Road bike recommendations

@Señor_Bear jokes aside, been doing that with a size S compact geo frame (Im 6foot) and its been doing strange things to my knees

More setback to compensate for the steeper ST on smaller sizes. #bikesizingscam #contactpoints

Canyon, very short reach for the stack.

Get a Brompton

I got the "which is the best bike" question. Tiny budget, no time or inclination to tinker.

I pointed them to this:
http://www.merlincycles.com/merlin-performance-road-pr7-bike-73113.html

It's fairly horrendous but maybe a sensible start I think and shouldn't fall the pieces? It's got 'full Claris' (swoon), the fork isn't the horrible alloy or pig iron type you get on cheap bikes. It has room for 28mm tyres and rack bosses.

I'd ride that with my choice of contact points. You'd have to spend twice that to see a better groupset and three times that for decent finishing kits or wheels.

Nice. I was going to suggest a Ribble build on an Audax/Winter Training frame for £540 (Sora 9sp), but I can't really criticise the Merlin. Even the wheels (rims) are Mavics, instead of the usual AlexRims you normally see.

Ribble do a Tiagra 4600 version for £600 (once you've changed the Rodi* wheels for RS11s). Pretty amazing value. Bike prices seem to be falling.

*my LBS described a set of wonky Rodi wheels as 'the worst wheels any of us here have ever seen' :)

Some tired hack bikes ridden by old dopers;
http://www.shopslipstreamsports.com/garmin-sharp-cervelo-bikes-1.html

Even the wheels (rims) are Mavics, instead of the usual AlexRims you normally see.

The CXP-22 is a pretty heavy rims, don't think it's better than the AlexRims alternative.

Merlin got I and my colleague scratching our head, how do they managed to get profit from it?

That is insanely good value.

Shimano - check
Mavic - check
Change from £300 - check

You do talk some balls Ed. I've built a couple of sets of wheels with them and they're far from heavy... within 50g of a Open Pro I'd guess. The point is not the weight, but the fact it's a proper 32 spoke wheel that can be repaired/rebuilt.

I've had CXP22 before, they're fine, but not really that much better than Alexrims.

£300 is still amazing, made the B'twin Triban 3 look a little expensive in comparison.

Edit - B'Twin Triban 3 is apparently £200.

CXP22 are made by Jalco.

@Alb do you know if Archetypes are Alex rims without eyelets?

I'm thinking of looking for my first road bike and I'm not sure what I'm looking for. I'd like something that I can go and have fun on for a day but also something I could some light touring and wet weather mucking about with. So far what's come to mind is the surly long haul trucker and the Genesis Croix De Fer (did I see somewhere that there was a 853 version? Google isn't much help and I love my 853 Donohue). Anything else to look at? At the moment I'm just looking for a frameset.

Long haul trucker isn't what I would described as a fun bike, the Cross check or stagger is the closet to the genesis

Cheers, hadn't looked at them. I'll do some more research.

If you're budget can accomodate it might be worth going custom? Obviously once you've figured out what sorta bike you're after.

Does anyone know how much a custom frame from orlowski or somewhere similar would be roughly? I know they're really cheap for custom but how does it compare to a ready made frame? Both in cost and benefits.

Look at the geo on them, as size depending they're geo and trail can be very different. Iirc the surly has massive trail.

I love my cdf with Thorn fork.

But budget depending, I'd get a carbon disc road bike. And if you want light touring just go bike packing route.

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To be honest I have no idea what difference trail makes, I've only ever ridden impractical track bikes and mountain bikes when I was younger. Budget won't stretch to carbon and I'd rather have steel than aluminium which is one of the reasons the cdf appealed. The idea of being able to go for a decent lengthed ride in comfort is appealing as well.

I'd have a look at the ribble winter bikes or a second hand Adax bike.

If you're not sure what you want, I'd have thought a cheaper second hand frame/bike with mudgaurd eyelets and space for 28mm tyres would be the best place to start.

I'm trying to find a road bike for around £500 (not for me). I've been looking at the felt f85 with tiagra or the vitus zenium (also with tiagra). they both seem quite similar on the whole but there are a few differences between them e.g. the felt has a square taper bb and the vitus has a "press fit". anyone had any experience with either? or know of something better for £500 or less? thanks.

The Merlin PR7 above is hard to beat, make a good first proper road bike.