Road bike?!

[Cyclist33]

I have just amazed myself by being accepted for a personal loan from my bank! In reality I will probably let SWMBO talk me into saving it or child trust fund or getting a holiday, but just supposing I allocated 400 quid to a road bike, Evans have got the GT GTR4 2010 going for a song. I have seen it in the flesh in my local bike shop and it looks fine to me, but does anyone ride a GT road bike and what are they like? Worth the cash?

Thanks

Stu

 

[I like Skol]

Hang on, have I got this right? You are thinking of taking out a personal loan, creaming of a bit for a new bike and putting the rest into a child trust fund?!?! Pure madness IMO.

Borrowing money (at a cost) to invest in a savings account is a quick road to financial ruin. Don't be the next statistic in the queue of people filing for bankruptcy or trying to enter debt management plans.

If you can scrape the £400 together to buy the bike outright or on a 1yr credit purchase (Talk to Evans, they may do a 0% credit deal?) that is best. Then when that is cleared set up a monthly payment into the CTF that equals the amount your bank loan would have cost you. This way, if you suddenly find that the repayments become too much you can reassess/reduce your payments and not owe anyone a penny (many/most personal loans are secured in some way so can mean the creditor coming after you for your home if you default on the payments).

This way you will get your bike, your child will get a nest egg and the greedy *ankers won't take a slice of your money

 

[Cyclist33]

Thanks for the financial advice but have you got any gen on the bike itself?
Stu

 

[I like Skol]

Thanks for the financial advice but have you got any gen on the bike itself?
Stu

Sorry Stu, I forgot that bit. Unfortunately GT seems to be a much underrated brand in my opinion. I have three in my household, an MTB, a hybrid and a 20" wheeled kids MTB and I rate them all very highly. When I was buying the hybrid last November an extensive search on google and the many forums turned up precious little in the way of reviews or opinion of the bike I was looking at. I expect you will find it is the same for the bike you are looking at?

I can only give you my opinion of GT bikes in general. I think they make well thought out bikes that are reasonably specced for the price and will be solid and dependable. They might not be cutting edge but the flip side of that is that they stick to tried and tested designs that work rather than trying to sell you the latest 'gimmick'.

I had a quick look at the bike you mention and I must admit that even as a non-roadie I fancied adding it to my stable at that price just for the occasional sunny day blast (would probably only use it 4 or 5 times a year ).

Stu, please don't dismiss my financial advice lightly, you only have to look at the state of the world economy to see what irresponsible use of credit can do.