Triathlon / Training Bike

blainj2

I'm doing my first sprint event in late august and want to get my first road bike for training and the event along with the many more that will hopefully follow.

The price seems to range wildly from €350 - €3500. Im completely new to this so im looking for someone to recommend me a bike that wont break the bank but will be decent quality at the same time. I wouldn't like to spend more than €600 and a bit less if possible. I should be eligible for the bike to work scheme so that should be able to increase the quality of bikes available to me.

I found this bike in Halfords http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_786805_langId_-1_categoryId_212536

Is it any use or is there anything wrong with it?

Also when it comes to size there is a medium and large version is this just down to my height. Im 6ft 0", which one would be better?

digiman

I'm in a similar position to you, doing my first triathlon in August so wondering what kind of bike I should be getting. I will be using the biketowork scheme so will probably spend the max on that.

Have people got any recommendations around the €1k mark?

blainj2

Went in to Cycle Superstore today and Halfords yesterday for a look. They seemed much more helpful in cycle superstore.

They recommended the Lapierre Audacio 400 TP Bike '11 Triple (€1045 and can get 10% off)

http://www.cyclesuperstore.ie/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=35&idproduct=38519

Or the Cube Peloton Bike '11 (€999 and can get 10% off)

http://www.cyclesuperstore.ie/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=35&idproduct=40649

They said the Lapierre was a better bike. It had a full Tiagra system where the Cube only had some of its parts Tiagra. They also said the Lapierre had a better frame which would be more comfortable. FWIW i dont think the Lapierre in the picture was the one i was shown. The top bar seemed more rounded in the shop.

What do people thing of these bikes? Any other recommendations or cheaper places to buy these bikes if they are good? Will take 1 week to get them delivered.

cython

digiman wrote: »

I'm in a similar position to you, doing my first triathlon in August so wondering what kind of bike I should be getting. I will be using the biketowork scheme so will probably spend the max on that.

Have people got any recommendations around the €1k mark?

Someone will likely be along shortly to recommend Canyon, and the Roadlite 5.0 clocks in at €999, pretty close to your 1k mark, if you are suggesting the entire 1k to go on the bike.

blainj2 wrote: »

I'm doing my first sprint event in late august and want to get my first road bike for training and the event along with the many more that will hopefully follow.

The price seems to range wildly from €350 - €3500. Im completely new to this so im looking for someone to recommend me a bike that wont break the bank but will be decent quality at the same time. I wouldn't like to spend more than €600 and a bit less if possible. I should be eligible for the bike to work scheme so that should be able to increase the quality of bikes available to me.

I found this bike in Halfords http://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_11101_catalogId_15551_productId_786805_langId_-1_categoryId_212536

Is it any use or is there anything wrong with it?

Also when it comes to size there is a medium and large version is this just down to my height. Im 6ft 0", which one would be better?

If I had €600 to spend on a bike with no BTW scheme available to me, I would probably look at second hand. The one you linked to has the very entry level components, and for similar prices second hand you could probably get a tier or 2 above it. Certainly for €600 you could get a much better bike second hand than that, minimum tiagra gears, and potentially 105. This may not mean much, but if you're looking at this for triathlon purposes, unless you're using aerobars you may find yourself spending a good amount of time in the drops, and 2300/Sora shifters like you linked to there have very limited shifting options from the drops, due to using a thumb button on the hood to select smaller rings, while the higher components use a second lever behind the brake lever, meaning going both ways in the gears is easy from the drops.

Having said that, it's merely my opinion, and highlighting the only thing I find lacking from my own Sora shifters!

blainj2

blainj2 wrote: »

Went in to Cycle Superstore today and Halfords yesterday for a look. They seemed much more helpful in cycle superstore.

They recommended the Lapierre Audacio 400 TP Bike '11 Triple (€1045 and can get 10% off)

http://www.cyclesuperstore.ie/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=35&idproduct=38519

Or the Cube Peloton Bike '11 (€999 and can get 10% off)

http://www.cyclesuperstore.ie/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=35&idproduct=40649

They said the Lapierre was a better bike. It had a full Tiagra system where the Cube only had some of its parts Tiagra. They also said the Lapierre had a better frame which would be more comfortable. FWIW i dont think the Lapierre in the picture was the one i was shown. The top bar seemed more rounded in the shop.

What do people thing of these bikes? Any other recommendations or cheaper places to buy these bikes if they are good? Will take 1 week to get them delivered.

Can someone give their opinion on these two bikes please. I haven't a clue! The Felt F85 seems to be a better similarly priced option but is sold of everywhere i asked till September.

cython

blainj2 wrote: »

Can someone give their opinion on these two bikes please. I haven't a clue! The Felt F85 seems to be a better similarly priced option but is sold of everywhere i asked till September.

I haven't ridden either, nor do I know anyone with either, but to be honest it looks like you could nearly toss a coin between them going off the listings there. I can't comment as to the quality of the frames compared to each other, but plenty of people have bought Cubes and been happy with them, including a few on here, I think. Component wise, the Cube does have the older (and possibly less well regarded) Octalink standard bottom bracket and crankset, rather than the current Shimano Hollowtech II on the Lapierre, which is likely where some of the price difference comes from. CSS are always going to try to talk up the Lapierre branded bikes, as they are the Irish distributor for them, so higher sales of that particular brand are more in their interest than of other brands.

Really it would come down to which you find most comfortable if you can get a chance to sit up on them and get a feel for them before you buy. From what I can gather online, the F85 seems to have 105, so if that were similarly priced, it would certainly be a better value purchase alright. If you get the BTW scheme are you limited in the shops where you can purchase?

blainj2

I have the BTW scheme and can buy from anywhere so if hte Felt F85 were available somewhere that didnt have a terrible waiting time id probably go for that option.

Also the Lapierre Audacio is only available in Triple and i hear that a compact system is the way to go.

Thanks for your comments on the bikes. That is what i suspected but it good to hear it from someone who knows a bit.

fat bloke

blainj2 wrote: »

I have the BTW scheme and can buy from anywhere so if hte Felt F85 were available somewhere that didnt have a terrible waiting time id probably go for that option.

Also the Lapierre Audacio is only available in Triple and i hear that a compact system is the way to go.

Thanks for your comments on the bikes. That is what i suspected but it good to hear it from someone who knows a bit.

They're both grand bikes, just buy the one you prefer imo.

A compact chainset would be for someone looking for a lower range of gears to go climbing steep hills. Triathlons are generally flat, so if it was me I would not want a compact, or a triple, I'd want a standard double chainset.