Best starter road bike for £500/£600

[hughjayteens]

Hi All
Looking to get a road bike to do some training on, and having just found out I can buy it VAT and Tax free through my company to encourage me to cycle to work, I have upped the budget to £600 or so.

I know sweet FA about road bikes so any advice greatly appreciated!

Cheers

Chris

P.S Does this also mean I need to start shaving my legs and wearing all over lycra!??

[PtPt]

At that price I'd go for a Specialized Allez or a Trek.

Big american brands = big buying power = best spec for the money

It also depends on which company operates the bike to work scheme. My firm offered the Halfords vouchers. They can get you any bike imported into the UK but I decided to buy my roadbike through Condor Cycles in London, who accepted the voucher on Halfords behalf. Be prepared to spend more like 7-800 on a basic Condor road bike though.

Thinking about getting a mountain bike when the scheme renews itself in November!

Phillip

[BadgerBenji]

Don't forget the Giant brand as well as they have some great bikes at that price break.

No you dont need to shave your legs, just dont make a habit of chucking yourself on the floor

[Rob_the_Sparky]

If road bikes are like mountain bikes then look for big discounts on last years models...

[clonmult]

I went for a Trek FX 7.3 Disc (ride 2 work scheme), and by the time I got into the Evans to order it, the price had dropped from £400 to £350. Sweet, that gave me another £50 for other bits'n'pieces.

I'd highly recommend the Trek, the only caveat being that initially I found the angle of the bars a little uncomfortable.

Everything about the bike works well, brakes are excellent, saddle is comfortable. Quite light too (a lot less than my very old MTB that had been in use).

One thing to be aware of - if you are cycling to work, you're going to probably want mudguards at some time. Be cautious if you get a bike with discs, as the stays on a typical set of guards go through the point where the calipers mount. I spent ages bending the stays so that they didn't interfere with the braking.

[snotrag]

Remember to use some of that budget on a goood lightweight lid, gloves and a decent Jacket.

Most popular bikes I sold t that price were the Allez and the Giant OCR. Relatively common and you should be able to get a cracking deal at this time of year if your lucky.

The Allez is very stiff for a beginner bike, the OCR has slightly more lax geometry and a more forgiving frame.

Get some test rides! HTH.

[GreatGranny]

I have just bought a Genesis Day 00 which are made by Ridgeback.

It was £350 but the thats the cheapest.

The 01 is about £450 and the 02 is £600.

I bought it from Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative in Leeds.

They also accept Bike to Work Vouchers.

Edited by GreatGranny on Thursday 16th August 10:28

[snotrag]

GreatGranny said:

I bought it from Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative in Leeds.

Good Shop eh? I hope they were very helpful with you!

The Genesis bikes are great value.

[sjg]

Can't go wrong with a Specialized Allez at that sort of price. Bear in mind you can buy accessories with the same budget so if you need any other bits (clothing, tools, etc) you might be better off spending £500 on the bike and the remainder on the other stuff.

[GreatGranny]

snotrag said:

GreatGranny said:

I bought it from Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative in Leeds.

Good Shop eh? I hope they were very helpful with you!

The Genesis bikes are great value.

Bike was all ready when I arrived, they fitted Time ATAC pedals for me and gave me a 'goody' bag as well. Got to mess with their mapping software which maps your route from your GPS and you can also download your route onto it. Covers all of the UK.

Do you know something about them? Get a sense that you've got something to tell

[snotrag]

Ex employee! Used to work mainly upstairs on Bike sales.

Just like to hear how people get on, its a good shop with good friendly staff, glad you seem pleased with your bike.

[colacube]

hughjayteens said:

Hi All
Looking to get a road bike to do some training on, and having just found out I can buy it VAT and Tax free through my company to encourage me to cycle to work, I have upped the budget to £600 or so.

I know sweet FA about road bikes so any advice greatly appreciated!

Cheers

Chris

P.S Does this also mean I need to start shaving my legs and wearing all over lycra!??

If your company uses Halfords like mine (lots of big companies do as for some reason they think Halfords actually make bikes worth buying)to manage the bike to work scheme, one thing that they dont tell you is that halfords can supply planet x bikes through them. For £1000 (which works out at about £550 in real terms to you) you can get a full carbon fibre road bike with some pretty good kit on it. The only let down is the wheels, but you can always upgrade later. You really wont find a faster bike for the money other than a time trial machine!

Ps. the shaved legs and lycra are not necessary, but do feel good!