What bike, £2K new to roadies
Discussion
I bought a new mountain bike (Canyon Nerve XC9) about 16 months ago and been more than happy with it but now also fancy a roady so that I can work on my fitness a but more. I am just about to undergo surgery that may involve replacing my L4/L5 Disc so not sure how long recuperation will be but intend on getting on the bike ASAP.
So, given an approx £2K budget what should I be looking at? I want to include (road) helmet, pedals and shoes in that but I have everything else for now. I am 6' (maybe a bit less next week) and 13 stone ish, pretty fit in that I can run 8Km without too many issues ans regularly MTB 20 or 30Km at a weekend. Also happy to buy an older model at a reduced price rather than spend a fortune just for this years sticker set.
Things I like, for no particular reason other than they are in budget'ish and look nice:
Specialized Roubaix Comp
Canyon Ulimate CF
Colnago Ace Ultegra
Pinarello FP Due 105
Felt AR 5
Thoughts?
So, given an approx £2K budget what should I be looking at? I want to include (road) helmet, pedals and shoes in that but I have everything else for now. I am 6' (maybe a bit less next week) and 13 stone ish, pretty fit in that I can run 8Km without too many issues ans regularly MTB 20 or 30Km at a weekend. Also happy to buy an older model at a reduced price rather than spend a fortune just for this years sticker set.
Things I like, for no particular reason other than they are in budget'ish and look nice:
Specialized Roubaix Comp
Canyon Ulimate CF
Colnago Ace Ultegra
Pinarello FP Due 105
Felt AR 5
Thoughts?
Canyon http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=30...
http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=30...
Rose with free delivery ATM http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/rose-carbon-pro...
http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/rose-xeon-rs-50...
Any of those bikes will offer better VFM than anything else any you'll never feel the need to upgrade anything on them.
The problem with buying online without being able to try a bike is that you don't have any experience of what sort of geo you need on a road bike, but Canyon's fit calculator may help.
http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=30...
Rose with free delivery ATM http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/rose-carbon-pro...
http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/rose-xeon-rs-50...
Any of those bikes will offer better VFM than anything else any you'll never feel the need to upgrade anything on them.
The problem with buying online without being able to try a bike is that you don't have any experience of what sort of geo you need on a road bike, but Canyon's fit calculator may help.
Giant Defy Advanced 2 2012 RRP is 2.5k I picked one up for 1800, full Ultegrs, it's a great bike.
http://www.rutlandcycling.com/42767/Giant-Defy-Adv...

http://www.rutlandcycling.com/42767/Giant-Defy-Adv...

Get a Mekk Poggio P2.5 Ultegra and spend the balance on upgrading the wheelset.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/mekk-2g-poggio-p25-ultegra...
(Or you can do what I did, and slowly upgrade almost everything).
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/mekk-2g-poggio-p25-ultegra...
(Or you can do what I did, and slowly upgrade almost everything).
The obvious/boring choice. Canyon ultimate CF, you know they are the best value for money out there and very capable so it may be the boring option but it makes the most sense....
The leftifeld choice: Primera (as an example) have some very tasty 2011/2012 Argon 18 Framesets on sale like this for £900....
You can pick up a Sram Rival groupset from Shiny bikes for around £500 and that leaves you £600 for the rest. 3T bar, stem and bars will only be £200 although you can save a bit here by using Ritchey WCS or Deda kit, Campag Zonda/Shimano RS80 C24 wheels are around £300 from the usual suspects leaving at least £100 for saddle and sundries.
Thats an awesome bike for the money and will tip the scales around 18lbs. Be brave!...
The leftifeld choice: Primera (as an example) have some very tasty 2011/2012 Argon 18 Framesets on sale like this for £900....
You can pick up a Sram Rival groupset from Shiny bikes for around £500 and that leaves you £600 for the rest. 3T bar, stem and bars will only be £200 although you can save a bit here by using Ritchey WCS or Deda kit, Campag Zonda/Shimano RS80 C24 wheels are around £300 from the usual suspects leaving at least £100 for saddle and sundries.
Thats an awesome bike for the money and will tip the scales around 18lbs. Be brave!...
pablo said:
The obvious/boring choice. Canyon ultimate CF, you know they are the best value for money out there and very capable so it may be the boring option but it makes the most sense....
The leftifeld choice: Primera (as an example) have some very tasty 2011/2012 Argon 18 Framesets on sale like this for £900....
You can pick up a Sram Rival groupset from Shiny bikes for around £500 and that leaves you £600 for the rest. 3T bar, stem and bars will only be £200 although you can save a bit here by using Ritchey WCS or Deda kit, Campag Zonda/Shimano RS80 C24 wheels are around £300 from the usual suspects leaving at least £100 for saddle and sundries.
Thats an awesome bike for the money and will tip the scales around 18lbs. Be brave!...
And I get to build it........which will be an absolute disaster The leftifeld choice: Primera (as an example) have some very tasty 2011/2012 Argon 18 Framesets on sale like this for £900....
You can pick up a Sram Rival groupset from Shiny bikes for around £500 and that leaves you £600 for the rest. 3T bar, stem and bars will only be £200 although you can save a bit here by using Ritchey WCS or Deda kit, Campag Zonda/Shimano RS80 C24 wheels are around £300 from the usual suspects leaving at least £100 for saddle and sundries.
Thats an awesome bike for the money and will tip the scales around 18lbs. Be brave!...

