New bike for beginner
Jeremy33
Posts: 3
in General Chat
COR! this triathlon thingy is great, did my first one yesterday and it was brilliant!!!!! (can't say the same about my time though). Anyway I completed it on a 10+yr old mountain bike. I have been thinking about upgrading for a while and am now tempted to upgrade with Triathlons in mind. A friend told me not to blow a stack on a bike before I found out I enjoyed it so I am trying very hard not to get carried away but would like to upgrade before I do Windsor in July. My basic requirements are:
Budget £500
Primary use commuting
Secondary use triathlon
Expecting benefits of a lighter bike and a better riding position
Currently I am looking at GIANT SCR 3.0 for GBP450 however I have not ruled out GIANT SCR 2.0 at GBP525. My understanding is that the main difference between the 2 bikes is that I get a better gear system (3.0 has Shimano Sora and 2.0 has Shimano Tiagra). Since the price of the 2.0 is a little over budget can anyone offer opinion on if this is worth it?
At the end of the day I think I need 4 Q.s answering
1. Am I headed down the right road for a beginners bike, is it good value?
2. Is the difference in price between the 2.0 and 3.0 worth paying?
3. Should I be looking at any other makes, a friend swears by Kona however these are out of my price range and a bit bothered that I might end up with a technical bike that is expensive to maintain and is not suited to commuting.
4. What is the deal with bike shops, will they let me do a test ride since I am a little bothered about size of frame. This is a lot of money to me and would be very p'd off at dropping GBP500 and ending up with a bike too big/small for me.
A thousand apologies if this type of Q has been asked a lot but feel it is better to ask, the rack of bikes that I saw yesterday was valuable enough to clear 3rd world debt twice over so I get the impression that some people have a lot of money to spend on equipment and I just wanted to be clear that this is not the case for me.
Thanks in advance
Budget £500
Primary use commuting
Secondary use triathlon
Expecting benefits of a lighter bike and a better riding position
Currently I am looking at GIANT SCR 3.0 for GBP450 however I have not ruled out GIANT SCR 2.0 at GBP525. My understanding is that the main difference between the 2 bikes is that I get a better gear system (3.0 has Shimano Sora and 2.0 has Shimano Tiagra). Since the price of the 2.0 is a little over budget can anyone offer opinion on if this is worth it?
At the end of the day I think I need 4 Q.s answering
1. Am I headed down the right road for a beginners bike, is it good value?
2. Is the difference in price between the 2.0 and 3.0 worth paying?
3. Should I be looking at any other makes, a friend swears by Kona however these are out of my price range and a bit bothered that I might end up with a technical bike that is expensive to maintain and is not suited to commuting.
4. What is the deal with bike shops, will they let me do a test ride since I am a little bothered about size of frame. This is a lot of money to me and would be very p'd off at dropping GBP500 and ending up with a bike too big/small for me.
A thousand apologies if this type of Q has been asked a lot but feel it is better to ask, the rack of bikes that I saw yesterday was valuable enough to clear 3rd world debt twice over so I get the impression that some people have a lot of money to spend on equipment and I just wanted to be clear that this is not the case for me.
Thanks in advance
0
Comments
Just wanted to say that I have been looking at the SCR3 - and if you shop around you can definitely get it at a better price than £450. dalescycles.com are currently selling them off at £379. Based on that, you might be able to get the SCR2 within your budget.
Good luck
Cat
Like Cat says you can get some discounts. I've been looking round for a SCR 2.0 myself. Read a couple of reviews, one being in cycling plus (I think) gave it a big thumbs up.
You might find these links helpful.
http://www.devercycles.co.uk/buy-road-mountain-hybrid-bikes-2006.asp?param=XB/GNT/06
http://www.cyclingplus.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=128983�
http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/index.html?pageTitle=Road_Bikes_Under_600&pageDesc=&action=search&searchtype=catID&quicksearch=842&p_start=0&submit=back
I was in the same position as you about a month ago trying to decide the best bike for my buck. Tried out the scr2 and would have bought it if they could of got the size i wanted. What i found out as you a probably have yourself is the groupset is were the extra bucks goes. They message i got over and over again is if you can avoid they base models ie sora then do mainly because you are stuck with those gears. They are not as easy to upgrade and you can't mix and match. the levers will only shift a 7 speed i think it is and if you wanted more gears then its a whole new group set.
I ended up buying last years specialized allez sport with tiagra and 105 as the group set and i love it.
Also consider a tri package which gives you shoes pedals helmet etc they seem to offer some good savings, or most bike stores do intrest free credit or even check out the cycle to work scheme http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/.
A good cycle store will let you try it out, they will do a deal, and they will give it a service after a couple of weeks of riding, something you might want to consider before buying on line.
Bottom line if you can strech to the extra then go for it i'm sure you won't regret it.
All the best in your quest
Ian
Just about to buy from triuk their beginer package that includes a scr 3.0 and other stuff for £500 which is pretty good value.
Will sort me out for the near future.
http://triuk.com//index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=17&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=26&vmcchk=1
Mike
I was in the same position as you a few months back with a budget of £500 and the ocr2 seemed good value for money but I wanted to see it first and couldn't find a local bike shop with one. so in the end i blew the budjet and bought a lemond instead and am really pleased with it. This is what I got:http://www.buyabikedirect.co.uk/products.php?action=prodinfo&pid=2263
Good luck finding your bike
I'm also looking into a sub £500 tri bike... was considering the SCR 3.0 but found this thread and now contimplating looking into the Gaint Roadbike SCR 2.0 as a better choice.
One quick question... there are now the Spring Collection '07 out, what is the differance between the '07 & Spring Collection SCR 2.0... all I can see is something about the frame being more compact!
Also if I find a cheaper SCR 2.0 '06 version, is it the same as the '07?
Any body found the cheapest size 50' on the web?
Thanks all.
Now I need to find the cheapest 50cm size online.
So far...
[b]SCR 2.0 (Spring 2007) £497.99 inc. p&p[/b]
I've also been looking into the Giant Scr02, and have found them at www.tredz.co.uk for £419 for the 06 model. As this is £100 saving from the 07, this seems to be a simple choice.
hope this helps.
Is it worth getiting the Spring '07 model for it... 'cos I'll probebly get the '07 model & just spend my cash on a better set of tyres & pedals.
Thanks all.
Andy
Please also see recent customer reviews of our bikes at http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/review/brandpage/mps/RGN//RCN//ubn/8650/brandname/Kinetic-one/sp/328857336339364141484/v/1
Giant’s Compact Road design ... well I think this should help me a bit! [8|]
I ended up going for the Halford's bike, after a lot of comparison, as it edged the others for value for money. It turns out they're actually made by Kona, but are way cheaper as don't carry the name.
End of the day, I'd say the best advice is try and get your a%£! on the bikes to try them for fit, then look at stuff like gearsets etc. to work out your best option, but really any bike around the £500 mark should stand you in good stead for racing as a beginner, and will shave minutes of your mountain bike time.
I sold a Bianchi Mega Pro XL a couple of months ago which was unused and mint condition had full shimano 105 except for Ultegra chainset and hubs on Mavic Open Pro rims all for the princely sum of £370 [:)]
I'm building this up into a TT bike at the moment should be finished tomorrow and with everything bought off ebay and forums its going to be less than £280 complete [:)] so you can do it cheaply [:)] plus with a nice steel frame everyone thinks your riding something really heavy when in reality it weighs not much at all [:D]
[image]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b136/leonpicco/jeff.jpg[/image]