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Which bike for £500

I've "completed" a couple of sprint tri's using my MTB fitted with slick tyres. Now finally in a position of acquire my first road bike. I have narrowed it down to either the Giant SCR2, Trek1000 or Spec Allez.

With a bit of internet digging I can get any of them under my budget of £500.

Does anybody have any advice on which is the better bike, or is there any other models I should consider.

Comments

  • BoycieBoycie Posts: 189
    Trudger,



    There is unlikely to be much difference between these bikes, so I think this really comes down to personal preference, ie which fits you best, is most comfy etc, so if you can try them out it would be good. Both my winter and summer bikes are Giants and both have served me well and the SCR2 certainly got good reviews in 220 recentley.



    David.
  • KarlOnSeaKarlOnSea Posts: 28
    I just picked up a Giant SCR LTD from the Edonburgh Bicycle Cooperative in Manchester for £500, using their store's opening offer of a 20% discount. This is only available on purchases from this store, but if you can get to Manchester it's worth the trouble, as the bike's basically the SCR2.0, but with a full Tiagra groupset.



    I did some test rides before deciding on the Giant, and spent a lot of time thinking about the Cannondale CAAD5 as an alternative (would have been £600 with the discount). In the end I went for the Giant, as the compact frame seemed really responsive, and had an 'in contact with the road' feeling that was somehow lacking in the Cannondale.



    Overall I'm very pleased with the choice, though I'm struggling to keep the cadence down, routinely resting in the 110-120 rpm range, which is not good for me / sustainable! Whether this is a function of the bike's stiffness, close gearing that I'm unused to, or too many hours in spin classes over the winter, I don't know. It just needs working on!



    Hope this helps,

    Karl.
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