value for money steed

[the_bing]

hi guys. i've been lurking round the site for a week or so and decided to join; you seem like a nice bunch. i do have a 'what bike' query though and i know there are many of these queries on this site, but it's specific to road bikes in particular which is a black hole in my bike knowledge (i'm an MTBer). i've got a specialized rockhopper that i've had for about 10 years and it's been great, but i fancy a road bike for exercise and distance cycling, and keep the specialized for off road, where it belongs. i've been riding it on full slicks on road recently and it's been ok, but riding position is not ideal obviously aswell as having 105mm of travel on the front forks (albeit with a 'lockout' function)!

what i'm after really is general guidance on buying my first road bike. i'm aware of the importance of frame sizing and i've taken that on board. the real problem is budget and brand. i can probably scrape together about £200 for a starter bike; i know i'm definitely looking at the second-hand market (and all the pit-falls that that entails!!) because i know it's not a lot of money.

initially, i firstly wanted a specialized simply because i love the specialized i have now, so it was brand loyalty. but a biker buddy of mine said that specialized can be a bit over priced simply due to the size of the brand, so value-for-money is not the best (and i don't have the money for one yet!)

this is when i hit a wall (metaphorically speaking) and this is where hopefully someone here can help. what makes are decent-ish cheap road bikes and/or what are good value 2nd hand buys? i've found a trek 1200 for about £250, are these any good (it looks nice!) and i've also come across some cheap carrera bikes (some as cheap as £100-£150!), which also look nice, but being a biker for 16 years, halfords was never held that high in regard when it came to bikes. am i right to be wary?

anyway, there it is. anything you guys can offer; recommendations, advice etc. will be greatly appreciated. i know this is an ofen recurring question so thanks for your time in reading my post despite the fact you've probably heard it all before!

Bing

 

[accountantpete]

Hi Bing and welcome.

It's difficult to advise any particular bike in your budget range as most probably they will be second hand entry level bikes.These are great for getting you into road biking but no great shakes as regards performance.

If you bought one and really got into being a roadie you would want to upgrade pretty quickly - especially as the frames don't really lend themselves to a decent upgrade.

A decent bike IMHO should have a frame that originally cost £300+ and a Shimano 105 Groupset at least. A tidy S/H bike should set you back £400-500 and this would be worth upgrading with a decent set of wheels etc.

 

[the_bing]

It's difficult to advise any particular bike in your budget range as most probably they will be second hand entry level bikes.These are great for getting you into road biking but no great shakes as regards performance.

hi pete, thanks for the reply. would i be right in assuming that, within my (small) price range, all makes of bikes would be pretty much similar, and i should go for the one with the 'best' (or 'least worst'!) componentry?

if so, then i imagine the most important thing is to get the right size frame and give it a whirl... best start saving

 

[accountantpete]

hi pete, thanks for the reply. would i be right in assuming that, within my (small) price range, all makes of bikes would be pretty much similar, and i should go for the one with the 'best' (or 'least worst'!) componentry?

if so, then i imagine the most important thing is to get the right size frame and give it a whirl... best start saving

Yes -they are all around the same level. The "right" frame size is a bit debatable as many bikes have different geometries - the length of the top tube is important but there is no standard length etc - so what you want is something in the ballpark as regards your height and then you can fine tune the rest by getting a longer/shorter stem etc.

 

[jamesxyz]

get the best frame/ fork combo you can afford - if the rest of the componentry is a bit naff you can upgrade it bit by bit as and when you can aford it.

Have you checked ebay? I've seen good entry level bikes (originally £400-600) go for around £200-300

Good luck

 

[ttcycle]

be careful with ebay and gumtree though many dodgy and clearly stolen bikes on there - not worth it as it just encourages people to steal. I'd recommend trying to cobble a bit more cash together and plan to get a entry level bike at £500. You are right to be cautious about Halfords as they can be a bit unreliable at times and with secondhand bikes if you know your componentry then you can check out if the bike is good but sometimes you can't tell if the bike has been crashed etc or has problems that aren't first apparent and besides some bikes are just stolen ones.

If you are concerned about fit - get a mate to help you measure up- one of the posters on here mentioned the fit calculator on competitive cyclist -google it - will give you a good accurate set of measurements to look for in the geometry of a new bike.

I suppose you've read many a time on here as well to just go out and try some bikes too.

I have had a few specialized bikes and have found them to be a good fit - have been dissapointed with them this year (2010 models) as they seem to have skimped on the componentry but have increased the cost by a lot for no justified reason....I think that's shoddy to be honest and seems that they are trading off their brand name.

Welcome to CC - I'm sure others will be along soon to offer more words of wisdom!

 

[aserota]

I got myself a Specialized Allez around 2 months back. I have put 2000 miles plus on it so far and its excellent. It was bought for indoor training use on the turbo, but am planning on using it through winter. Its got a Shimano Sora Groupset, which i have found to be excellent. I have owned a carbon road bike equiped with dura-ace 7700 and there really is not a big difference between the two.

Cant recommend this bike highly enough to newbies to road cycling. I plan to upgrade to a speciallized tarmac next summer for competitions, but will keep this for all year commuting.

 

[amasidlover]

You could do worse than to pick up a steel framed (search for 531 or 653 for good quality Reynolds tubing) bike that is a fair few years old - you could get something very nice for well under £200.

Downsides are that you'll need a good LBS (Local Bike Shop) to service it and will probably be into downtube non-indexed shifters rather than flashy STI's - however as you save up more money you can either replace the componentry with modern stuff (steel frames can be adjusted to take even the latest wheelsets with 10 speed cassettes) - like I did, or sell it with little/no depreciation to put towards something newer.

 

[Kestevan]

I have a Trek 1200. Cracking starter bike - assuming it fits you (there seem to be people who fit the Trek, and people who fit the Allez, and not many who fit both).

Mixture of Tiagra and 105 groupset is a bit odd, but it all works well.

If it's been reasonably well looked after 250 sounds like a decent price.

 

[chris667]

You would do well to join a club, and seeing if any of the members have something for sale. Some very, very high quality machines change hands for far less than the going rate between clubmates.

 

[the_bing]

hey, thanks for all the replies to what is blatantly an oft asked question! the trek 1200 has been in my sights (and my mate too, we're both after road bikes together- though he has more cash than me) but it's just a question of finding a nice 2nd hand one! i think i will join a club, chris, more chance of getting a looked after bike plus other bikers to ride with!

i'm thinking an old steel framed bike might be an even better value to get into roadriding- the only concern i have is that the only time i ever rode a racer was an old thing and i fell off! think it went in a skip! but as you say, cheap as chips. i liking kicking it old-skool

oh well, food for thought! thanks again for all the advice peeps!!!!!!!!!!