Road bike recommendations

I think I used Paypal when I bought spokes from them. Great service.

buy local!

I can't be arsed to read the whole thread, can someone just summarise what are the best value carbon-framed road bikes with Ultegra or similar...is it the Planet x Pro Carbon with Sram Red...or is there better....thanks.

I just got hold of a Scott CR1 Pro for £1.5k with full Ultegra (down from £2,500 as it was an ex demonstrator.) There were a few others at similar prices when I was googling around as well as other decent deals on 2011 bikes.

Otherwise, how about Planet-X or Focus?

Ok, that Rose trumps the Dolan Ares I posted above by dint of having better wheels and a more expensive saddle for only £90 more. I don't know anything about the relative merits of the two framesets, anyone ridden either?

A guy in my club (Semi Pro Ironman Triathlete) is road testing a couple of Starley Bikes, they look awesome.

Today an old boy came past on one in civvies, which was a bit unusual. So I caught him and we chatted turns out he's working for Starley in Altrincham, so I popped in as I was heading that way for work.

They've a lovely range of bikes on show, Road, TT, & Hardtail 26 & 29ers. still not quite ready to launch. Keep an eye out though. Their wheels look good too, built up on Royce hubs.

Anyway, this thread is about that sort of thing, so just a heads up for folks really. They'll have a London showroom too from what he was saying.

Should come in around the PX price-point, so hopefully good bang for buck as a result.

http://starleybikes.com/

(I've no affiliation, honest)

buy local!

No-one else had the lengths I needed when I needed them :(

Thats brilliant Dammit. Measured the tyres in question, and they are 41mm in width lug to lug. I have them mounted on wide 29er XC rims which flattens the profile, and moves the lugs slightly away from the sideway.

So if I dont go for ultimate utility with a Peregrine or a Vaya. I could get something faster feeling like that Boardman (only want frameset though), and still run proper ice tyres (the main issue being the 100 notes they cost).

Now I'm really confused.

Anyway....road bikes. One for the shorties out there. Its already deen mentioned, and Cinelli are'nt making fans of late. But I really like this at under £900.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cinelli-experience-105-2011/

Really thinking for getting this with Veloce, it would be my first road bike and thought i would try this and the bmc street racer but i'm not sure if just going for the cinelli is just as good as the 105 bmc then using the diffrence to upgrade wheels etc.

I'd go BMC in a heartbeat. Nice Easton alu, and fun perfomance.

Thanks for that, it was my first choice an dthne the cinelli confused me. hopefully i'll have a road bike in marc just putting in the research now

ride them both, then decide. SF is biased :)

Bmc

ride them both, then decide. SF is biased :)

+1 Yasi, you worked with Rob don't you? you can ask his advice.

We have that Cinelli with Veloce in our shop, real nice bike, but test ride them before deciding (mind you we do get great trade price on BMC product).

with Velore? Luxury.

+1 Yasi, you worked with Rob don't you? you can ask his advice.

We have that Cinelli with Velore in our shop, real nice bike, but test ride them before deciding (mind you we do get great trade price on BMC product).

i've narrowed it down to those two, but i've google the Cinellis wheelset and its £45 online. I'm finding it hard to find all round great bike in my price range, BMC, looks more attractive, but i haven't ridden the Cinelli yet

Cinelli sounds Italian and exotic whereas BMC just reminds me of why the British motor industry deserved to fail.

On that basis and that alone I would buy the Cinelli without a second thought.

*Probably not the best advice of the day.

Hydrolastic suspension FFS!

Yasi. Everyones right, I'm biasd. Ride them both.

The Cinelli has a quality looking frame too. So I guess its down to geometry. My BMC racemaster has the alu bottom half with a carbon top half glued on. For all the techy hype, I'm convinced its the snappy yet weirdly stable handling geometry, and the uber stiff alu drive area, that make me love it so much. I'm also a Campanolo devotee, but would pick 105 over veloce. IMHO its a more solid groupset.

i've narrowed it down to those two, but i've google the Cinellis wheelset and its £45 online. I'm finding it hard to find all round great bike in my price range, BMC, looks more attractive, but i haven't ridden the Cinelli yet

What wheelset is it? Looks like re-branded Pro lite como's? Where exactly have you found that for £45 online?

In fact, I can't think of a wheelset that costs that little - seems a bit unlikely.

edit: I think you mean here - http://www.jejamescycles.co.uk/miche-excite-hg-item184861.html

I think they've mis-listed the part - its down as "Miche Excite HG Road Wheel Black Front - Black Pair" - as everyone else is selling the set for £100+, and JE James have the RRP as £49.99 - I wouldn't be surprised if only the front wheel arrived if you ordered the pair.

^ yep oh i see its their mistake. very miss leading though...

yeah massively - trading standards and all that.

tbh - the wheelset that comes as standard on the BMC is going to be more or less the same.

trading standards and all that

E&OE innit?

£1-1.5k

had a look at the Ribble special edition page? some good bikes and prices on there - Carbon frame, Ultegra, ITM wheels all sub £1.5k

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/publish.asp?what=specialedition&page=1rc

I'm currently running a Ribble Stealth with Apex as a winter groupset - been very impressed so far with bike and set up.

What are the Dolan Mythos frames like? Because £1,076 with full 105 and £1,352 with full Ultegra seems a steal when you factor in the Ponza saddle and full 3T finishing kit.

http://www.dolan-bikes.com/road-bikes/Carbon/Shimano%20Op/Mythos%20Rd

Rode behind one the other day and they even look fairly handsome / understated.

had a look at the Ribble special edition page? some good bikes and prices on there - Carbon frame, Ultegra, ITM wheels all sub £1.5k

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/publish.asp?what=specialedition&page=1rc

I'm currently running a Ribble Stealth with Apex as a winter groupset - been very impressed so far with bike and set up.

That looks pretty handy. If I needed one, I'd be tempted to kit out one of the lighter carbon frames with SRAM Force for ~£1.5k.

they're OM frames right? PX style?