I'm down to two bikes....

[HariboLecter]

It's the age-old question, and I'm sorry to do it... but it has come to this, and I apologise.

I'm buying my first proper road bike this year on my Halfords Cycle to Work scheme. I have the inevitable £1000 to play with, and I'm down to two bikes, and for these reasons;


I'd like something a little different. I'm not savvy enough to detect the subtle nuances in detail among the upper-end of the £1k bracket bikes, but I'd still like a good bike for my money. To that end, I appreciate that the Scott Speedster 20 and Giant Defy 1 are very good bikes, but I'd like something that isn't going to be quite so common in the bike shed. I want to avoid potential BB30 issues (I had been set on a Cannondale at around the £1k mark and also looked at the Boardman ally Race Team) and I've been given some advice by my LBS.

So, I'm down to the Lapierre Audacio 400 and the Ghost Race 4900. My LBS tells me they're very similar, I've seen good reviews of both bikes, and spent days researching what to go for. I'm now stuck at these two (can't go for Ribble or Planet X as I can't source them through my C2W scheme).


So, any help would be appreciated. Does anyone have any experience of both bike? Own either/or?

I'm sure I couldn't go wrong with either, but I'd like a push in either direction 'cos it's driving me nuts now.



Thankings.

[Fluffsri]

Ask the LBS for a test ride and then that will help you to mind your own mind up.:-)

[CoolC]

Can Halfords supply all those brands?

That's a bummer for me, as we are locked into the Evans scheme so much less brands to choose from.

Sorry can't help with your question

[S6PNJ]

HariboLecter said:

I want to avoid potential BB30 issues.

What potential issues might this be please? I'm also in the market for a 1k bike but can't use C2W so Planet X is available to me. One bike uses BB30, the other one doesn't.

[yellowjack]

Just going on looks and specification and sticking with your shortlist, I'd buy the Ghost. They are both very much alike in terms of what's hung from them, so the big difference will be the frame. The Ghost is (if manufacturer's claims are to be believed) >0.5kg lighter than the Lapierre, and to me, the Ghost just "looks right". Whether that's down to a more traditional/conservative colour palette, or the straight fork and tubes, I don't know, but looking at the two bikes side by side I'd pick the Ghost.

I have to say at this point that I've not ridden either bike, nor actually seen them 'in the metal', so my opinion is based only what I can see on t'internet. But you did solicit my opinion, so there it is.

Personally, I would want to look to a higher price bracket, to get a minimum of a full 105 groupset, but I don't know if you are allowed to top up the budget, or whether you would want to. Ultimately, seeing as my current bike is Ultegra equipped, anything below 105 would be a downgrade too far.

Damn it all, you've got me looking at new bikes now:

Ghost Race 5000 Actinum - 105 @ c£1200 (aluminium frame) *minor budget creep
Ghost Race 6000 Actinum - Ultegra @ c£1700 (aluminium frame) *significant budget creep
Ghost Race 7000 Lector - 105 @ c£1650 (carbon fibre frame) *major budget creep, but think of the weight saving

-or-

Ghost Race Lector Pro - Ultegra Di2 @ c£3100 (carbon fibre frame) *to really bust your budget!!!

[anonymous-user]

Evans stock Ghost, they will probably have to order one or two in for you for sizing but they do stock them.

BB30 issues seem hit and miss, some people can get 2000+ miles from one, others can only get 500.

[HariboLecter]

Thanks for the replies

Fluffsri said:

Ask the LBS for a test ride and then that will help you to mind your own mind up.:-)

The shop doesn't have a Ghost in to actually try out, but I could have a ride on the Lapierre as they have my size in.

CoolC said:

Can Halfords supply all those brands?

That's a bummer for me, as we are locked into the Evans scheme so much less brands to choose from.

Sorry can't help with your question

There are a few shops locally who accept the Halfords vouchers and can get bikes that Halfords can't, which is nice.

