First Road bike choices

[Gecko1978]

Hi all hoping to get some opinions to help me make a choice between 2 bikes I have looked at.

So background and use

Me 40 yrs old male only last month or so begun to cycle (using my wife's hybrid from BTwin)

Average distance 25 to 45 miles
Roads, cycle ways, toe paths etc no serious off road

Bikes I have seen and am considering are

GT GTR Adventure bike Evans cycles circa £700 (With health care discount it comes in around £500)

https://www.evanscycles.com/gt-gtr-sport-2019-adve...


BT Twin - Triban RC 500

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/rc-500-disc-road-bike-...

Comfort on longer rides and a touch of speed (wife's bike runs out of gears down hill)

As its my firstr foray into road bikes and I have not ridden much since uni I am not wanting to spend £1000+ on day one if I decide at the end of summer it s not for me.

Any views will be well recived

Thanks

[InitialDave]

See this thread for what appears to be a right bargain someone dug up (plus another poster mentions a code to get it even cheaper):

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Gecko1978]

sadly above link is now dead but thanks anyway

[InitialDave]

Ahhh, that's a pity, it was a Calibre Rivelin 2 for under £300, very nice spec for the money.

I think the idea of a gravel/adventure bike sounds promising from what you've described as your intended use, but the spec on the GT doesn't seem quite as good as the B'Twin to me.

[Gecko1978]

Thanks exactly the feed back i wanted as the jargon was confusing and when I went into another shop the encouraged me to buy a specilaized diverge at over £1000 which felt like too much of an investment when I am at the suck it an see stage

[Lovey1]

still seems very good value for money and at the suck it and see stage I wouldn't spend too much
https://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15919182/calibre-dark...

However in 18 months time you will be back on here asking what is the best Carbon framed, Dura Ace equipped race machine to buy :-)

[anonymous-user]

Gecko - it depends on how much you are going to get into it. If you spend £700 now on one of those bikes, then fancy an upgrade in a year, it's pretty much £700 down the pan as you'll struggle to sell those on for a decent price.

A quality second hand bike is always worth a look. How tall are you?

[lllnorrislll]

I have the rc520 rather than an rc500 and would recommend it as no other 105 spec bike comes near on price. OEM tyres are pants though and the hydro calliper seem ok and less faff than mechanical.

Planet X keeps putting out cheap cx style bikes for that price point. Would give a good base for future upgrades.

[Gecko1978]

I am around 5'11 tried a large frame in Decathlon. I am aiming to cycle once or twice a week 25 to 45 miles a time (maybe more time permitting). I am not wanting to set records or race I quite like the fact I can just get my head down and cover some decent miles burn some calories and when its sunny enjoy the weather etc.

I can't run due to disc injury and that also meant when I went on some off road stuff near where I live I was put off an MTB etc. So road bike it is and I have found many good cycle routes around St Albans and surrounding area which mean most of the time I am not holding up traffic.

An while I may spend £700 on the GT (with discounts its a £400 bike) the B-twin is £529 no discount avalible but I found it was less of a hard sell compared to the place I went to in the city where I work (not Evans cycles as it happens). I am sure the £1000+ bikes are great but its a lot of cash to burn if you use it twice then call it a day.

I will say I was curious as to how much you could actually spend and BMC stuff does look nice but really I am never going to need anything like that.

[anonymous-user]

You can get something like this for £700 https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2...

[davepen]

I was in a similar position 5 months ago, and got the RC500.

My last bike was a 12 speed Rayleigh, bought 35 years ago. Used it to commute as a Vac Student. A few years ago it was stolen, why? A couple of years later I thought I might (or might not) get back to cycling. As a powerful built TVR driver... well this is pistonheads., did I need a light weight bike?

So what to get, how much to spend, would it be a six day wonder? Decathalon appeared to have a good reputation, the old Btwin 500 looked similar. Started looking at gear set hierarchies. Now I had Huret on the down tube, so indexed and combined with the brakes was new! How do these work? So pre series, Sora, 105 or DuraAce? Decided on Sora as that was about the budget, so considered the old BTwin 520, which is a little old fashioned with the Triple on the front. Guy in shop said try this, then new, RC500, wasn't convinced about discs - but appears to the way that even Road bikes are going. Possibly helped that the shop had my size (XL) available to take. The Compact front cogs 50/34 helps with hills, compared to my traditional 50/42. The gears cover as much as the Triple. Looked at more expensive options, or second hand, but early days what did I need. So I want back for the RC500.

Now I used to watch Laurent Fignon on the Tour de France on Channel 4, but these days the wife says I have to have a helmet, and padded tights help. I bought in January so lights and mudguards were fitted. So the budget increased! Getting the mudguard stay round the brake actuator was a pain, so I used the front pannier bolt hole instead. The bike and I have now done nearly 500 miles, I was very rusty at the start, but it and I are getting there. Some adjustment on the cables needed along the way, but no "issues".

So the RC500 was the right bike for me at the time, it is set up in "a commuter spec", so I can go out after the rain, but I haven't yet taken it on the local disused railway footpath. I see some people saying on-line they have a winter bike, so possibly next year I can have a Summer bike too

[Barchettaman]

After-sales support at Decathon is likely to be more solid.

Evans are lurching from crisis to crisis and are likely to go pop at any moment, it seems.

Anyway, two nice bikes. Our family have had several Triban/B Twin bikes from Decathon and they've all been good. My wife has just clicked over 3500km on hers in just over a year.

[Gecko1978]

While the GT with discounts looks a cheaper option the Triban at Decathlon looks a bit better in terms of support and package and as was noted above Evans are having issues.

So RC500 or 520 the differnce is £200 which covers cost of helmet shoes an pedals so I suspect I will go with cheaper model but will see. thanks for all the advice

[Gecko1978]

so this is what I bought

[pic] IMG-20190829-WA0000 by Craig Tucker, on Flickr[/pic]

Edited by Gecko1978 on Friday 30th August 23:23

[Barchettaman]

You’ll have a blast on that! Hope you got a decent deal.

[Gecko1978]

Barchettaman said:

You’ll have a blast on that! Hope you got a decent deal.

can't say as was special favour from a friend who works for that company but suffice to say I got a bike way beyond what I could have afforded but am really happy with it.