First road bike - budget €500-600

gooner99

Hi,

Part 1

My 17 year old nephew is looking to get a road bike for recreational and fitness cycling. He's been into a couple of local shops and he is a medium, but would likely be better with a medium-large as hes still growing.He's taken a few spins on my medium-large and he feels comfortable on it. Now his budget is €500-600. I have done some searching and have come up with these options. What do you guys think of them and if there are any I may be missing please let me know. All advice very much welcome.

Giant Defy 5. I have a Defy 2 myself and while it uses better components, the frames seem pretty damn solid. He can get a Defy 5 for for €585, so pretty decent price. http://www.giant-dublin.ie/en-gb/bikes/model/2014.giant.defy.5/14977/66549/#specifications


BT-Win. I have read good things about these. There seem to be a couple of choices at this price range. I've checked with them and delivery is £15. http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-5-road-bike-black-id_8239801.html and http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-500-road-bike-id_8306944.html

Boardman. Again a couple of options in his price range. His mother has and AXA card, so he could avail of a 10% discount. http://www.halfords.ie/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/boardman-road-sport-bike-medium-53cm and http://www.halfords.ie/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/boardman-road-sport-limited-edition-2014


Part 2

My son 12 who is 5'4" also would like to upgrade from his bmx to a road bike.I don't want to spend a lot of money on a bike at his age, as he will out grow it pretty quickly. I see quite a lot of unknown or odd brands on donedeal. One bike I had my eye on was the old Triban 3 (red), but it's now gone for good. I rang and they confirmed this. Do you think the the new Triban 3 would be a good idea or has it been downgraded too much. Interested in alternatives if there are any. Maybe one of the Halfords Carreara range? http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-3-road-bike-white-id_8239800.html

Thanks

Seaneh

I'd say, on both counts, go second hand. Put an add in the adverts sub forum forum here, you'll save money AND probably get better specced bikes.

gooner99

Seaneh wrote: »

I'd say, on both counts, go second hand. Put an add in the adverts sub forum forum here, you'll save money AND probably get better specced bikes.

Thanks Seaneh. Yeah have also been on the lookout for 2nd hand on Donedeal, but not much choice so far here in Donegal.

gooner99

Anyone any experience with the Vitus Razor range from Chain Reactions?

meercat

Was in halfords blanchardstown last week and there was a carrera there for just less than €300. Good starter bike and you would get close to your money back when selling that if he decides to upgrade

ZiabR

You have PM.

gooner99

meercat wrote: »

Was in halfords blanchardstown last week and there was a carrera there for just less than €300. Good starter bike and you would get close to your money back when selling that if he decides to upgrade

Yes looked at the TDF briefly in Halfords and it is probably perfect for my 12 year old,I'd imagine it's better than the appolo's an castela's that I see the young lads on around here. Must take a closer look when I'm in town next.

desertcircus

If you do go new, the BTwin is near impossible to beat. Carbon fork and Sora shifters compared to aluminium fork and Claris shifters on the Giant makes it an easy choice, unless the Giant has incredible wheels or a cracking frame.

gooner99

desertcircus wrote: »

If you do go new, the BTwin is near impossible to beat. Carbon fork and Sora shifters compared to aluminium fork and Claris shifters on the Giant makes it an easy choice, unless the Giant has incredible wheels or a cracking frame.

Yes the BTWin Triban looks good for the money. The Chain Reactions Vitus Razor VR seems to have a similar spec?

I think Sean Kelly endorses these and the An post team ride them.Albeit their higher end bikes. Just don't see a lot of info on them online.

gooner99

Little update. We went to look at the Boardmans yesterday. Nice bikes, seem pretty well put together. We looked at the road sport 2014 (which has just got a further discount) and the road sport limited edition. The road sport 2014 looks nicer with it's red paint job.However the forks are alloy, whilst the limited has carbon. Other than that I think there's not a lot of difference, but I'm not that up on the different components. My nephew wants a bike for recreational spins,not racing.

1. Do you think the road comp 2014 is good value or would it be advisable the bit extra for the limited?

2. We can get 10% off with an axa card. I also have another 10% discount code I got from the net which I was hoping to use.But the guy in the shop reckons you can only apply one discount at a time, but did say he wasn't 100% sure.Anyone any experience of this?

Thanks.

http://www.halfords.ie/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/boardman-road-sport-2014

http://www.halfords.ie/cycling/bikes/road-bikes/boardman-road-sport-limited-edition-2014

rtmie

Not a bike expert but bought Vitus razor for my son,14, recently. Seems excellent to me and unmatched in terms of spec for price.

All bike shops and people I know into cycling advised avoiding the carerras. However bike shops one the one hand say better to buy recognised brand secondhand, then immediately tell you that they have no secondhand available.

Hence ended up with Vitus, arrived 3 days after order, just had to attach handlebars and good to go.

Rob

gooner99

Thanks Rob.I know what u mean about the lack of second hand bikes depending on where you live . Which of the Vitus Razors did u get, the standard or the VR. Spoke with them on the phone, very nice and checked the questions I had with one of their bike mechanics.

The Carreras do get mixed press alright. But I just reserved one for my 12 year old.Price of €250 was hard to beat and will do him as a first bike . He'll grow pretty quick at his age.

My nephew is now favoring the Vitus over the Road sport for its carbon fork and the colour.

