Road bike recommendations

Cheap but decent road (or cx frame)? Would prefer 28-32mm tyres. And somehow I'm fixated to 1x10/11 drivetrain for its simplicity and cheaper price(?) but does that make any sense really? It just seems that on my 50/34 - 12/28 CdF I'm mostly spinning on the inner ring, even without any luggage, and I hate adjusting the front derailleur.

The list so far (not in any particular order):

1. Planet x rt 58
   
2. Cinelli Experience
   
3. Brand X
   
4. Votec VR
   (5. Ribble CR1)
   

Btwin Triban.

With money left over.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-500-se-road-bike-id_8306187.html

Checked Decathlon and the Triban is a hell of a deal. I'm slightly put off by Microshift though. Have you used it?

Their cheapest Sora bike is 450. I'd rather have full Tiagra and Shimano wheels for another 50 quid.

The cheap fucker in me says I'll take advantage of Wiggle's 30 day test ride and send it back in January for a refund. Does seem a bit disingenuous though.

Microshift work, it's not amazing, but what I did like about it is that it got a nice clunky shift as oppose to a muted shift that the old Shimano sti shifter with the tiny thumb shifter.

Bear in mind it use the same cable pull as Shimano, so there's no reason why you can't just upgrade the shifter to Claris and let it at that.

Went online with good intentions of getting a Btwin but the logic of 'if I just spend a bit more' got to me and I got this. Seems unbeatable for 500 quid although probably testing the definition of cheap.

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Reckon that's plentiful, new Tiagra is better than old 105.

The Claris model look great at £340.

Paint looks good too.

Dolan Prefissio

Hard to fault this bike. Alu frame plus bigger tyres is such a nice combination.

New Tiagra works like a dream. Brakes aren't the best but suspect that's down to the pads rather than the calipers.

Oh yeah - the saddle is dreadful. Far too much padding. My gooch hurts quite a lot today. I'll fuck about with the angle a bit more.

I actually quite like running a load of spacers and riding in the drops for long periods.

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Brakes aren't the best but suspect that's down to the pads rather than the calipers.

Yup, wear it in a bit, and/or loosen the cable a little so there's a longer throw to modulate the brakes.

If new pads, go for the Swissstop BXP with holder (AFAIK those Tiagra brakes don't have those).

The Tiagra brakes have holders. Got some green Swissstops but as its so flat here, I'm going to stick with them.

The Tiagra brakes have holders.

We are talking about this are we?

Never seen one that come with a holder, due to it's being Tiagra.

Got some green Swissstops.

Only worthwhile on heavier duty rims, they wear out rims due to being a harder wearing compound.

Looks great.

My bad. They're non series brakes...

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They look like the long drop version (R650), not only make the bike a better value but you should be able to run 32mm easily.

Not sure why they stated Tiagra as they're a slight upgrade from the standard Tiagra one.

Close the quick release!

Sorry.

My misus bought a Verenti as her first proper road bike 5-6 years ago - then later relegated to commuting duties. She was very happy with it. I reckon they're pretty underrated. Good bikes.

what is weight like?

bit like mass, but with gravity

^, ho, ho, ho.

Infinite Monkey Cage listener by any chance?

Nah, just a wanker

8.9kg according to bathroom scales. I had to weigh myself to work that out. Not good for the confidence at this time of year.

tidy

At the start of last year I brought a CAAD12 from Evans and basically had bottom bracket/crank issues all year so I wrote to Evans customers services and they said that I could exchange it for another bike.

So now I have anround £1800 to play with, I'm not sure if i should go for another Cannondale CAAD12 with Ultegra or a Supersix with 105. Evans have kind of hinted at the fact they they don't think Cannondale's built quality is what it was.

Or spend another £300 and go for something totally different like the Trek Emonda SL 6 and get away from BB30.

Does anyone else have any suggestions?

Cheers