Sub £1000 Road bike

[Deleted]

A good friend of mine is getting back on the bike and has £1000 burning a hole in his pocket. He'd like to be "on the road" with that. Any recommendations?

[Deleted]

Try Wiggle. The Focus gets great reviews for the price.

[Andrew Salmon]

Some ideas:

Value for money, Focus from wiggle is good. Either the carbon framed one for 999, or there is an aluminium one for a bit more I think. One of the club has this model (he comes out on the saturday ride, but I forget his name). He says its very nice and that the wiggle delivery service was top quality. In a similar vein, the carbon 'Pedalpower' bikes advertised in Cycling Plus also get an excellent write up. You can get one of those for probably a little bit more than £1000.

If you like classical italian or slightly more retro bikes, it's worth a trip to Condor as their complete bikes are less than you imagine. Factor in getting a good fit, exactly the bits you like, choice of colours, plus wheels built by people not machines and it looks even better. I ended up going down this route and buying my wife a Condor squadra last year (£1800) or her male colleague bought a Italia with Campag Veloce bits for £1000. As you can see from my example it takes real self discipline to avoid spending lots of money once you start...

Otherwise I think the £500 (maybe 550 this year) Specialized road bike is hard to beat. If you compare it with a £1000 bike, you really don't get anything that will make much difference. Spending the extra on shoes, pedals, shorts, jersey, tights, jacket and helmet (say another £300) if your friend is new to cycling is probably the best way forward. The last £200 he can put towards some bike riding trips.

Andrew

[Deleted]

I've just bought a Scott S30. New 105 groupset, great frame, under £900, darn fine bike for the money.

Mosquito sell them. Failing that, my old bike for £400 ( see 'for sale' section) leaves him with enough change to buy a terraced house in Blackburn.

[Nigel Wood]

Having just taken delivery of one I can vouch for the Focus - good frame & components are generally ok but the saddle will need changing, it comes without pedals and the wheels could do with upgrading. However there might be a long wait depending on size needed. I ordered in Jan and took delivery late April so your friends trousers will be on fire if the money's burning a hole in his pocket.

[Deleted]

It could be worth having a look at the bikes that Ribble do. Some of them seem good value to me.

Another option is second hand bikes, they depreciate even more than cars so if he could find one that is the correct size I'm sure he would get a bargain.