New road bike (£1000 budget)

Soldato
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My trusty Claude Butler is almost a year old and after several thousand miles it's starting to show signs of wear. I plan to replace the worn components and keep it as my winter bike but I'd like to get myself a new road bike for day to day use.

I'll mainly be using it for commuting and longer weekend rides. My budget it around a grand and I'm 6'0" tall so feel free to suggest something suitable.
 
Soldato
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I've recently gotton into bikes myself. Didn't realise how expensive the things could be :(

I remember I was doing 20 miles to Westminster and and three road bikes out paced my trusty £80 "Universal Stinger Dual Suspension" :D
 
Associate
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give me some idea of prorportions. IT you are like me with long body short legs then an allez would be great, you may be able to get last years allez comp for that.

If short torso longer legs then a classic geometry trek may be better.

After i have said all that go and buy a last years model bianchi. They are pure cycling sex.
 
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where abouts will you be riding? if you live ina hilly area then go for the triple, otherwise a double is fine. Yesterday i did a 60 mile ride but went up white horse hill near oxford, I wished i had a triple on the steepest section as i dropped to a cadence of only 60 ish, ie grinding!!!
 
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also, going by your measurements i would have thought a trek, scott or bianchi would suit. I ride a specialised as i am 6'2" but only wear 32 or 31 leg length trousers, so the extra reach is ideal. I ride an allez comp, i have now put 4000 kms on it.

B1257_BIG.jpg


The only change si made were to replace the wheels (which i found very flexible) and put some time rxs carbon pedals on it (which suit my dodgy knees!)
 
Soldato
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Adam W said:
where abouts will you be riding? if you live ina hilly area then go for the triple, otherwise a double is fine. Yesterday i did a 60 mile ride but went up white horse hill near oxford, I wished i had a triple on the steepest section as i dropped to a cadence of only 60 ish, ie grinding!!!

Nothing that would be comparible to Alpe d'huez and even when I do steep hills I still don't really use the granny ring. The only times it ever gets used is if I'm at the end of a long ride and have zero energy left.
 
Associate
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Hi,

I'm in almost exactly the same position here. I'm doing the cycle2work scheme or whatever it's called where you get £1000 tax break thing to buy a bike.

Anyhow, I've got £1000 to spend on a new bike. The only catch is that it has to be from Halfords :(

I'll be using it almost exclusively for commuting (I'm cycling from Blackheath to Hammersmith each day which is about 15 miles). I'm about 6'2" and my inside leg is 32".

Can anyone recommend me a bike to get? (ignore the ones on the Halfords website as they only seem to go up to £500).

Cheers,

Fred

/EDIT - just rang them and apparently they can get "any bike" by ordering them in, so no restriction on make / model then :D
 
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Associate
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Ok, managed to get through to the Chiswick store who were a lot more clued up than the Brixton store.

The guy there said that for the cycle2work scheme they can order in pretty much any bike you want, but you have to order it from the cycle2work people in their head office rather than one of the stores.

I said that I'd possibly be after an Allez Comp and he said that they could definitely do that. I asked if there was an equivalent sort of bike that they did stock in store and he said that they had a Kona PHD courier bike:

http://www.konabikes.co.uk/2k6bikes/phd_2k6.php

Some guy who sits behind me in work reckons that a focus variado is also worth considering.

So which bike do I go for:

i - Allez Comp
ii - Kona PHD
iii - Kinesis (RC2?)
iv - Focus Variado
v - none of the above
 
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Associate
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There are three things that I would consider vital for my own commuting bike.
Firstly it has to be a position that I am comfortable in, which for me is as close to a road bike as possible. Then it needs to have mudguard eys. Mudguards are not cool but they make a huge difference to the quality of your commute. Finally, I need to take a change of clothes and some work stuff, so I need to have a pannier on a proper rack. I have put a rack and mudguards on a bike without the appropriate eys on the frame and it worked well, but was a bit of a pain.

I know this didn't answer your question. I ride a racelight T for commuting, of the kona range I would probably look at the Sutra for commuting, but that is just me.
 
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