What do people think of this Road Bike?

Stuart2

Hi

Firstly, sorry for yet another first bike post. I had a look around the other threads and can't really find the relevant info so I thought I'd post a new one. Any help is very much appreciated!

I am looking at buying a new road bike for not more than €500. The use is primarily for commuting (around 20km a day) and leisure. A friend had suggested buying a hybrid bike but I think I would prefer to buy a road bike in case I may want to get more involved in future and so won't have to incur any more costs. (the recession!)

I was wondering what people think of the following deal? It seems to be a reasonable price but I could be wrong.
Is BeOne a good make?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=25458

Also, I am a bit confused with the sizing. Is it solely related to your height or is it something else like leg size? I am around 6ft1 and the three available sizes above are 57cm, 59cm and 61cm.

Lastly, are there any other small (or big) things to look out for when buying a new bike- gears, wheels, brakes etc?

I know there is a fair bit in there so many thanks for any suggestions in advance!

kenmc

BeOnes are very good value for money, this is no exception. plenty of folk here have them, not heard any bad reports.
Sizewise I don't really know what to recommend to be honest - I'm 5'9" and I ride a M planetX. They recommend a size 'L' for someone of your height, which, according to their measurements has a toptube length equivalent of 570mm - the 61 BeOne lists an effective top tube length of 56cm, so this would *probably* be the one to go for, but if you email them (CRC) they'll tell you for sure.
Tiagra is reasonably good, I've got it on my commuting bike, did the WW200 and Ring of Kerry on it last year too, it shifts fine.
It says it comes with no pedals, but i think a lot of folk get pedals thrown in with them anyway, just bog standard platform and toestraps.
I'd say for what you want it for you can't go far wrong.

Tau

I got one a few weeks ago for my first road bike, and its great! Its added 5-6kph to my average speeds right off, and I'm not even used to it yet.

The gears + brakes are mostly Tiagra, which is better than any other bike I've seen for that price.

I suspect, but I don't really know, (anyone want to confirm this?) that the wheels and tyres aren't great, and that 9.5 kg is a bit on the heavy side for a racing bike. I'm not worried - I won't be racing and tbh the first thing I did was strap a kilo of water to it, and I can upgrade the wheels in time (although right now I think they're fine).

Hungrycol

Yes I think it's a pretty good intro bike. Tiagra is good enough for the newbie. I have it on my bike I cycle to work on and provided you keep it clean and maintained it's pretty durable. At 6'1'' I'd say the 57 would be the size for you. I'm a squidge under 6'2'' and I cycle at 58.

Get yourself a pair of mudguards http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=25796
a decent lock and you'll be good to go.

Enjoy

Stuart2

Thanks for all the replies, and cheers for the link Hungrycol. I think I will probably go for the BeOne Storm alright, it's just hard to make a final decision!

I have one last query, if any could help that would be great. I was reading another thread where someone was recommending the following bike from Halfords:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_272633_langId_-1_categoryId_165710

It seems to be in a similar price bracket to the BeOne Storm 2.0. If you were buying either of the above, which would you go for?

Thanks again...

kenmc

the halfords one is a mix of tiagra and the lower-spec'd sora gearing. doesn't say exactly what is sora though, the shifters look like tiagra on the picture.
I'd still go with the beone cos it's fully tiagra on mechs brakes and shifters.
cheaper too!

Stuart2

Thanks for the quick reply Ken.

I think I'm going to go with the BeOne alright. Just found another thread where they were comparing the two and a third bike and the gen consensus was that the BeOne was the better choice so all the signs point towards it.

Cheers again for the help, will let people know how it's going when up and running...(if I can assemble the thing!)

blorg

If you aren't familiar with bike mechanics, might be better off going with the Carerra- the shifters are Tiagra which is the most important/expensive part. The bike from CRC may require a bit of fettling (nothing major.)

Quigs Snr

Usually the BeOne comes with just the handlebars needing to be tightened and straightened plus the pedals put on.

The gears on the BeOne Briza I set up for one of the lads in work were very slightly out. Ridable, but a couple of turns of the screw and they were better. The BeOne does not really require a huge amount of assembly, my BeOne MTB has done well for me so far so I quite like them.

That being said, if you are worried about setup, or don't know anyone who could help, or don't fancy bringing to a shop to tune it if required then maybe Blorg's suggestion is better.

kenmc

Except that the Carrera will come with a Halfords PFY setup, so he'd probably actually be better going for the BeOne after all