UKC

Having been knocked off my bike a while back I am expecting soon to be able to replace my bike. I had a giant defy 1 - which I was pleased with.
Looking to replace it with something similar around £1000 ish.
Looking at all brands, mainly for sportives and general riding.

specifically does any one have any recommendations?
Is there much to chose between at that price?
Looking again at Giants but also Cube Peleton and seen this: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ridley-helium-105-special-edition-2013/

is it worth the extra £170? I dont know much about the brands stocked by wiggle is this just ignorance/outdated?

thanks!

In reply to monkey man:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/cube-agree-gtc-pro-compact-road-bike-201...

Cube agree great bike for the money a size 56 equates to a 54 in most bike's ie. medium, there are a lot of good bike round the grand mark
good luck

In reply to monkey man:

Planet X are doing the SL Pro Carbon with full Ultegra for £999 which is definitely worth a look. It's not the most bang-up-to-date frame but fine for the job and you'll never get a better component spec than that.

The Ridley looks nice and the wheels/gruppo seem reasonable but it does look to have an integrated seat mast ie. you're cutting the frame to size. Be sure you're happy with the implications of that!

In reply to monkey man:
If i had a Grand for a new road bike, i would do what i used to do when Racing in my younger days...

Source a Decent Second Hand steel Frame, Reynolds or Columbus, get bob griffin to build me a quality custom wheel set, and Add a decent campag groupset and Look pedals.

NB. or shimano groupset if youre a tasteless Heathen bum

Oh and cinelli bars and Stem, always cinelli.

In reply to monkey man:

Know many people including my brother that have a Specialized Allez. commuting around I also see loads of them on the streets. Prices start at £550 and top out at £1300 depending on spec.

Definitely worth looking into in my view. Also at this time of year it might be worth looking at 2013 year models as you'll get a lot more for your money.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/allez-elite-c2-2014-road-bi...

In reply to monkey man:

Just to throw a spanner in the works you can get a Dolan Etape for less than £1100 with SRAM Rival and Mavic Aksium wheels.
http://www.dolan-bikes.com/road/road-bikes/road-bike-carbon/dolan-l-etape-c...

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In reply to Enty:

Yes, gets very good reviews that does - tempted myself.

I would probably (and may well myselfl) go for a 2013 TCR Composite 1, which you can get for this sort of money.

Nice to see prices tumbling again, so that even 2014 bikes are very tempting.

OP - have a look at the latest Cycling Plus, it has a review of carbon bikes at this price. The Giant comes out top again.

Specialized are poor value for money IMO.

In reply to jethro kiernan:

someone else on the CRC mailing list then.
I saw this deal today and I'm getting more and more irritated that my employer has decided on a specific supplier for all the cycle to work scheme bikes.

In reply to Stig:

I bought a matt black Dolan Ares frameset from his special offers in summer for 500 quid.
Just put a 2014 Dura Ace group on it last week and currently choosing between Mavic R-SYS wheels or Zipp 303's - Bike should be ready before weekend then 6 days testing it in Mallorca - not that I'm excited or owt

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In reply to monkey man:

Brilliant, thanks chaps loads of ideas!

Is it worth going carbon in this price range - or is good quality alloy going to be better?

In reply to monkey man:

There are some good Alloy bikes out there Rose, Canyon and Cannondale all produce very well reviewed alloy frames but they wont be much cheaper if at all than a reasonable priced Carbon frame.
Beware of reviews that focus on the racing aspect of a bike, you want the bike to be comfortable and efficiant, by the sounds of it you not going to be racing so dont get to hung up on the sacrificing comfort for efficiancy, also all bikes are upgradable, wheels, tyres saddles and seatposts can all be changed to create something a bit more dialed into what you want.

In reply to monkey man:

don't know if still available but Boardman Team Carbon... on sale in Halfords in the UK but I got mine through wiggle France. Its a lot of bike for your dosh and ready to go. People are short sighted to be snotty about Halfords in my opinion!

In reply to aligibb:

I agree, love my limited edition carbon. Light, wonderful to ride, I love it. Have to say its my first serious road bike so don't have experience on others. As for halfords, the lad who set mine up was a keen cyclist, road and mtb so were his mates there so you can get knowlgable service

In reply to Enty:

I was just about to post that. I recently got a Planet X Carbon frame very cheaply, just before I was about to hit 'buy' on an Etape frame. Looks ace in Black and yellow as well. I'm guessing it's the old Hercules with a new name and paint job.

In reply to monkey man:
I can recommend the Planet X Pro Carbon - Had mine about 6 months and the only issue I've got with it is that due to it being so great to ride I'm hardly getting any climbing done this winter!

In reply to aligibb:

Boardman are a good bet, and the Team Carbon looks like the best deal this year. I have the 2012 Comp and am very pleased with it..... but.... I just looked at their 2014 range and it seems that the 2014 Comp is 200€ cheaper and considerably worse specced then previous iterations (and nearly a kilo heavier!)