choice narrowed to 2 road bikes, which do you recommend?

fguihen

Ive narrowed my choice down to two bikes. can someone recommend which one would be better. Il be using the bike to commute to and from work (around dublin city) and for a bit of countryside cycling ( No Offroading though).

The bikes i have been looking at are:

Lapierre Shaper 100
http://www.cyclesuperstore.ie/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=32&idproduct=30974

and

Lapierre RCR 100
http://www.cyclesuperstore.ie/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=0&idproduct=24229

Il be putting on thin puncture resistant tires also, so whatever tires are on these bikes will be changed.

CheGuedara

Either THIS or the Shaper and the Shaper only for aesthetic reasons.

I suggest the Defy as if the search function on the Boards was working you'd see how many flat bar racer/hybrid to drop bar conversions happen after very short time and at quite substantial expense.

Timmah!

CheGuedara wrote: »

I suggest the Defy as if the search function on the Boards was working you'd see how many flat bar racer/hybrid to drop bar conversions happen after very short time and at quite substantial expense.

Seconded, I bought the Lapierre RCR100 last year, sold it this year to buy a road bike. Save yourself the trouble and go for the roadie.

sibyrne

Buy a Giant rapid 3 or 2.

kincsem

Those bikes are almost identical. I wouldn't pick either.

fguihen

sibyrne wrote: »

Buy a Giant rapid 3 or 2.

well out of my price range. max budget of about 550 euros.

sibyrne

fguihen wrote: »

well out of my price range. max budget of about 550 euros.

How about the Rapid 4 at Euro 559.99.
By far the best flat-bar on the market.

Bikerbhoy

CheGuedara wrote: »

you'd see how many flat bar racer/hybrid to drop bar conversions happen after very short time and at quite substantial expense.

Here here I did it myself with the RCR 100..... BUT.I dont think the geometry is ever really right either after you change from a flat bar hybrid design to drops

Drops are the way to go ....I guess you will want them yourself anyway after the bug has bitten.....GET THEM NOW... I say

CheGuedara

Bikerbhoy wrote: »

I dont think the geometry is ever really right either after you change from a flat bar hybrid design to drops

You're right. Where as the DEFY and FCR shared the frame (AFAIK), the new Rapid FBRs have a dedicated frame which though similar to the Defy will have wrong geometry if converted to drops in the future.

fguihen

Ok, Message is taken, Il prob end up getting a full road bike instead of a hybrid.

Ive managed to stretch my budget to 600 quid. whats the recommendation in this price range?

sibyrne

Around the 600 quid mark?

Giant Defy 4 599 - If they are available.

Specialized Allez 650 - Defo worth the extra 50 if you can go that extra little bit.
Down to the fact that it has a carbon front fork.

Both have a very similar group set.

CheGuedara

Well keeping in and around budget (my excuse for including slightly over the mark) your're looking at

the Giant Defy 4 or 3.5 - the latter being more expensive due to having a carbonfiber fork and an upgraded chainset. Is the 3.5 worth an extra 75 quid? - I'd err on the side of yes, especially if you can see yourself using the bike for longer cycles (charity cycles, sportives and the like) as the fork will help dampen road buzz and give your hands a bit of a break and a better drive chain is always a good thing. Additionally, fitting these upgrades at a late time would cost more than e75.

Also in the running is the Cube Aerial - significantly better spec than the giant BUT only in sizes suitable for a rider of ~6ft and upwards (58cm). If you are in this height range, if it was my money, this is where I would leave it.

There seems to be a few SCR (previous incarnation of Giant Defy) bikes floating around. Wheelworx have 08 SCR 3's available on their website in a range of sizes. Alu frame, carbon fork, mixed Sora/Triagra grouppo - grand bike, would be comfortable and reliable.

Anyway there is also the Focus Variado, in a 54cm size (fitting someone in the region of 5'7-5'9) - similar spec to the Cube above, with tasty FSA finishing kit.

As it was written in the prophesy, I'll now recommend something ordinarily way out of budget.

IF you have access to the bike to work scheme and you find yourself in the upper tax band you should consider going for the Planet X Pro carbon which should come in assembled for you at something like e850 with the tax saving. This would see you with a full carbon bike with components of a standard you could race competitively with at about 1/4 the cost of a similarly specced Giant/Trek etc.

fguihen

thanks for the help all. it has to be purchased in ireland, and in one of a list of stores to be covered under the bike to work scheme, so il be heading to cycle superstore this weekend. The Giant Defy4 looks like the best option that has been recommend that they supply so il give that one a look and see how it feels.

fguihen

To close the thread off, I went to cycle superstore in tallaght today to look at the defy 4. The guy who I asked for a bit of help (John I think), was really helpful.

Asked me my budget, and when i said around 700 he said that the defy 4 i a decent bike but for 100 or so quid more I could get the Lapierre Audacio 200, which is much better than the defy for just 100 quid extra. explained about the chainset, forks, saddle, gears etc that are on each and why they are better on the Lapierre.

Based on his advice i went with the lapierre. On getting to the till, it turned out that there was a discount on the lapierre and it was down from just under 800 quid to 695 euros!

So it seems i got a pretty good beginners racing bike for a decent price! Now just to get HR approve it for the Bike to work scheme!

Thanks for the help all.