ride as long as it's got gears. I'm still riding my old, rusty and heavy MTB and I must say there are moments where I ask myself a question why would I be buying a new bike anyway as pedaling on my old bike gives me as much pleasure. Though I must say that even though I cannot quite find an answer, I'm still buying a new bike; but at least I can stay within a reasonable (to me, of course) limit.

I'm testing cannondale this weekend and I guess I will be making a decision.

You are quite lucky to have access to road bike - best way to get an idea by getting on the seat and riding for few hours, rather than 10 or 15 min of test riding.

 

[biggs682]

this is a fairly open invitation to any road bike newbie , for some strange reason my garage always seems to have a few road bikes in there and as we all now you can only ride one at a time .

so if anybody wanted to try a proper steel road bike at any time get in touch sure we can work something out

 

[MikeW-71]

If it's of interest to anyone, I now have a 2012 Giant Defy 2 for sale. Currently being fully serviced in preparation, I'll be posting a thread in the sales section in the next few days.

 

[AndyRM]

On the braking front, personally I find you get a bit more bite if you shave some of the water off the rim with a few gentle squeezes before you try anything serious. A decent set of cartridges with good blocks is a worthwhile investment over the stock rubbish you usually get.

Don't know your LBS situation, but I can recommend Evans at MetroCentre - good staff and bikes, though I'd swerve the Pinnacle range as friends of mine have had ordering issues in the past. Start Cycle in Newcastle is also very good. The Halfords in Team Valley was good last time I was in, though that was about 8 years ago... Happy shopping!