First Road Bike

For discussions about bikes and equipment.
Post Reply
zlffc
Posts: 23
Joined: 18 May 2014, 11:01pm

First Road Bike

Post by zlffc »

HI everyone,

Hoping I've made this first post in the right section. I'm looking at a few road bikes at the moment of which any one could be my first and was wondering if you guys could give a helping hand towards making the right choice.

So here are the bikes I've shortlisted (after reading review after review) and you're welcome to add others. My budget is £500 ex accessories. I don't want to spend too much as I have a habit of losing new things.

Boardman Road Sport 2013/14 £499 Test ridden
Triban 3 £299
Triban 500 £449
Triban 500SE £379 apparently as it's yet to be released
Mekk Pinerolo AL ZR £369


I've searched through forums but haven't found much/any info regarding the boardman and mekk. I'm aware the tribans have been covered extensively everywhere so I'm going to make a visit to decathlon soon. I've found it much harder trying to locate the Mekk within 10miles of South west London to test ride though.

Let me know if I should add any more information :)

Thanks
RJS
Posts: 280
Joined: 16 Feb 2013, 10:05pm
Location: Torbay

Re: First Road Bike

Post by RJS »

Hi zlffc,
as you know plenty of good reviews of the Triban3, a friend bought one about 6 months ago, had a problem with lack of grease/rusty balls :shock: in the rear wheel, a known weakness we felt, they swapped the wheels no question. We checked/regreased the new wheel, including slackening the cones, see brucey/colin531 thread on this. No experience of the others, but you would have plenty of money left for extras :)
Cheers, Rob.
P.S. the main difference as I see it is the Tribans have a triple chainset, the others a compact double, I love my triple :lol: yvmv
zlffc
Posts: 23
Joined: 18 May 2014, 11:01pm

Re: First Road Bike

Post by zlffc »

Thanks for the feedback rob. I've read a lot of people had problems with their wheels so they did what your friend did and swapped them out. I do like the idea of upgrading as it would help with learning all the technical side and gradually learning to fix everything myself.

I only ride over two bridges on the way to work with a few other short but steep inclines which I don't think will be a problem if I buy a double chainset for now.
Brucey
Posts: 44517
Joined: 4 Jan 2012, 6:25pm

Re: First Road Bike

Post by Brucey »

if you are average height and weight then any of those could do well, but if you are not then some might suit better than others; often a small frame will feel pretty stiff, but in the same type (but two sizes bigger) it can feel a lot less stiff.

I guess part of buying your first road bike is that you find this stuff out and whether it is important to you or not.

BTW the Triban's wheels are perfectly serviceable wheels; however to get the best service out of them regreasing and adjusting them properly, and stress-relieving them would be very good ideas. No need to 'upgrade' them for commuting purposes.

cheers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
zlffc
Posts: 23
Joined: 18 May 2014, 11:01pm

Re: First Road Bike

Post by zlffc »

Brucey wrote:BTW the Triban's wheels are perfectly serviceable wheels; however to get the best service out of them regreasing and adjusting them properly, and stress-relieving them would be very good ideas. No need to 'upgrade' them for commuting purposes.


Mostly it will be commuting to work but I live near Richmond park so I like the occasional few laps when the weather is good Also I'm doing a london to paris ride with some friends and i most certainly will not be going on my mountain bike with questionable v-brakes.

I think the hard thing to judge is how much will I use the bike if i buy it. We shall see i guess :P
OnYourRight
Posts: 283
Joined: 30 Jun 2013, 8:53pm

Re: First Road Bike

Post by OnYourRight »

It’s worth checking if those bikes support mudguards, a rear rack, and tyres over 25 mm wide. You might find you want those later, especially if you have plans as varied as commuting and London-Paris.

Brakes on entry-level road bikes are borderline dangerous, in my experience. (Though often new pads make a world of difference.) Just trying to temper expectations, given you find your mountain bike’s V-brakes questionable.

There are some good-looking bikes in the Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op’s own-brand range (called Revolution). Maybe worth a look too? (E.g., this one.)
User avatar
foxyrider
Posts: 6044
Joined: 29 Aug 2011, 10:25am
Location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Re: First Road Bike

Post by foxyrider »

You should look at the Giant Defy 5 - much better quality than all the other bikes you are looking at for your £500 - i wouldn't even look at the others.

