New Road bike, €400-600ish

muirgheasa

I've been putting up with a cheapo mountain bike for a few years now, and not really enjoying it much, so I'm finally getting around to looking for a new road bike. It'll be used mainly for commuting to college (around 6 miles each way or thereabouts), and also for the occasional long spin when the mood takes me.

I've had a look through the "Buying a bicycle" boards.ie wiki and found some reviews of the bikes listed around my pricepoint (Giant SCR 4, BeOne Storm, Saracen Tour 2 and, at a big push of the budget, Focus Summit), but I'm having a bit of trouble picking one out. Not only that, but I'm struggling to find stores that stock them - any suggestions on that front?

My biggest problem is that I've pretty much no idea what I'm looking for, and that even when I find reviews I've no real frame of reference for what "bad brakes" or "clunky gears" are - am I likely to even notice the difference?

Any suggestions as to which of the above bikes is best (bearing in mind that I obviously want to spend as little as possible while still getting a decent bike), or where I should be looking, or what I should be looking for, or anything else for that matter, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.


Diarmuid

EDIT: Also, almost forgot: someone pointed out to me that at 6'5" or so, I might have trouble finding a bike to fit me. Any truth to this?

Lumen

According to this sizing chart, you should fit on a bike with a 575mm to 580mm top tube (horizontal equivalent length).

I'm just 6ft and ride bikes with TTs in the ranges 560-570mm.

The largest sizes for the Giant Defy (new name for the SCR I think) are L (575mm TT) and XL (595mm TT). That's a pretty big gap, but I'd guess you would be better off with the larger size and fit a shorter stem to compensate. Standover height won't be an issue since the Giants have a very sloping toptube.



The BeOnes are sold by CRC, and at the time the wiki article was written were great value as end of year specials, but prices have since gone up massively.

Bikes are a bit thin on the ground at the moment, but your freakish stature may actually help as the extreme sizes are often the ones that sell last.

thirtythirty

If you're just looking for commuting and a small bit of longer distance you should have a look at the Giant FCR's. Same as scr's pretty much, cept with mountain bike-esque handle bars.

BostonB

I was thinking of a FCR but it seems alot of people move from them to road bike with drops anyway. I'm wondering would it better just to skip the hybrid and get a road bike.

muirgheasa

What would the advantage of going with the FCR be? Is it just cheaper, or is there anything else?

I'm still having trouble finding any decent shops online, chain reaction doesn't seem to stock a lot of the bikes I've seen mentioned, same's true of all the other ones I've found (evans cycles, cyclesuperstore.ie, cyclestore.co.uk). Any suggestions as to where I should be looking, or are they pretty much the only viable options?

Thanks for all the advice so far.

Diarmuid

BostonB

Straight handlebars, other than its the same as the SCR Road Bike. AFAIK.

dazzday

Was in the same boat as you recently. At a €500ish budget i found finding a decent road bike a challenge, and was pretty much resigned to getting a flat bar road bike/fast hybrid.

Ended up picking up a 6month old FCR 3 for €400, and i must say im absolutly delighted with it. Really is a road bike with flat handle bars, regularly doing 10k commutes and 30k weekend treks with it and finding it more then adequete to the task even with the poor Irish roads.

Another bike that really caught my eye in a similar fashion was the specialized sirrus sport. Looks great and rides brilliantly...best price around i saw was at worldwidecycles.com

thirtythirty

muirgheasa wrote: »

What would the advantage of going with the FCR be? Is it just cheaper, or is there anything else?

I'm still having trouble finding any decent shops online, chain reaction doesn't seem to stock a lot of the bikes I've seen mentioned, same's true of all the other ones I've found (evans cycles, cyclesuperstore.ie, cyclestore.co.uk). Any suggestions as to where I should be looking, or are they pretty much the only viable options?

Thanks for all the advice so far.

Diarmuid

Have a look here, and look at the trek 1000 for €475. That's an excellent bike for dirt cheap, and it's the right size for you. If you like it you should call them to hold it until you go view it.