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/bike-of...
Having owned the Giant Defy Advanced 3 a few years ago which is basically the same as the new advanced 2 (ie it's all 105 group set) I can confirm that this would be an excellent bike if you are new to being a roadie. It is what I started on and it is more than perfectly capable.
Mods may now close the thread, there is nothing left to discuss.

Having owned the Giant Defy Advanced 3 a few years ago which is basically the same as the new advanced 2 (ie it's all 105 group set) I can confirm that this would be an excellent bike if you are new to being a roadie. It is what I started on and it is more than perfectly capable.
Mods may now close the thread, there is nothing left to discuss.

Rob_T said:
http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/article/bike-of...
Having owned the Giant Defy Advanced 3 a few years ago which is basically the same as the new advanced 2 (ie it's all 105 group set) I can confirm that this would be an excellent bike if you are new to being a roadie. It is what I started on and it is more than perfectly capable.
Mods may now close the thread, there is nothing left to discuss.

I was just about to say that I don't really "like" Giant bikes......But that is a bit nice.Having owned the Giant Defy Advanced 3 a few years ago which is basically the same as the new advanced 2 (ie it's all 105 group set) I can confirm that this would be an excellent bike if you are new to being a roadie. It is what I started on and it is more than perfectly capable.
Mods may now close the thread, there is nothing left to discuss.

tuffer said:
I was just about to say that I don't really "like" Giant bikes......But that is a bit nice.
Why don't you like them? Because of how they look? Fair enough but the Defy bikes are consistently rated well - I have one. But certainly buy the latest Cycling Plus as they have rated a lot of bikes in your price range - many of them would be fine for you but yeah the Defy wins.mudshark said:
tuffer said:
I was just about to say that I don't really "like" Giant bikes......But that is a bit nice.
Why don't you like them? Because of how they look? Fair enough but the Defy bikes are consistently rated well - I have one. But certainly buy the latest Cycling Plus as they have rated a lot of bikes in your price range - many of them would be fine for you but yeah the Defy wins.okgo said:
Well you know if you want the best bike for the money then you have to buy the canyon, everything else will be a better looking 2nd place with worse kit.
That's what I thought but the Canyon was tested as part of the Bike Radar test mentioned above and was still beaten by the Giant. I am inclined to agree though, I would rather buy from Canyon direct and get a good deal than to buy a more common brand only to see the same bike with 37% off in 6 months time. okgo said:
I wouldn't pay too much attention to Bikeradar reviews, I've found them totally contradictory in the past. The only person I will read and trust the opinion of is Jeff Jones.
Yep, got half way through the review and it switched to a review of the Cannondale, kind of lost credibility after that. Also noted by a few people that the bike tested was not a standard spec 9.0 but the 9.0 ES which is £2,049.Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff


