Advice for a Novice

HALLOW RUBY

Hi, I'm looking for some advice on purchasing a roadbike. My budget is around the €800 mark. I've been around a few shops and the best I have been offered is the Trek 1.2 or the Felt 95. Do these bikes represent good value for that price or should I hold on until the 2011 ranges of bike are brought out.

Also I 'm interested in using the road bike as a starter bike for entering duathlons, long weekend spins, and a 12 mile journey to work.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

petethedrummer

Some opinions of the F95:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=66618560

€800 seems to be the going rate for the Felt:
http://www.wheelworxbikes.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=58&products_id=2038
http://eurocycles.ie/Felt_95_Team_Issue_2010/3613_p.aspx

Fender76

Hey HR,

I have a F95 and I love it.
It's an great bike for the price, looks great (Garmion replica*) , lightweight, very comfortable.
I will say this though, the components that it comes with (Sora) aren't the best but I have upgraded the shifters and deraileurs to Ultegra and it is my dream bike now.
If you are thinking about comuting and Sunday spins then look no further.
I have no experience of Trek, but as I said I love the F95...

* Unfortunately for Felt (and F95 owners) it seems Cervelo wiill be the bike of choice for the Garmin team next year... :mad:

funkyjebus

Fender76 wrote: »

Hey HR,

I have a F95 and I love it.
It's an great bike for the price, looks great (Garmion replica*) , lightweight, very comfortable.
I will say this though, the components that it comes with (Sora) aren't the best but I have upgraded the shifters and deraileurs to Ultegra and it is my dream bike now.
If you are thinking about comuting and Sunday spins then look no further.
I have no experience of Trek, but as I said I love the F95...

* Unfortunately for Felt (and F95 owners) it seems Cervelo wiill be the bike of choice for the Garmin team next year... :mad:

hey fender,

ive done the exact same, have the 2009 model and have upgraded to ultegra sl. so nice now. not the worst news about garmin, now we have a time piece.

she is a good bike, but op i couldnt recommend as its not the best value for that price esp the 2010 version which they have stripped down. if you can strech to 850 get the boardman comp, which is by far the best value bike in that price range. there is also an axa trick to get 15% off.

best of luck.

Fender76

Hey Funky, post a pic of yr ride and I'll do the same.. sorry to highjack the thread HR..!

HALLOW RUBY

No probs, along as you don't ever hijack my bike!

funkyjebus

fender will do tonight when not on the phone.

HR - yes, apologys. and it depends on what bike ya get, if its the boardman, look out!

just a bit of info, the most important thing (imo) when getting a bike is the drive train (i went for looks, cus no one told me any different). the go in this order (for shimano)

2200/2300
sora
tiagra
105
ultegra
dura ace (2200 being the worst, dura the best)

the felt has a sora 2300 mix, where as the boardman has a tiagra 105 mix. thats a big step up, imo any shifters lower than tiagra are not the best. i believe the new felt doesnt even have shimano shifter but sunrace microB - stay clear.

Fender76

+1
Yeah, mine came with micro ****ters... sorry, shifters.
Upgraded immediately.

The bike is surprisingly light. I was really surprised for an alu frame how light it was..

Funky, I'll post a pic later too.

papac

I think that Felt is poor value for money.Buying it and upgrading the gruppo would make it even worse value imo.

Better option. 15% off if you or someone you know has an Axa insurance policy.

738 for a tiagra bike. Good business.


http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_501991_langId_-1_categoryId_212536

mike12

Hi,
Have looked at a lot of bikes in this price bracket and really like the look of the focus http://eurocycles.ie/Road_Bikes/Focus_Variado_Compact/3361_p.aspx think its 899 in the shop but compared to the 2008 version of the same bike it seems to get really bad reviews and its almost a kg heavier the felt looks great too but again it seems heavy and the spec is not as good as the boardman. If someone can come up with a bike with as good as spec as the boardman as light as the boardman let me know.
Mike

HALLOW RUBY

Well lads I took the plunge and purchased myself a Felt 95. I know it's not the most popular bike of choice from the previous posts but hopefully it will serve me well for a few years. Cheers for all the advice given and hopefully I 'll be back on looking for recommendations on various other bikes, components and accessories if I'm bitten by the bug!

funkyjebus

HALLOW RUBY wrote: »

Well lads I took the plunge and purchased myself a Felt 95. I know it's not the most popular bike of choice from the previous posts but hopefully it will serve me well for a few years. Cheers for all the advice given and hopefully I 'll be back on looking for recommendations on various other bikes, components and accessories if I'm bitten by the bug!

You will be bitten sir, we all have. thats great news, perhaps we can make this a dedicated f95 thread (4 the 3 of us!):D.

anyway here is my f95 as promised. my free hub broke so am without my rear felt wheel so it not as pretty as she can be. full ultegra sl (except for rear der, which is plain old ultegra!).

Fender76

Well done HR.. welcome to the club...

Funky, I forgot to upload a pic last night so I'll do it tonight..

What kind of pedals are you rockin...?

funkyjebus

ha thats so funny, i took this pic last night and then changed my pedals after, as got the new ones from crc yday. on the bike in the pic are standard flat pedals, but bought some a530's and some dhb shoes and goin to try clipless, i commute and run to the shops on the bike as well as long spins so the a530 is the perfect pedal for me. get my shoes tomorrow ( pressie from gf, it my bday you see!!), so cant wait to use it.