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Anyone ride/ridden a Felt80/Focus Variado/Bianchi Via Nirone?!

Am stuck between these 3 as for buying. Would be using for duathlons and training. Have about £700 to spend if anyone has any further options?!!

Cheers!

Comments

  • madnursemadnurse Posts: 782
    Hi Mark - having spent a few months in a similar position I can only sympathise ........ in someways there is too much choice out there these days. As for recommendations I could suggest but wont for the simple factor of what suits one might & probably wont suit another. I took my time and pestered the life out of dealers & importers over bikes until I had what I felt was a good deal on a bike that felt suitable to me. Any dealer worth doing business with will at least let you have a road test if not actually on the road then at least on a turbo.



    having said this I found this site useful (bering in miund its only someonelses opinion)



    http://www.trigearreview.com/forms/Article.aspx?REVID=192



    & these on the bikes

    http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/news/article/mps/UAN/307/V/2/SP bianchi

    220 last month had a review on the focus



    the spec of the felt & the focus seem almost on par .. however the bianchi is claimed to be somewhat lacking in gearing suggesting it may be prudent to spend a little more for the next model up (Mirage/Veloce)



    but hey what would i know



    madnurse (phil)



  • trichamptrichamp Posts: 22
    I've been riding a Via Nirone since september and i've found it a very good bike for my first proper road ride. It's a 10 spd Veloce and costs about £750. I got mine from JE james in sheffield and would really recommend them as they were very helpful with sizings and everything. It comes with clipless pedals as well i think. Have a look on their website cos they do have some very good deals. There's a Giant OCR 1 all 105 + Ultegra for £600 which seems a good deal to me!



    Luke
  • I just bought the Variado and am very pleased with it's performance. Climbing is great and the set-up is very responsive, although the buying experience is definitely a bit disconcerting. You do take a risk buying one without having ridden it, but the sizing guide given on the Wiggle website worked great for me. I bought a Medium (90kgs and 5'11").



    It is great value for money (especially with 10% of free accessories at the moment, I used this to get some nice Shimano Ultegra pedals, only £40 on Wiggle after all the discounts)). After sales service may be a concern as Wiggle say you need to keep all original packaging (including the original zip ties) if you want to claim something under the warranty. It comes pre-assembled in a huge box so how they can expect someone to store it all I don't know. I am sure that if you had a problem a friendly email to Focus direct would probably solve it. As without a great presence in the UK, their brand and reputation are all they have at the moment.



    I am looking forward to trying the Variado out on a couple of triathlons in the summer to see how much time I can shave off the ride. Previously I rode a Barracuda Azzuri and as you can imagine the Focus is a great improvement.



    Best of luck with the bike, but I can advise in favour of the Variado if you are willing to take the sizing risk!
  • TTX PROTTX PRO Posts: 225
    I had a semi-carbon bianchi via nirone once.Very good bike problem was when ever i went over 40mph it was a little unstable.Now ive got a Bianchi 1885 semi-carbon and its brilliant.Got a wilier as for TT.Wilier might be one worth considering as well.Best bike ive ever ridden that Wilier and the frame qiulity is fantastic.
  • Hi Mark

    I would seriously consider Planet x the cheapest stealth is £999 and that is full carbon and tri specific or you could ask them to downgrade the sl pro carbon ultegra to 105 with ultegra its £999.

    Hope this helps,

    Callum

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