ZiabR

Nothing wrong with Carrera as a first bike. The only thing going against the Carrera is the weight of the bikes but if you are not going to be racing them, then so what.

I bought one for my OH as a first bike and it served her well, she even did the Ring of Kerry this year on it. You cant beat the price of them.

rtmie

gooner99,
I got the standard (my budget limit was hard at the €500).

Bike is apparently set up and aligned in their factory in Antrim prior to shipping. Only thing to do on receipt is remove front handle bar bracket (4 allen keys), align and mount the handlebars - even I couldn't f*!k that up!

Couple of things to note, it's worth watching the site, they sometimes have voucher codes, I got one for €10 euro off on the day I was ordering.

I linked through to them from fatcheese.ie and so got some credit in a fatcheese account from the referral fee ( about 9 euro, though I have no idea what to do on fatcheese to spend that!)

There are other UK based sites I came across when I was looking such as wiggle.co.uk who will free-ship to Ireland but you will have to get feedback from someone who has used them.

They have some Felt bikes in your budget - can't vouch for how their prices compare to what an LBS can offer

www[dot]wiggle[dot]co[dot]uk/felt-z100-2014/ at €529 which has same shimano claris as the Vitus Razor

sorry boards won't let me insert an actual URL as apparently I am a new user - (Join Date: 08-11-2005) obviously have to pass the 10 year mark for that!!

gooner99

rtmie wrote: »

gooner99,
I got the standard (my budget limit was hard at the €500).

Bike is apparently set up and aligned in their factory in Antrim prior to shipping. Only thing to do on receipt is remove front handle bar bracket (4 allen keys), align and mount the handlebars - even I couldn't f*!k that up!

Couple of things to note, it's worth watching the site, they sometimes have voucher codes, I got one for €10 euro off on the day I was ordering.

I linked through to them from fatcheese.ie and so got some credit in a fatcheese account from the referral fee ( about 9 euro, though I have no idea what to do on fatcheese to spend that!)

There are other UK based sites I came across when I was looking such as wiggle.co.uk who will free-ship to Ireland but you will have to get feedback from someone who has used them.

They have some Felt bikes in your budget - can't vouch for how their prices compare to what an LBS can offer

www[dot]wiggle[dot]co[dot]uk/felt-z100-2014/ at €529 which has same shimano claris as the Vitus Razor

sorry boards won't let me insert an actual URL as apparently I am a new user - (Join Date: 08-11-2005) obviously have to pass the 10 year mark for that!!

Thanks very much for that.Where abouts on their page do they post the voucher codes.

Felt look nice too.

rtmie

gooner99 wrote: »

Thanks very much for that.Where abouts on their page do they post the voucher codes.

Felt look nice too.

Voucher code appeared on main page for a couple of days.

gooner99

Quick update.My son picked up his Carrera TDF Limited edition Yesterday.Slight hiccup where they build a 54cm even though I ordered a 51cm and I confirmed it on the phone on Friday afternoon.Anyway worked out fine in the end as they had a 51cm built for display,so just gave that a safety check and off we went.Have to say it's a cracking bike for the price (€249 with online discount). Not too heavy at all for a starter bike, nice paint job, gears shift well and brakes seem fine too. Tyres probably could be better, but you can't really complain a this price level. They should do him for a good while anyway. I'd recommend this bike especially for younger cyclists that are still growing, where buying an expensive bike that they will outgrow just doesn't make sense at that early stage.

My nephews Vitus Razor should arrive Today, so will give my thought on it shortly.

ZiabR

One thing on the Carrera bikes is the tyres alright. On my OH bike they only lasted about 400km before the rear tyre wall started to fail and you could see the tube bubbling and pushing through the tyres. I have since upgraded her tyres to Michelin Pro4.

My advice would be to watch the tyres closely or just change them now.

gooner99

logik wrote: »

One thing on the Carrera bikes is the tyres alright. On my OH bike they only lasted about 400km before the rear tyre wall started to fail and you could see the tube bubbling and pushing through the tyres. I have since upgraded her tyres to Michelin Pro4.

My advice would be to watch the tyres closely or just change them now.

Thanks. Will keep a good eye for on them.If they look like they are failing when I take it in for the 6 week check,I'll insist on replacements or a reduction off a better set.

ZiabR

gooner99 wrote: »

Thanks. Will keep a good eye for on them.If they look like they are failing when I take it in for the 6 week check,I'll insist on replacements or a reduction off a better set.

Good stuff, other than that, they are grand bikes.

gooner99

Update on my nephews Vitus Razor.Delivered in a large strong box, bike frame well padded also. Wheels were in place.Only things that needed to be done was to attach the handle bars, pedals and reflectors. There was also a string bag included that contained an allen key set, pedal wrench, touch up paint, energy bars and energy drinks. Little bit disappointed with the pedals, they were just standard plastic pedals that you'd expect to see on a mountain bike. I'm not sure why they didn't include caged pedals. Other than that it is a fine bike for the money. The clarris gearing is nice smooth and welll adjusted, the bakes seem solid and the bike is pretty damn light thanks to the carbon forks. In fact it's just about the same weight as my Giant defy 2. The paint job is very nice, with the red being more vibrant than the pictures on the website.

ZiabR

Glad you are happy with the bikes, best of luck with them.

rtmie

gooner99,
glad to hear you are pleased with the vitus