Why buy an inferior bike in terms of quality/build/performance? We sell the Mekk and Giant - the difference in quality is obvious even to our first time buyers. As for the Decathlon stuff - our workshop gets pretty tired of fixing the things! :(
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
michael42
Posts: 219
Joined: 19 May 2012, 6:42pm

Re: First Road Bike

Post by michael42 »

zlffc wrote:I think the hard thing to judge is how much will I use the bike if i buy it. We shall see i guess :P


The more mileage you do, the more it'll be worth spending extra on the bike.

Especially at the lower end. Each £100 makes it better.

The triban's I'm not so sure about - it's like the cheap halfords bikes. If someone says "It's good for £300" - they aren't really saying it's good. It's like saying Kylie Minogue looks good "for 45", once people add the "for 45" to qualify the way you look, when they didn't for 25 years before that, then you know you're in trouble. The same is true of a cheap bike.

I reached the conclusion it wasn't worth me getting an entry level road bike. The bike I want is perhaps £750-1000 and I'm better off just keeping my hybrid until I can afford that.

Of course without a bike at all you may not share that logic :) but I would look for 2013 discounted models, sale items, that kind of thing. You might be out of luck now unless you're an unusual size, but you get better value than buying current years model that's at the RRP.

Wiggle were selling 2013 Felts at under £500 with carbon fork and sora kit. The Fxx have a more aggressive riding position than the Zxx which
are aimed more at sportifs with a higher headtube. They get good reviews, but you might consider without a test ride it's a bit of a gamble.

Personally I think the most important thing about your bike is the fit. My advice would be find a LBS that will sell you a bike and fit you to it as part of that purchase - and really the bike shop will tend to sell a brand or perhaps 2. Whether that's specialised, giant, trek or some other I don't really think matters so much. They all seem similar at least in spec - if Giant bikes are better quality that's certainly not discernible from the spec which I think sums up the whole of bike retail.

But this is where I found myself with LBS that have a good reputation but don't really stock anything under £600 in road bikes. Unless they happen to be clearing out last years stock. Find your local road racing club, see what bike shops club membership gives discount at - chances are one or two will be the kind of place that'll sell you a bike that fits you and is staffed by people that know bikes inside out.

Other than that though, if you want to grab a cheap bike off the shelf, look for bargains, sale items, ex-display models etc, and obviously the internet tends to be ahead on price (just caveat that you find a place that assembles the bike, rather than sends you a box of bits) Second hand is always an option too.
zlffc
Posts: 23
Joined: 18 May 2014, 11:01pm

Re: First Road Bike

Post by zlffc »

OnYourRight wrote:It’s worth checking if those bikes support mudguards, a rear rack, and tyres over 25 mm wide. You might find you want those later, especially if you have plans as varied as commuting and London-Paris.

There are some good-looking bikes in the Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op’s own-brand range (called Revolution). Maybe worth a look too? (E.g., this one.)


I'll certainly be looking at mudguards and a rack because carrying a bag can get sweaty. That bike looks very good but it's a bit too heavy.

michael42 wrote:Of course without a bike at all you may not share that logic :) but I would look for 2013 discounted models, sale items, that kind of thing. You might be out of luck now unless you're an unusual size, but you get better value than buying current years model that's at the RRP.

Personally I think the most important thing about your bike is the fit. My advice would be find a LBS that will sell you a bike and fit you to it as part of that purchase - and really the bike shop will tend to sell a brand or perhaps 2. Whether that's specialised, giant, trek or some other I don't really think matters so much. They all seem similar at least in spec - if Giant bikes are better quality that's certainly not discernible from the spec which I think sums up the whole of bike retail.


I'm waiting for the Boardman to get discounted actually because the 2014 model is out. halfords do a 10% discount every now and then too which is helpful but definitely looking at last years models too. I'm 5"6 and 53/54cm fits me well.

I've had bad experiences with LBS as the last one I went to (pearson's in sheen) was extremely rude and snobbish. I asked if i could test ride one of their bikes and the man behind the counter said "well we dont JUST let people TEST RIDE bikes. we have to fit them first etc etc" so i told him "well you don't have to talk to customers like that.."

foxyrider wrote:You should look at the Giant Defy 5 - much better quality than all the other bikes you are looking at for your £500 - i wouldn't even look at the others.