S6PNJ said:

What potential issues might this be please? I'm also in the market for a 1k bike but can't use C2W so Planet X is available to me. One bike uses BB30, the other one doesn't.

Here's a link that will explain it much better than I can. It's a Boardman thread, but the problem isn't limited to those bikes if you do some Googling. It's not certain to fail but I'd like to avoid the chances of it happening altogether so I'm steering clear of BB30 equipped bikes.

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40...



ETA: More replies while I was posting! Thanks, I'll have a proper read through when I get a few minutes

[CoolC]

pablo said:

Evans stock Ghost, they will probably have to order one or two in for you for sizing but they do stock them.

Really? not on-line they don't and the nearest store is 40 miles from me

[Dixie]

I wouldn't worry too much about BB30s. From reading the thread it's largly a Boardman issue and it's seems mostly due to the lack of grease.

My Cannondale is almost a year old and after over 1000 miles it's still fine.

Speaking of Cannondale. The CAAD8 105 is £1050 in evans, if you chop an old bike in (literally any old bike) you get £100 off.

[CoolC]

Dixie said:

The CAAD8 105 is £1050 in evans, if you chop an old bike in (literally any old bike) you get £100 off.

I think the trade-in thing has finished now.

[HariboLecter]

Unfortunately there isn't an Evans anywhere near where I live, so that's a no-go. Around here there are 3 participating independents and Halfords. Between the small shops, they cover Specialized, Giant, Scott, Cube, Trek, Cannondale, Felt, Lapierre, Ghost, Focus and Genesis.


I wouldn't mind going a touch over the £1k mark, possibly to £1200 if it's really worth it. I need to buy some other kit too yet, so that's my top limit.


The Ghost Race 5000 with 105 is another option, and as has been mentioned, it comes in at my upper limit.

As for the BB30 point, I appreciate that there's probably little chance of it going wrong, but I'd be royally pissed off if I spent all this time looking for the right bike only for my first road bike experience to be blighted by problems.


I guess whilst I'm here, if anyone has any other non-BB30 suggestions then I'm all ears. I'm sure there's no such thing as a bad bike at the £1k mark but I don't want to regret my choice.

[anonymous-user]

CoolC said:

Really? not on-line they don't and the nearest store is 40 miles from me

They did last year, looks like they've stopped... http://www.evanscycles.com/brands/ghost
Bit of a shame really as they are just a bit different although they rarely had one on the shop floor so it's hardly surprising...

[Gizmoish]

Dixie said:

I wouldn't worry too much about BB30s. From reading the thread it's largly a Boardman issue and it's seems mostly due to the lack of grease.

My Cannondale is almost a year old and after over 1000 miles it's still fine.

Speaking of Cannondale. The CAAD8 105 is £1050 in evans, if you chop an old bike in (literally any old bike) you get £100 off.

Agreed, I did 2000km on my CAAD8 with bb30 on London mucky roads, never touched the BB, and it spins as smoothly as it did when new.

[HariboLecter]

Well I went for the Ghost in the end. Picked it up on Friday and I'm very much enjoying it so far

[o0timbo0o]

Apologies for dragging this thread up but a year down the line and i'm in the same boat. Can't make my mind up with the ghost 4900 or the scott speedster 20.

Of course these are now discounted and some nice prices from www.mhw-bike.com/

Noone has a bad thing to say about the ghost .. at least not that i can see . If you have an update as to how the ghost has performed i'd be interested to know

[2222]

CoolC said:

Can Halfords supply all those brands?

That's a bummer for me, as we are locked into the Evans scheme so much less brands to choose from.

Sorry can't help with your question

Halfords can pretty much order anything you want

[Magic919]

Poor CoolC if he waited a year for that reply.

[CoolC]

Magic919 said:

Poor CoolC if he waited a year for that reply.

it's alright, I bought a Hoy in the end

[88888888]

Second OP - what size you be?

Plenty of fun to be had here:



http://www.canyon.com/_en/outlet/article.html?o=A1...