Newbie £500 bike recommendation
[toPh]
Posts: 244
in General Chat
Aiming to do my first tri later this year and need to get myself a bike.
I've got around £500 to spend, maybe a little more for a good deal.
I intend to go to my LBS measured for the right size but would like so recommendations from people please.
Also, do you guys listen to music whilst training on the road? Or think it's unsafe?
I've got around £500 to spend, maybe a little more for a good deal.
I intend to go to my LBS measured for the right size but would like so recommendations from people please.
Also, do you guys listen to music whilst training on the road? Or think it's unsafe?
0
Comments
They have a sale at present and some BeONE bikes look good.
I dont listen to Music whilst on the road. Its a bit like being an organ donar (I quote Bopomofo)
you get the Giant Defy and a wetsuit, trisuit, tri specific shoes, pedals etc - and only £574. I just got a package from them and it was top notch!
Lets us know what you get........
However there's a few bits of kit I won't need amongst them.
I'm only planning on doing indoor swimming to begin with, and already have a helmet and pedals.
Will deffinately look into the Defy 4 though, sounds like a good bike. Hopefully I can test ride one somewhere near Bristol.
1. sell every thing on Flea bay
2. keep as back up - esspeciallythe helmet
3. I started with only sprints with indoor swims next year I want to do Ironamn!
Good luck
Also seen the 2009 Specialized Allez, does anyone have any opinions about them?
Will hopefully try them both this weekend.
Also are 27 gear necessary? Or would 18 be enough? On my mountain bike I've tried to get rid of all the gears I do use, and now only ride with 9 doing all mountain and cross country rides.
I guess it's another personal preference thing
You may not use all the gears for racing, but if you go road biking for fun you probably will. It's a long story but I found myself very unexpectedly on Mont Ventoux last summer. I used up all my 27 gears and searched for more in vain. Apparently I was whimpering.
blurredgirl
I bought a Specialized Allez 18 in January and have been really pleased with it.
It's light, handles well and is a smooth ride. The only upgrades I've made are Gator Skins for training during the winter months and some Look Keo Sprint pedals because I wanted to go clipless.
I looked at the Boardmans and Scott range in a similar price bracket - but Halfords wouldn't let me test the Boardman so I gave up on that. The Scott bike - sorry can't remember the model - rode well but overall I preferred the Allez.
Happy hunting!
Sorry if that sounds uncharitable, but there's a load of info on here and those of us that answer lots of questions only have so much time.
And yes, I've had a crap day and I'm grumpy.
£500 gives you quite a few options for a good road bike, i cycle all giants. But to be honest i think it comes down to personal preference with bikes.
Last yrs models are a good bet tho. there's still a few about : )
G
Women's specific bikes are always both too expensive and also not specced-up enough. I ended up buying a small size and tweaking it by changing the saddle and bars. There are wee little gadgets also that you can insert into the brake levers to bring the whole system closer to your hands, and I also bought a bike that came with a slightly shorter than normal stem, so the reach is right. I got properly fitted, and with the tweaks it all works. This was last year's Bianchi Via Nirone alu/carbon. Gorgeous bike.
So you could try that approach i.e. find the bike you like and then replace the bars, stem and get the levers closer to your hands.
blurredgirl
They're called shims, I've not tried them, but am tempted to: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/slim-shim-brake-lever-spacer-ec008424?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=froogle
Looks like you'd have to make sure that your levers are compatible.
I'm going to have a hard job hiding my new tri bars from husband, once I've got them on the bike. Don't think a cry of 'oh my god - how did they get there?!' is going to cut it.
blurredgirl
After getting sized up correctly I did a search on the internet and managed to get an 09 Allez Elite for £650!
Going to collect it on Saturday, very happy for that price.