First road bike

Jamesly · March 2012

I have been riding mountain bikes for years and now need to get a road bike - spend 500-750 - giant, specialised - any advice? Anyone know anything about the orbea range of bikes?

Zacnici · March 2012

Well that is slap bang in the entry level price band but you can get some decent bargains:

Giant Defy Compact: http://www.formbycycles.co.uk/product/1 ... _Bike_2012
8 speed
Specialized Allez Compact
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/spe ... e-ec030703
8 speed
Felt F95
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fel ... e-ec032705
Specialized Allez Sport
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/spe ... e-ec030705
9 speed
Felt Z95
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/fel ... 0#features
10 speed
Trek 1.2
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/tre ... e-ec030298
9 speed
Boardmans
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... 65710#tab2
9 speed
Cube
http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/produ ... _Bike_2011
9 speed

My thoughts:
10 speed if you can get it, 9 speed minimum

I would go for a compact for a variety of reasons, one being flexibility; it will probably come as a 50/34 but can easily swap out to a 36 or 39 and you can even swap out the 50 to a 51 or 52

Jamesly · March 2012

That's really great, thanks for advice

wburnish · March 2012

A word a warning with the Giant. It is a great bike but becarfull of the frame sizes. THey have an odd frame which mean the seat need to be a lot higher than on bikes like the trek. I got a large frame based ona genric frame sizes only to find out a year later that is meant for someone well over 6ft.

I own the trek 1.2 and it is perfect. The main things is getting the fit right.

Personnel i would get giant or Trek.

Jamesly · March 2012

Thanks for your advice - still trying to decide - so many bikes out there!

barney1973 · March 2012

Check out www.ribblecycles.co.uk ,they have an online bike builder so you can choose your frame and upgrade groupsets,wheels etc to the spec you want,i have a Ribble Evo Pro carbon on order

Jellybaby · March 2012

Orbea are great, I've got two, and Mrs JB also has one.

If you want bikes made by faceless companies in the far east, then definitely go with giant or trek. If you want ones made in their apparent country of origin by workers who own part of the company then Orbea are the way to go (although they can be a bit manana when trying to order replacement bits). You also get something a bit different to what everyone else has. Makes it easier to find your own bike in transition.