Advice Needed on First Road Bike

[DanB7290]

So, I've had my Hybrid bike for just over a year now (nothing fancy, just something that Halfrauds had on special to get me to and from Uni a bit quicker than walking), and I've come to love cycling again. I used to ride my MTB everywhere up to the day I got my driving licence, then after that I sort of forgot about it. Until I realised that the sheer cost of keeping a car while being a student just wasn't worth it. Now I'm having loads of fun and cycling much more, I even made it out to Westhill and back to Aberdeen again (probably nothing to the more experienced cyclist, but to 16st me, quite an achievement). But my £150 Halfrauds special isn't the most reliable thing in the world, or the lightest, it's not very comfortable and built down to a price. So, I'm looking at getting a road bike. Up to now, I've always thought that a road bike would be pointless as all the weight saving and aerodynamic stuff would be completely negated when I hopped on (I have the drag coefficient of a JCB). But now, after plenty of cycling mixed with gym sessions 4 times a week, I'm beginning to think it'll be worth it. Here comes the downside.

My budget is, shall we say modest. £300 is the maximum I can really afford to spend, and even then I'll be living off Tesco's value horse burgers for a month (joke, but you get the idea). I was all set to go for the Carrera TDF at Halfrauds, but that seems to have increased in price quite a lot. A little searching of the internet led me to the Btwin Triban 3, which is only available at Decathlon (nearest one to me is Edinburgh, 160 miles away. Bugger.) for £300. The internet brings up rave reviews of it, is this the one I should be going for, or can the PH wisdom guide me to something better for £300 or less?

I know I'm not going to get the mother of all bikes for this kind of money, but surely whatever I end up with will be better than a Halfrauds special?

[80sMatchbox]

Both the bikes that you mentioned seem to be the best with your budget... I've not ridden either, but never heard a bad word about either.

The other option is to buy second hand, though not sure on that's going to be easy within a reasonable distance to you. I managed to buy a Specialized Allez last year for not much more than you budget, and it's been great. For the price, I can't fault it. Once I make a decision, it will be relegated to being my winter bike.

[Greendubber]

I got myself a Triban 3 to go to work and back on, it's fantastic value for money.

Mine was parked next to a Carrera the other day at work and side by side the BTwin is the nicer bike by a long way. Not only in terms of quality but it looks like a much more expensive bike if that matters to you.

For 300 quid it's a no brainer, plus it'll have a huge warranty from Decathlon which a second hand bike won't.

[Black can man]

Keep money aside for decent tyers, you will be forever repairing or replacing tyers & inner tubes with budget end road bikes,

[cst]

Black can man said:

Keep money aside for decent tyers, you will be forever repairing or replacing tyers & inner tubes with budget end road bikes,

Do you mean the tyres on cheap bikes are naff or that cheap bikes will ruin more tyres and inner tubes?

[cst]

OP - I bought a second hand, carrera tdf from someone who had got the Olympic/wiggo bug then decided they didn't like it.

It cost me less than half the rrp and and had covered <75 miles, it was spotless.

I've since upgraded to SPD SL pedals and shoes and I will get some new decent tyres shortly, all in excluding the shoes when finished the cost will be well still under £200. I think the carrera is a good bike and really enjoy riding it, but then I am a road bike newbie and its really the only road bike I've ridden.

Just search on eBay road bike nearest first and see what comes up!

[Greendubber]

The tyres and tubes on mine have been fine. I'll replace then when they need replacing, there's certainly no point wasting cash and replacing brand new tyres.

[Black can man]

cst said:

Black can man said:

Keep money aside for decent tyers, you will be forever repairing or replacing tyers & inner tubes with budget end road bikes,

Do you mean the tyres on cheap bikes are naff or that cheap bikes will ruin more tyres and inner tubes?

Yes the tyres on cheap budget bikes are not up yo much,

[richardxjr]

Ebay is yr friend. Bought 2 good Giant bikes in the last 3 months, each just under your budget. (Rapid flat bar roadie and XTC mtb). You will need some clipless pedals and shoes though and perhaps padded bib shorts, jersey, jacket. Sports Direct do their own line in these, and they also apparently fit the larger person too.

I upgraded the Rapid's wheelset to Planet-X with Michelin Pro Race 3 tyres, as new, for £80, thanks again to ebay and that's shaved a kilo of rotating mass.

[Gizmoish]

Greendubber said:

I got myself a Triban 3 to go to work and back on, it's fantastic value for money.

Mine was parked next to a Carrera the other day at work and side by side the BTwin is the nicer bike by a long way. Not only in terms of quality but it looks like a much more expensive bike if that matters to you.

For 300 quid it's a no brainer, plus it'll have a huge warranty from Decathlon which a second hand bike won't.

I agree - had a good look over these the other day and they're perfectly good bikes for naff-all money.

[Accelebrate]

You don't seem to be able to go far wrong with the Triban 3, as a first road bike it'd probably be amazing.

I very nearly bought one recently, but plumped for a secondhand Ribble instead. I was put off the Triban because I knew it wouldn't be long before I'd probably want to upgrade the wheels, tyres and some parts on the groupset. Once you start looking at upgrades the Triban doesn't make so much sense.

[Greendubber]

For a first road bike they're perfectly capable. As and when things wear out the replace/upgrade but I wouldn't let that put someone off buying one, although I think some people are more worried about what other people think of their bike rather than just riding it.

