Help me choose a bike

nummus

Hi,

After having done a few thousand miles on my trek hybrid, I'm ready to upgrade to a better bike.

I've been looking at gravel/adventure bikes as I like the freedom to go down forest tracks etc. I live in Wicklow so need something that can climb comfortably as well.

Would appreciate any suggestions, budget 1000 to 1500. Happy to source from U.K. Or Ireland.

Thanks

Cee-Jay-Cee

I recently bought a Felt VR30 from Wiggle, slightly over your budget at €1590 delivered but its a great bike and ideal for what your looking for in a bike. It has very relaxed geometry, wide wheelsets (21mm internal) 28mm Durano tyres and 105 11spd groupset with hydraulic brakes. It also comes with a sub-compact chainset (46/30 with an 11/32 cassette) so there is virtually no hill/climb you couldn't spin up easily. It is such a comfortable bike, the 28mm tyres coupled with carbon seat post and Prologo Kappa Space saddle make it very easy to ride on even the roughest surfaces.

I looked at the Cannondale Synapse, Cube Attain, Trek Domane and Giant Contend (all disc versions) and while some were cheaper none of them had the same spec as the Felt and so I figured that I'm better off getting the spec I wanted from the outset rather than spending money on it at a later stage to upgrade it.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/felt-vr30-road-bike-105-2017/

nummus

Thanks for that - great info. The bike looks ideal, I'll put it on the shortlist.

magicbastarder

you don't get the same level of spec at the price level, but maybe have a look at the genesis croix de fer range?

ankles

Opinions on wiggle's Verenti? I saw this and seems great value, for Tiagra set

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/verenti-technique-tiagra-2017-road-bike-1/

Cee-Jay-Cee

ankles wrote: »

Opinions on wiggle's Verenti? I saw this and seems great value, for Tiagra set

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/verenti-technique-tiagra-2017-road-bike-1/

It's a fairly heavy bike at 10kg but well spec'd at that price.

magicbastarder

considering the felt mentioned earlier at almost exactly double the price is less than 600g lighter, it's not something worth sweating over.

ankles

That's what I'm seeing, at the 1,000-1,500 price range the weight differences seem minimal, would you notice a 5-600 gram difference in a bike? Just seen 28mm tyres, a bit wide and heavy?

ankles

It actually matches the Giant Contend SL for weight and is a good bit cheaper