I don't particularly like the colour scheme for that bike and especially last years. My friend has a giant and it's a very solid and extremely light bike but i didn't like the colour on that either. I really should opt for discreet but the boardman red is just.. :wink:
cheesypeeps
Posts: 85
Joined: 5 May 2014, 11:03am

Re: First Road Bike

Post by cheesypeeps »

I used to be into mtbing. I decided that I wanted to try road biking. Didn't want to spend too much money in case i didn't get into.
I got a triban 3. Probably regret it. Although it's served it's purpose. I have found that I am enjoying road biking.
I've now decided that I'm going keep a hold of this bike thru the summer and then use it as a winters bike. And next summer I'll buy something worth a bit more.
I took my triban 3 in for a service (6months old) needs a new chain and cassette already. I've replaced the pedals to spds. I've changed the tyres and bought new mudguards. So far spent a fair bit of money on it.
On hindsight I'd probably been better to have bought a better bike in the first instance.
using hovercraft full of eels.
edocaster
Posts: 475
Joined: 10 Apr 2013, 10:43pm

Re: First Road Bike

Post by edocaster »

cheesypeeps wrote:I used to be into mtbing. I decided that I wanted to try road biking. Didn't want to spend too much money in case i didn't get into.
I got a triban 3. Probably regret it. Although it's served it's purpose. I have found that I am enjoying road biking.
I've now decided that I'm going keep a hold of this bike thru the summer and then use it as a winters bike. And next summer I'll buy something worth a bit more.
I took my triban 3 in for a service (6months old) needs a new chain and cassette already. I've replaced the pedals to spds. I've changed the tyres and bought new mudguards. So far spent a fair bit of money on it.
On hindsight I'd probably been better to have bought a better bike in the first instance.


I don't think the Triban 3's cheapness caused the change of chain and cassette, buying mudguards and switching pedals. You'd probably have to do those things on a bike twice the price.
cheesypeeps
Posts: 85
Joined: 5 May 2014, 11:03am

First Road Bike

Post by cheesypeeps »

Really, the pedals and mudguards are obviously personal choice! But I've got much longer than 6 months out of my MTB chain and cassette. I think that's really poor for only 6 months.
using hovercraft full of eels.
zlffc
Posts: 23
Joined: 18 May 2014, 11:01pm

Re: First Road Bike

Post by zlffc »

cheesypeeps wrote:I took my triban 3 in for a service (6months old) needs a new chain and cassette already.


Were the components worn out? :O I thought mine were on my mtb but then i cleaned it and managed to scrape out the whole of middle earth.
User avatar
mjr
Posts: 20308
Joined: 20 Jun 2011, 7:06pm
Location: Norfolk or Somerset, mostly
Contact:

Re: First Road Bike

Post by mjr »

zlffc wrote:
OnYourRight wrote:There are some good-looking bikes in the Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op’s own-brand range (called Revolution). Maybe worth a look too? (E.g., this one.)


I'll certainly be looking at mudguards and a rack because carrying a bag can get sweaty. That bike looks very good but it's a bit too heavy.

:shock: 12kg is too heavy for what? Are you planning to ride it or juggle it? ;-)

I ride a much heavier 15kg-or-so Streetfinder and it's nippy as heck, even though I add at least 1kg (tools/bags/waterproof) and more often over 3 (plus food, drink, lock) to it almost every ride. It's dwarfed by the weight of the rider anyway :lol: You might find the accessories included on the Audax (decent guards, pedals, saddle and so on) explain most of that difference anyway.

OK, all else being equal, weight makes sense as a tie-break, and if this was about racing or 12kg extra (the Pashley Sovereign Roadster weighs in over 20kg IIRC) I could understand it, but resist the temptation to dismiss bikes just because they won't win in a game of Top Trumps. I ride my heavy workhorse more than I rode my racer because it's sooooo much more comfortable and versatile.

Anyway, I'm probably sounding like that bad snobby local bike shop now (they're not all like that!) so I'll stop :-)
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
All the above is CC-By-SA and no other implied copyright license to Cycle magazine.
zlffc
Posts: 23
Joined: 18 May 2014, 11:01pm

Re: First Road Bike

Post by zlffc »

mjr wrote::shock: 12kg is too heavy for what? Are you planning to ride it or juggle it? ;-)

I ride a much heavier 15kg-or-so Streetfinder and it's nippy as heck, even though I add at least 1kg (tools/bags/waterproof) and more often over 3 (plus food, drink, lock) to it almost every ride. It's dwarfed by the weight of the rider anyway :lol: You might find the accessories included on the Audax (decent guards, pedals, saddle and so on) explain most of that difference anyway.


I did not take that into account! Shows my lack of awareness too if anything else haha I guess I'm just trying to distance from my mtb as much as possible for my budget with respect to weight.
Post Reply