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First serious bike - Help needed!
Ron99
Posts: 237
in General Chat
Hi all,
I'm just getting into the sport and have started to look for my first proper road bike. I want to buy the best I can afford (which is up to about £650), and thought I had it narrowed down to a Giant Defy 2.5, or a Trek 1.5. Today, I had a look on Evans website for deals and they had a Pinnacle Lagerra 1 on there at a really good price. To my untrained eye, it looks like a much higher spec, but does anyone know anything about these bikes, or have any advice they could give me??
Cheers!
I'm just getting into the sport and have started to look for my first proper road bike. I want to buy the best I can afford (which is up to about £650), and thought I had it narrowed down to a Giant Defy 2.5, or a Trek 1.5. Today, I had a look on Evans website for deals and they had a Pinnacle Lagerra 1 on there at a really good price. To my untrained eye, it looks like a much higher spec, but does anyone know anything about these bikes, or have any advice they could give me??
Cheers!
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The Pinnacle is better specced with 105 kit, but I dont know anything about this brand(build quality etc)
I would Prob go for the Giant overall, you can always upgrade to a certain spec at a later date if you so wanted, giant are well known - reputable company so aftersales should be good.
We have a stock of these Giant defys for novice members of our club to borrow throughout the season and they have all been given top reviews by the newbies.
Hope this is of some help!!:)
However, that dosnt mean the frame is any good!! Trek make outstanding bikes, (my brother rode a 1.5 for a few years and loved his) and although the groupset (tiagra) might be the bottom rung the frame will be excellent and will respond admirably to upgrades in the future, same goes for Giant. I know a few people who ride Giants (the bikes, not freakishly tall people!!) and they all rave about them.
Personally I'd look at all of them and try to test each one, dont discount the Pinnacle, but Trek and Giant both have proven pedigree, if at all possible TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!!
Well, I think you'll find for this budget (which was mine!) the wheels will be basic, something like the Alex 220 or similar...
You're likely to find same sort of spec on the groupset, likely to be sora/tiagra.
I think the main thing will be the frame, but how do you choose! The advise I always got was buy a bike with the best frame you can afford then (if you want) upgrade the other things.
I think the most important thing is get properly fitted, you'll get much more out of it if you are comfortable! the specialized allez is also worth considering.
There was a thread a little while ago on what £500 bike - have a search.
Good luck, let everyone know what you go with.
I had forgot Specialized! How I dont know as Im a walking advertisment board for them! haha
The Allez is an excellent bike, I would say better than any that you have listed!
I raced on one last year, the day before Lanzarote Duathlon my full carbon TT bike became ill with Headset-itus and I couldnt get it fixed before the race so I 'borrowed' an Allez of a mate who had pulled out through Injury, also borrowed his shoes which were 2 sizes too big (instead of swapping cleats or pedals over) and still Finished 2nd!
I would seriously consider checking out the Allez!
Above all though FIT is the most important thing, you could have a £5000 bike which doesnt fit and a £200 bike that does fit and you will probably go quicker on the cheaper one!
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/allez-27-2009-road-bike-ec016020?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=froogle
As far as the Allez is concerned, I did check out one of those the other day, which felt comfortable on a short test ride, but for the money, I thought I could get a better spec in one of the other two.
The praise for the Giant seems to be pretty much in line with what I've already heard, and I can get an extra good deal on one of those, through a mate who works in a shop selling Giants (namely £610 for the 2.5) - this is a few quid cheaper than the best price I've found on the Trek and the Pinnacle, but I wanted to hear opinions on the bikes themselves.
Good to know to look out for the best frame I can get - I wasn't sure how much difference there would be between frames, and how much this would impact the overall performance of the bike. I think from here, I'm going to try each one in turn and make a decision based on that - will be sure to report back here on what I've found.
Once again - thanks for your help - very much appreciated!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=120390442879
Confused again!
Get yourself down to your LBS and trya few different makes out then you will have a better idea about sizing. When I was looking I cam across a small bike in LBS at a great price and would have preferred that to mine but it was way too small.
Will definitely have a look to see if I can get a carbon bike, but think the grand or so for a Boardman is going to be a step too far unfortunately. There's always Christmas and the lottery...
I rode both of them (giant & trek) the Trek 1.5 just felt a lot nicer to ride. Had it for 4 months now and love it.
Happy hunting.
Note that the Trek 1.5 has a better frame than the 1.2. The 1.5 has the same frame apparently as the 1.7 and 1.9, but the 1.2 frame is made of a cheaper grade of aluminium. Not that this makes it "bad" though.
I got a 2008 boardman Team in February and I got a stonking deal after a bit of tyre kicking. This bike retailed last year for £899 & I ended up paying £616 and a boardman lid thrown in too. Not sure if there are any left in stock anywhere but might be worth a look around and you may get a simliar deal.
The bike itself is awesome, super light & and a great spec I'd definately have another & would seriously - seriously consider the boardman Carbon when it's time to upgrade - It looks a proper piece of kit !
Funny, I was planning to update this post to let you all know what I went for in the end...
After looking at all of the above and trying the Defy 2.5, and Trek 1.5, Specialised Allez and the Boardman (for tyre kicking purposes only), I ended up getting a really good deal on a 2009 Scott S40, which I hadn't really considered until the day before I bought it. Great stiff frame, with more of a racing geometry, although I've found that it can be a wee bit harsh over knobbly roads.
Very pleased with it generally though - it really wants to go. Got in at DeVer Cycles in Streatham, Sth London - highly recommended if you live nearby.
Now I just need some carbon look paint...
Note that the Trek 1.5 has a better frame than the 1.2. The 1.5 has the same frame apparently as the 1.7 and 1.9, but the 1.2 frame is made of a cheaper grade of aluminium. Not that this makes it "bad" though.
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so would you say the trek 1.5 has a better frame than the giant defy2.5. i am trying to get the best frame i can .
I got a 2008 boardman Team in February and I got a stonking deal after a bit of tyre kicking. This bike retailed last year for £899 & I ended up paying £616 and a boardman lid thrown in too. Not sure if there are any left in stock anywhere but might be worth a look around and you may get a simliar deal.
The bike itself is awesome, super light & and a great spec I'd definately have another & would seriously - seriously consider the boardman Carbon when it's time to upgrade - It looks a proper piece of kit !
just had a look at the boardman comp and it does look nice seems a good spek as well. dam its hard to chose