Ventura cp 50 (argos)

[Justinslow]

£400 for even a winter trainer is a damm good bargain, reading the the posts above, you would struggle to get a bike with the spec listed elsewhere for £400. Sounds like its not a lightweight by any stretch however I would buy one for a winter run about, and I appreciate others would also have this as a main bike. Even some of Halfords gas pipe framed Carrera`s come on at that price. Anyway nearest thing from them is this http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/boardman-road-sport-2014 how does that compare at an extra £50 ?

To be honest I wasn't even considering spending as much as £400, so I didn't really consider the boardman bikes, I just saw the ventura in older posts at a much higher price then just happened to look the other day and saw it had dropped considerably.
Popped out this morning and completed 17.6 miles, all good, bike rode really well, but I've nothing to compare it to. For me it seems really good value, obviously first ride out I'm not pushing yet, I hardly got into top gear it was so windy! Just goes to show that whatever bike you buy - you still have to pedal the thing!
Part of my ride was one of the local tt rides 10 miles, which I did in 33 mins (the best guys do it in about 23) so some fitness required although I've hardly ridden in ages and I'm coming from a mountain bike. My mates are around 26-27mins so that's my target. My dream is to rock up next year on this and post a reasonable time -David and Goliath stuff - £400 bike v thousands, wish me luck!

 

[smokeysmoo]

Just goes to show that whatever bike you buy - you still have to pedal the thing!

This is soooo true. A mate of mine has just spent £2k on a Scott plastic jobbie, and he was telling me that he's been 'guaranteed' the bike alone will knock 1.5 hours off his Ironman bike section next year, errr OK then

 

[Justinslow]

Yeah you can get sucked into this lightest best thing but what you really need are muscles!

 

[Justinslow]

I think if Argos had advertised the bike properly instead of the comedy description and photos in the catalogue or on line and lack of a decent spec list it might have sold better, you would have thought a company such as Argos would know better and have enough experience to market their items with a bit more professionalism.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Was on Costco today and they had a carbon framed road bike for sale just over a grand for a high modulus frame and 105 grpset. Looked not bad to be honest ?

 

[Dom_500]

after nearly splashing out £1500 on a Giant Defy last week i went home to contemplate the purchase and saw this, so reserved one and picked it up today.

going home to set it up properly now and will report back, first impressions are good though for what is a £400 bike and hey, if i do get they defy i can probably make my money back on this.

 

[Justinslow]

I hope you are happy with it!

Having done a bit of research on the bike, the frame is also used on the mekk poggio 2.0 and the carrera virago both from 2012 but with differing components. The mekk is the most similar using some Ritchie parts but with better groupset components, both bikes had very good reviews when they were released and were priced around the £1000 mark.
The Ventura with a slightly lower spec groupset and being at least two years old now is still a very good bike as the basics are sound and proven (people think the frame is cheap Chinese and an unknown quantity - it is not) I think the price of £400 is still pretty good value for a reasonably well specced carbon bike!

 

[jnrmczip]

Get yourself on chain reaction mega sale on and would get a better quality of bike and also a far better service than argos will supply.

 

[albion]

Known to some of us as Sale 365.

 

[albion]

Known to some of us as Sale 365.

 

[Justinslow]

Nothing really stands out on there for similar spec around the £400 mark?

Edit, although I do agree there are beginning to be some better deals around.

 

[MrGrumpy]

Get yourself on chain reaction mega sale on and would get a better quality of bike and also a far better service than argos will supply.

show us carbon frame bike of similar spec on Chainreaction in fact anywhere? I do take your point about all probability of Argos customer service however my dealings with Argos CS shop staff has been no issue.

 

[smokeysmoo]

To be fair to Argos Mrs S had an issue with her Samsung tablet last week, (purchased last Christmas).

I told her not to expect too much and thought they would fob her off by saying they'd have to send it off to Samsung.

WRONG! They offered her a replacement or a refund on the spot, so top marks to Argos

 

[Justinslow]

 

[Justinslow]

Some close ups ^^^^^^^