13 Intuition Alpha - £599

mrthingyx · 4 Aug 2016 at 23:35

Hi, everybody...

Just stumbled into Halfords this morning and saw what looked to be a reasonably nice bike (13 Intuition Alpha) for £599 down from £999.

It has a carbon aero frame and fork, Tiagra hardware and some random jargon for wheels. Google says it is a bit soggy for a race bake, but relaxed enough for sportives (...?)... My question is whether anybody has ridden it and what they think?

I have a dual suspension mountain bike at the moment (Carrera LRS2) that I use a s a commuter ****, but would like to do more road biking to roll with a bro on his Cherubim )not that anything I buy will be that nice, but something that is not rubbish and will work well on roads whilst going reasonably fast).

FrenchTart · 5 Aug 2016 at 11:39

It's not a terrible bike but to be honest I think you can better road bikes for that price. Probably would be an aluminum frame with a carbon fork but that's not really going to be drastically different.

I'd be looking for something with 105 probably. Check out PX, Rose, Felt, etc.

Vonhelmet · 5 Aug 2016 at 14:13

Rear brake under the chainstay would be my instant turn off. Otherwise it looks decent enough, bar the press fit bottom bracket and budget chainset.

grudas · 5 Aug 2016 at 14:33

I'd get a better alu bike tbh, simply because cheap carbon will not be as good as good alu frame.

and they will have skimped on parts big time to fit it into that bracket.

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/triban-540-road-bike-105-id_8350480.html

something like the above would be my pick.

BennyC · 5 Aug 2016 at 14:50

^ This.

The 520 reviews well so should think the 540 is similar.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/reviews/road-bikes/btwin-triban-520

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/cycl...in-triban-520-and-540-road-bikes-video-172558

Vonhelmet · 5 Aug 2016 at 14:59

Yep, decathlon bikes are absurdly good value.

mrthingyx · 7 Aug 2016 at 23:10

Vonhelmet said:
Yep, decathlon bikes are absurdly good value.

Having riddwn a 2012 (IIRC) CAAD8 and spending the week after having pelvis surgery, are all Aalu bimes that uncomfortable?

Feel free to tell me to noob off as I ride a dual suspension bike, with squidgy 60psi tyres...

grudas · 8 Aug 2016 at 23:32

If you want comfort in a road bike form I'd suggest steel. Alu and carbon will both be stiffer. My alu commuter is very stiff, stiffer than my carbon bikefor sure. On the other hand my steel single speed is super comfy.

A lot also depends on tyres, wheels, saddle, saddle post and even bartape