[Funkateer]

Accelebrate said:

You don't seem to be able to go far wrong with the Triban 3, as a first road bike it'd probably be amazing.

I very nearly bought one recently, but plumped for a secondhand Ribble instead. I was put off the Triban because I knew it wouldn't be long before I'd probably want to upgrade the wheels, tyres and some parts on the groupset. Once you start looking at upgrades the Triban doesn't make so much sense.

I've done over 2000 miles on my Triban 3 and have only replaced the tyres with Continental Gatorskins (recently after the soft Hutchinson originals wore out and started to bulge alarmingly).

All other components are doing fine, so far, though the wheels do benefit from the occasional truing up, and may get replaced at some point with Mavics or similar if it takes my fancy.

[yellowjack]

Black can man said:

cst said:

Black can man said:

Keep money aside for decent tyers, you will be forever repairing or replacing tyers & inner tubes with budget end road bikes,

Do you mean the tyres on cheap bikes are naff or that cheap bikes will ruin more tyres and inner tubes?

Yes the tyres on cheap budget bikes are not up yo much,

Put it this way. When I bought a £1500 (RRP) bike (for my 40th Birthday) the first thing I did was swap out the tyres. The tyres supplied retailed at £15 each at the time. I swapped to Schwalbe Ultremos, far better for both comfort and grip. On a budget bike, the tyres will often be so 'low rent' that you won't find them in stores to buy on their own. Hard, thick rubber, with little 'feel' or grip will do you no favours when cornering, and if the side wall doesn't have the requisite 'flex', the whole experience can become somewhat uncomfortable quite quickly.

Decent branded tyres don't need to break the bank, either. There's almost always at least one of the online stores running some promotion or other, or doing 'end of line' sales on a tyre type. Budget for somewhere between £20 to £40 per tyre - it sounds a lot, but it will make a massive difference to the way your bike rides. just a quick search reveals..... http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cycle/road-race-tyres/?o=2... ...... 30 different 700c road tyres under £25 from one site alone. Prices starting from ~£8

[richardxjr]

I think you'll want to swap out the wheels and tyres on any budget bike as soon as you've done a few hundred miles on it. A £100 wheelset will make a noticeable difference; this is what £1-2k bikes are often equipped with.

[Accelebrate]

Funkateer said:

I've done over 2000 miles on my Triban 3 and have only replaced the tyres with Continental Gatorskins (recently after the soft Hutchinson originals wore out and started to bulge alarmingly).

All other components are doing fine, so far, though the wheels do benefit from the occasional truing up, and may get replaced at some point with Mavics or similar if it takes my fancy.

I didn't mean to suggest that the standard kit isn't good for anything, as a first road bike or a cheap winter bike they look brilliant. I was looking for something to sit alongside the flat barred bike that I use for commuting, over the years I've treated it to a couple of wheel and tyre upgrades and have seen noticeable improvements. I knew that I would quickly get upgradeitus with a standard Triban, and it doesn't take a lot of upgrades before something around the £500-600 mark looks like a better buy.

Standard PH response, just spend more etc etc...

[anonymous-user]

Or just get the Triban 5

[scubadude]

Another vote for second hand, you don't need to be brave on ebay, often LBS will have a few trade-ins they've serviced that are safe buys.

When I got back into road cycling my brother offered to give me his "old commuting bike" I didn't have high expectations but its turned out to be a 10yr old Specialized Allez Comp dripping to high end components!

Don't be proud for your first bike, just get something usable. After a few miles you'll have a far better idea what kind of bike you actually want.

[DanB7290]

Thanks for the input guys, 2nd hand may well end up being the way forward, but at the same time I am extremely impressed by the Triban 3 (budget won't stretch to a Triban 5 right now; to be honest the £300 budget is probably too steep, priority number one right now is getting a new flat, after that and some words with the OH, then the Triban 3 is a possibility). The Triban 3 stands out particularly because of the carbon forks. While I'm not quite at the stage where it'll make a noticeable difference to me, I turn into an 8 year old child looking at shiny things whenever I see carbon fibre on anything (it's why I have carbonfibre-like iPhone and laptop covers. Not genuine CF obviously, that'd be too pricey!) I just like the way it looks, but as many have said here, that's not really a good enough reason for getting a certain bike.

To start off, I just need something that'll be better than my Halfrauds Hybrid thing, which when riding uphill feels as if it weighs more than I do, is very slow, woefully built using poor quality components etc. I spotted this thing on Amazon for £180 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Muddyfox-Pace-Road-Bike-Me... Obviously it's a lot cheaper than my budget, and won't be anywhere near as good as the Triban 3 or Carrera TDF that I'm aspiring to. I can only seem to find Muddyfox stuff in Sports Direct, guessing it's one of their own brands or something. For the money, it doesn't seem too bad, but what does PH think?

For the record, just looking at my Halfrauds special, it is apparently an Apollo Veho R700 hybrid. Looking at various online reviews, it's perhaps one of the worst things I could have chosen. However, for the first month or so of owning it, I thought it was amazing. These days I'm a bit wiser and see it for the pile of cheap crap it is. So I suppose the TL:DR version of this post is; is the Muddyfox Pace which I have linked to, at £180, going to be better than what I ride right now?

[Gizmoish]

Do you want a road bike or a piece of cheap steel bent into bike shape?

If you're not sure about full road bike-ness try a flat bar roadie like a Carrera Gryphon or Ridgeback Flight...