Which one of 3?

paulgalway

Hope to move up from an old heavy hybrid. doing about 100km/wk at the moment. In early 50's and would like to do more km's and some sportives.

Money is short, but have been looking at these 3 bikes. any help in chosing would be greatly appreciated.

Halfords. Carrera Virtuoso €404 using AXA card

Decathlon: Triban 3 €354

LBS Specalized Allez €475

The allez is 2nd hand but guy in the shop saw the original receipt and it was bought new on BTW earlier in year and the computer only had less than 100km on it.



Thanks in advance.

denbatt

What is your budget? Done deal/ adverts is a great place for second hand bikes atm, i picked up a cube attempt on adverts with full 105 groupset last year for just over 500.

paulgalway

denbatt wrote: »

What is your budget? Done deal/ adverts is a great place for second hand bikes atm, i picked up a cube attempt on adverts with full 105 groupset last year for just over 500.

€500 max.

Pigeon Reaper

Personally I'd go for the Specialized or Triban. I've a specialized with Sora grears(a little better than the 2300 on the allez), tekro brakes etc for my commutor. I've only had to replace tyres, a few chains and the bottom bracket with over 14,000 KM on it.

The triban have a good reputation too and it's almost the exact same components.

Halfords have a bad reputation as their servicing/setup can be hit and miss. I'm sure the carrera could be a good bike but I don't trust halfords to get it made up correctly and paying someone else to do it would work out close to the same price as the Allez.

ratracer

Each of those bikes have their own individual selling points.

The Carrera has the better Derailleurs (Sora vs 2300)

The carbon fibre forks and the price of the Triban are good, but do you really need the triple ring chain set? The compact gearing of the other two should be suitable if you are already cycling regularly.

I'd take the Specialized over the the others, but inly becasue I think the frame is much nicer looking. The slight curve in the cross bar is v nice. What kind of warranty will the LBS give you, and what else will they throw in with the sale? Try for clipless pedals, lock, bottle cages, pump etc...

At the end of the day, no matter what the recommendations on here are, you're gonna follow your heart and buy the one you like best..There is very little difference in any of those bikes IMO.

Happy cycling. You have 5 weeks to get ready for the Croi cycle...

fixie fox

Make sure you get suitable gears, especially on the second-hand. Look for compact chainset with a 27 if possible at the back. Wrong gears = wrong bike without spending more

Seaneh

I'd take your €500 and go to the cycling adverts sub forum and see if you can get a better second hand bike.

You could probably get a good bike with a tiagra groupset for that and still have change.

I paid €360 for my bike on here 4 months ago and it's in fantastic nick!

paulgalway

fixie fox wrote: »

Make sure you get suitable gears, especially on the second-hand. Look for compact chainset with a 27 if possible at the back. Wrong gears = wrong bike without spending more

Not an expert but is it 25 ?

" Cassette: Shimano HG-50, 8-speed, 12-25 "

If it is, would there be much of a difference between the 25 & 27?

Seaneh

There is a fairly big difference between having a 25tooth lowest gear and a 27tooth lowest when it comes to climbing hills, aye. If you're reasonably fit 25 and a compact chainset will be fine I'd say.

I'd be buggered though, but I'm a big lad.

rab!dmonkey

It's not particularly arduous or expensive to swap out a cassette. I wouldn't let it sway my choice.

electronic

Have you considered the triban 5a.Its same frame as 3 but with sora 2013 groupset 9speed triple which is similar to last years tiagra so no thumb buttons of 2300 or old sora.I recently bought one for 400pounds so just under your 500 euro budget.I have been well impressed with it so far and anything similar seems to cost an awful lot more.

paulgalway

Thanks everyone for the help and advice.

Decided to go with the Specialized.

It felt more comfortable compared to a Trek 1.2 (2yrs old)
which I was also on.

Settled on a price of €450 down from €475.

Was offered good quality repair bag with spare tube, allen keys, tyre levers, mini pump and other standard stuff for €50 (normally €75). Is this good?

Had looked at the Triban 5 but decided against it as LBS is letting pay over a couple of weeks.

Also, not having had a road bike since I was in the early teens, decided that it would be good to have LBS on-hand as a source of information and expertise; ( apart from yourselves of course)

Also, I just like red bikes.:)

Thanks again.

I am sure I will be back to pick your brains.