How much better is an £800 road bike than a £600 one?

[otolith]

And where is the best value in that price range?

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Well, for what it's worth, I was looking in this price range last year.

The two prices you mention separated a 'Specialized Secteur' road bike from a 'Specialized Sectuer Elite'.

The Elite model, for another £200 over the normal £600 model, brought Shimano 105 throughout, carbon forks, better wheels and tyres, and from my detailed investigations, many more quality details throughout. Basically, 200 quid bought way more than 200 quid's worth of upgrades, if you see what I mean.

I guess I could suggest that spending that extra 200 quid made my choice of bike more into the 'professional' category than the 'casual' category, if that makes sense?

Ok, it's no Pinarello Dogma, that's for sure - but other cycling buddies were well impressed with the spec and quality for the money.

Like anything, I guess it's a case of spend as much as you can afford - you can get the best value on spec and fixtures at purchase stage - which would cost you way more if buying cheap and then upgrading when you can?

[anonymous-user]

marginal gains to quote Dave Brailsford, everything will be a bit better and the overall package is greater than the sum of its parts.

personally i'd look at the £600 mark though, thats where a lot of manufacturers pitch their entry level sportive type bikes and the next major price bracket is £1000 becuase its a big round number and the majority of cyclescheme limits.

[nammynake]

http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=30...

[Rocksteadyeddie]

Pablo makes some good points about price breaks. I would be looking to buy used though. There are loads of bikes that have literally only been round the block a couple of times and you'll pay 60% of the new price for them.

[bakerstreet]

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

Well, for what it's worth, I was looking in this price range last year.

The two prices you mention separated a 'Specialized Secteur' road bike from a 'Specialized Sectuer Elite'.

The Elite model, for another £200 over the normal £600 model, brought Shimano 105 throughout, carbon forks, better wheels and tyres, and from my detailed investigations, many more quality details throughout. Basically, 200 quid bought way more than 200 quid's worth of upgrades, if you see what I mean.

I guess I could suggest that spending that extra 200 quid made my choice of bike more into the 'professional' category than the 'casual' category, if that makes sense?

Ok, it's no Pinarello Dogma, that's for sure - but other cycling buddies were well impressed with the spec and quality for the money.

Like anything, I guess it's a case of spend as much as you can afford - you can get the best value on spec and fixtures at purchase stage - which would cost you way more if buying cheap and then upgrading when you can?

Carbon forks come in at under £600 now.

Also, my bike had a list price of £825 and I paid £659. Also, I don't see many £800 bikes with a full 105 group set fitted. If you are looking at £800, I would up your budget to £1000 to £1100 as that can get get you a brand new Planet-X or maybe a Ribble Gran Fondo.

I have a Giant and they are worth a look. I think you can even get one of their Defy Composites for £1100 if you hunt around. Will be a Tiagra/Sora group set though.

[Vladimir]

My rarely used Allez Elite was £800 and did well for me on two tris. All Tiagra. 2010 model so out of date now!

[otolith]

It looks to me as if bikes at the two price points are often the same or similar frame with one having basic fittings and one upgraded - I guess what I'm trying to get a feel for is how tangible the improvements in performance, reliability or durability are for that kind of spend.

[Vladimir]

At the time the model down was about £200 less. It was all Sora kit which meant a dodgy shifter arrangement. Think the wheels were slightly worse but not much in it really.

[Steve vRS]

I was looking for a £600 bike this time last year.

After a week or 2 I was looking for a £800 bike.

I ended up buying a £999 Giant Defy 1.

Man maths made me do it as the increase in cost was more than offset by the improvement in components (105 throughout, carbon bits etc.)

Steve

[MocMocaMoc]

I might suggest spending either 600, or 1000!

As above, a grand buys a very tasty bike! 800 buys slightly better than 600.

600 buys a 'good' roady.

I bought a Boardman Comp for something like 600? It's a little rocket! Sure the carbon guys are going to be pulling away, and the fancy group set guys are going to be shifting smoother and have the bragging rights in the pub... But the limiting factor on my rides, and what I take the most enjoyment from seeing improve, are the two long white things attached to my arse!

Just my humble cycling view - upgrade your legs before anything else ; )

[otolith]

Steve vRS said:

I was looking for a £600 bike this time last year.

After a week or 2 I was looking for a £800 bike.

I ended up buying a £999 Giant Defy 1.

Man maths made me do it as the increase in cost was more than offset by the improvement in components (105 throughout, carbon bits etc.)

Steve

Yes, that's exactly how the budget has got pushed out to £800. We will be buying two bikes, though, so the impact of budget creep is doubled.

[scubadude]

MocMocaMoc said:

I bought a Boardman Comp for something like 600? It's a little rocket! Sure the carbon guys are going to be pulling away, and the fancy group set guys are going to be shifting smoother and have the bragging rights in the pub... But the limiting factor on my rides, and what I take the most enjoyment from seeing improve, are the two long white things attached to my arse!

Just my humble cycling view - upgrade your legs before anything else ; )

Agreed and I would suggest you'll earn plenty of Pub bragging rights for riding past the Carbon everything weenies in your £600 bike on stronger legs.

I would only pay more for something that adds considerably to the experience at entrance level, as others have said- Carbon fork is worth alittle extra.

IMVHO You should budget for a new saddle too, not yet bought a bike where the stock saddle fitted my ar*e, seems to be an area the manufacturers save money, never see a top end bike with a top end saddle, just the cheapest they can get away with :-)

[otolith]

scubadude said:

Agreed and I would suggest you'll earn plenty of Pub bragging rights for riding past the Carbon everything weenies in your £600 bike on stronger legs.

