Trek 1.5 or Raleigh Airlite300

[Rando]

Deliberating about buying my first road bike and do not want to spend more than £500 (appreciate this is not a lot for road bike). I happened to be in my lbs on Sunday looking for a bike for daughter and they had the Raleigh Airlite 300 for £480 airlite 300 but didn't get chance to check it out properly. I have also been keeping an eye on ebay for a decent second hand bike and currently there is a Trek 1.5 2009 with price of £350 with 1 bid. These are the details of the trek (not the one on ebay because I am unsure if links to ebay are allowed on CC).
So if the Trek good be had for £400 against the airlite for £480 which would be the better bike ? Ideally I need to get on both bikes to check for size/ position but this will not be possible with the trek.
If neither of these are recommended then can you please point me in the direction of a decent road bike for no more than specified budget of £500.
There just seems to be so much choice !
The reason for wanting road bike are I am doing a 50 mile ride in October followed by 75 mile ride in November and then 100 mile in April 2011 and do not think my hybrid bike will be upto the miles .

 

[Goldie]

Deliberating about buying my first road bike and do not want to spend more than £500 (appreciate this is not a lot for road bike). I happened to be in my lbs on Sunday looking for a bike for daughter and they had the Raleigh Airlite 300 for £480 airlite 300 but didn't get chance to check it out properly. I have also been keeping an eye on ebay for a decent second hand bike and currently there is a Trek 1.5 2009 with price of £350 with 1 bid. These are the details of the trek (not the one on ebay because I am unsure if links to ebay are allowed on CC).
So if the Trek good be had for £400 against the airlite for £480 which would be the better bike ? Ideally I need to get on both bikes to check for size/ position but this will not be possible with the trek.
If neither of these are recommended then can you please point me in the direction of a decent road bike for no more than specified budget of £500.
There just seems to be so much choice !
The reason for wanting road bike are I am doing a 50 mile ride in October followed by 75 mile ride in November and then 100 mile in April 2011 and do not think my hybrid bike will be upto the miles .

The Raleigh has the higher spec Shimano groupset and is generally a bit better specced than the Trek, so that £80 premium wouldn't be for nothing. If it's a 2010 model, there might be a bit of movement in the price, as it's nearly time for 2011 models to be released. Cycling Active tested one of the Airlite range a little while ago and had nothing but good things to say about it. It's built for long-ish sportive rides so it should see you right on those. I'd jump aboard and give it a test drive...

 

[crumpetman]

If you have a Go Outdoors near you then they should do a price guarantee on the Airlite as it is one of the few road bikes they sell. The price guarantee means that knock 10% off if you show them a cheaper price than they are selling it for. I was tempted to get one recently when I saw the Airlite 300 for about £450 online but didn't get around to it.

 

[Rando]

If you have a Go Outdoors near you then they should do a price guarantee on the Airlite as it is one of the few road bikes they sell. The price guarantee means that knock 10% off if you show them a cheaper price than they are selling it for. I was tempted to get one recently when I saw the Airlite 300 for about £450 online but didn't get around to it.

Yes I have a Go Outdoors near to work so will pop down tomorrow lunchtime to have a better look at the airlite. Would be good if they do the 10% match offer.
A couple of reviews I have read on the airlite state that it is a more relaxed set up over a true road bike which I am hoping means a more upright riding position as I went to Halfords today and sat on the Boardman Road Comp bike and did find that the drop bars felt very low and would prefer a more upright position. I also tried the Boardman Comp with the flat bars and that gave me a much better riding posion but at £699 it is more than I want to pay !

 

[e-rider]

From what I've seen of the new Raleigh range I don't like them and i'm not keen on Trek 1.5s either. There are loads of bikes out there at this price point so have a good look about before deciding which to buy.

If you want a good upright position on a road bike look at the Specialized Allez range and more upright still look at the specialized Secteur range. Much better bikes than Raleigh/Trek

 

[Rando]

From what I've seen of the new Raleigh range I don't like them and i'm not keen on Trek 1.5s either. There are loads of bikes out there at this price point so have a good look about before deciding which to buy.

If you want a good upright position on a road bike look at the Specialized Allez range and more upright still look at the specialized Secteur range. Much better bikes than Raleigh/Trek

Thanks for the reply Tunragumski. I will try and find some local stock of Specialized bikes and have a sit on a few of them.