Cycling UK Forum

My daughter is taking up triathlon what would be a recommended sensibly priced first bike ? The cheapest Boardman bike would probably be my suggestion but the service from the store that sells them leaves more than a lot to be desired . She called in the local branch today and spoke to someone who hadn't a clue so nothing changes from my previous experiences of this store .

most specialized dealers have their Allez range on discount at the moment.

Hi - i've sent you a private message. May be able to help.

Rather than a Boardman, consider a Halfords Carrera Virtuoso. Outstanding value at less than £500 for a Tiagra equipped bike. Or a Decathlon Triban 5. Again, Tiagra kit for less than £500. Many Tiagra eqipped bikes are in the £800-£900 price bracket.

After some of the experiences I have heard recently of the Boardman/Halford bikes I would opt for the Decathlon.

But would also endorse looking at specialized who make women specific bikes.

Decathlon do some excellent value bikes and are infinitely more helpful that the majority of monkeys that work at Halfords.

Also, try Planet X. They have been known to knock out some decent end-of-range prices.

Why do you need a new bike?
I'd suggest you save a bundle of money and buy something from ebay or bike radar/retrobike that has decent quality kit but at a fraction of the cost of a lower level boardman or the like.
Or if you want to spend £500 then you can get a LOT of second hand bike, Pinarello, Principia, Giant Superlite etc. all on ebay for that or less than that. If you put a wanted ad on Bike Radar with an upper limit you'll get loads of offers.