I'm a forty year old bloke cycling for fun and fitness with the mrs - we've been using Specialized Hardrock mountain bikes for a few years, but last summer were covering greater distances and spending more time on tarmac than gravel. The idea is to get something nicer to use on the road, but we aren't going to be winning any races!

[donfisher]

A lot of what would've put me off £600 or so bikes historically was the Sora thumb shifters. Now they've ditched them it makes bikes in that bracket a lot more appealing.

[mrmr96]

otolith said:

Yes, that's exactly how the budget has got pushed out to £800. We will be buying two bikes, though, so the impact of budget creep is doubled.

Pfft, £400 bike for the wife, £800 bike for you. Total is still only £1,200.

Jobbed?

[rhinochopig]

One thing to consider is that the margins on bikes are very small, whereas the margins on components are typically huge - BIL used to run a bike shop so this is his advice.

Therefore, you're typically better off buying the bike closest to your ideal spec because upgrading later will cost you more.

Having said all that, you're also better off buying the bike with the cheaper group-set and better frame as components do wear out so will need replacing in the future.

The other thing I would add is that other than wheels there is very little difference functionally between the lower spec components than the higher spec kit. IME the biggest difference can be had by upgrading the cables rather than the components. Wheels are a different matter however...

[yellowjack]

Not strictly relevant as it was a while ago, but in 2010 I decided that for my 40th I would buy myself a new bike. Budget was set at £850, with a maximum limit of £1000. After lots of deliberation, and chopping the shortlist down to 3 bikes, from Merida, Blue, and Orbea, I headed to the shop to discuss placing an order. We'd got quite a way toward me signing up to a Merida RoadRace 903, when Stuart, the owner, had a brainwave. Hold on, he said, I'm just going to phone the importer. Armed with the knowledge that I was willing to push the budget to £1000, he came back with a potential upgrade - two models up, to the 905 with full Ultegra, for £1133.35, a 25% saving on the list price. This was enough, with an 'accessories deal', to get me to bite.

For comparison, here's the 903 (18-speed Tiagra group) http://www.merida-bikes.com/en_int/bike/2010/192/R... that I was initially going to buy,

and here's the 905 I bought (20 speed Ultegra group) http://www.merida-bikes.com/en_int/bike/2010/189/R... two rungs up the groupset ladder, with a better, lighter Alu frame too.

To be honest, with judicious use of man-maths, I wasn't far off going Carbon with http://www.merida-bikes.com/en_int/bike/2010/187/R...
or http://www.merida-bikes.com/en_int/bike/2010/186/R... but fear of the wife's reaction to any further 'budget creep' scuppered that idea.

The reason for the discount being available was that, despite it being a model year 2010 bike, in October 2010, the new 2011 bikes had been announced, and the stores/wholesalers/importers wanted rid of any remaining 2010 stock. Man-maths was also in full effect, but I think the bike and accessories were worth the £1,234 I paid in total, for a bike that was 'ready to ride', including Shimano R131B shoes, Wellgo R3 pedals and cleats, Elite bottle cage and Merida bottle, plus a couple of tubes and a repair kit. I 'saved' >£450 off RRP on the package, simply by buying 'last year's bike' which at the time was still current. If you can bring yourself around to the idea of Aluminium as a frame material, or look for a previous model year bike, there are potential deals to be done that might net you a £1000/£1100 bike for around the £800 mark. Older stock is 'dead' money to whoever owns it, a depreciating asset, so it may well be the case that a shop will sell close to cost price, sometimes less, because the cash can be re-invested in 'this season' stock. It's well worth giving it a shot.

As an aside, I could have got my bike price matched, from a shop further afield, but by the time I factored in the cost in time/fuel to collect it, even the more generous accessories package from the second shop wasn't enough to tempt me further afield.

Back at home, my local bike shop looks after me with a good deal every time I shop there. That comes from having bought 6 bikes in total from them, 5 of those in the last 4 years. You just have to make sure that you are seen in the store reasonably regularly, strike up conversation with staff/manager even if you are not buying, learn peoples names, get them to like you and to believe that you are a potential sale whenever you walk in. In short, build a relationship, and that can last a lifetime.


Current Merida stuff:

@ c£600 http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Merida-Race-Lite-900-2013-... with a mix of low-end Shimano 2200/2300/Sora on an Alu frame

@ c£1000 http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Merida-Race-Lite-904-2013-... with a mostly Shimano 105 group and own-brand brakes on an Alu frame

At these prices/specs, it looks like some of the value has gone out of the Merida range. Good thing I bought when I did

[otolith]

mrmr96 said:

Pfft, £400 bike for the wife, £800 bike for you. Total is still only £1,200.

Jobbed?

Not a chance!

She's already researched it and asked around. Her brother is into bikes, and she's a project manager surrounded by developers many of whom are bike geeks.

When I asked her what she was considering, she sent me this;

Ribble Winter Trainer £670
Ribble Evo Pro Carbon Naked from £780
Ribble Sportive 7046 from £710
KHS Flite 500 £800 (might be discounted)
Bianchi VIA Narone 7 £775
Specialized Allez Sport Compact £725
Fuji Finest 1.3 Compact £720
Cannondale CAAD 8 Sora £700
Cannondale Synapse Sora £700
Wilier Montegrappa Sora £775
Scott Speedster 50 £700
Scott Contessa 45 £700
Scott Speedster 40 £800
Trek Lexa S £700
Felt F85 £800
Giant Defy 2 £750

Note that there's only one bike under £700 there... I also noticed that while researching the Contessa 45 she seemed to be showing more interest in the £900 version with carbon fork and higher spec fittings

[Gargamel]

Does anyone actually buy Fuji bikes ?