Need a Road Bike (Needs to be from Evans Cycles)

Martynt74 · 20 Feb 2018 at 08:46

I touched on this a little in the Zwift thread.

I've bought a turbo trainer (Kickr Snap) and am now looking for a bike to use with it. At the moment my only intention is to use it with the trainer and i know i could just pick the cheapest as it would work the same.
However i'm trying to think of future proofing should i want to go out in the real world.

The reason for Evans is that i can get 50% off through my health insurance on a bike from there. I can also exchange Tesco clubcard vouchers for double rewards at Evans giving me around £50. Plus using topcashback and Zeek i've worked out that a £600 bike would actually only cost me around £170 when everything is taken into account. There's also an extra tenner off for collecting an online order.

I made the following table which works out roughly the net cost for me for each price point (i'd still have to pay pretty much the Evans price up front though and the Vitality is through a rebate scheme)

I've decided i don't really want to spend any more that £700 upfront and figure that should get me a decent bike.

I went into a local store last night and the Pinnacle Dolomite 3 looked quite good and came recommended by the sale guy. I just wanted to get opinions from people on here as there's also quite a few bikes in the clearance section.

I'd guess i'm between a large/x large at 6"3, and if it matters i'm currently around 107kg although that needs to get back to around 90kg in the near future.

EDIT - Just re-checked and the 7% top cash back has ended, must've been a one off. It's now only 2% so the net cost will be slightly higher by around £10-£30 which is ok.

Saytan · 20 Feb 2018 at 19:02

Pinnacle dolomites are decent value.

MM-Seat · 20 Feb 2018 at 21:14

Interesting deal you have with your insurers!

For £200, (am I reading that right) the pinnacle looks really good value. Discs and guard mounts if you venture outside and a decent Sora groupset.

Martynt74 · 21 Feb 2018 at 08:34

Yeah the Pinnacle seemed to be very highly rated by the guy in the shop.

I have found myself looking at a Bianchi for £899 but i think i need to reign myself in for the time being.

My other issue is that having made an effort to organise the shed to make room, it's in a terrible state and i'm not sure it's really suitable for anything other than storage at the moment. We're also in the process of moving house so i'm not sure i want to spend too much time/money sorting it all out.

This idea might need parking until i move.

MM-Seat · 21 Feb 2018 at 11:38

The Bianchi will invariably have worse groupset, wheels and finishing kit than the equivalently priced pinnacle.

SoliD · 21 Feb 2018 at 14:25

I really rate my Pinnacle because it doesn't break.

sHo0sH · 22 Feb 2018 at 07:16

They've got this in the window of an Evans I ride past and it looks great. Spec looks decent for the money too but maybe it's a little out of the price range? comes in at £795
https://www.evanscycles.com/jamis-ventura-race-2018-road-bike-EV306031

Martynt74 · 22 Feb 2018 at 08:49

Cheers, i had seen that along with the Ventura Comp (cheaper)

Would i get any extra benefit from something like an Adventure/Hybrid/Cyclocross (All these things look to be the same). Given roads are generally pretty crap in the UK and i'm not likely to be entering any races to need the best road bike pace.

Also if i was to change and swap my Kickr Snap for a direct drive trainer. Can i use the cassette that would come with the bike or would i need a separate one?

Thirdly - Given the shed is looking a no go for actual use. I was thinking of storing the bike in the shed and then just bringing it into the backroom when i use it. How long do the turbos take to set up and do they need calibrating every time?

UTmaniac · 22 Feb 2018 at 08:52

Given the eventual price you will pay with discounts, I would up your initial budget to ~£900, to then open up the possibility of proper hydraulic brakes.

Martynt74 · 22 Feb 2018 at 09:12

I'm happy to do that if you can suggest any particular models?

I had been eyeing up the Cannondale Synapse at £849

I do have to pay the actual price upfront and then i get the 50% back quarterly but £900 is doable.

EDIT - Because of my level i only get 50% off up to £800 so anything above that would be capped at a rebate of £400.

A £900 bike would end up costing me £387 compared to an £800 bike costing me £290. Does that still make it worth going for a £900 model?

Ian_Eb · 22 Feb 2018 at 09:13

I think you can use the cassette from the bike but you would need to swap and change every time you wanted to go outside so I would probably just by a cheapo cassette and stick it on the trainer.

Martynt74 · 22 Feb 2018 at 09:22

I'm just thinking to save a bit of cash upfront whilst i'm only planning on indoor use. A cassette looks to be about £40 from what i can see? Before i go outdoors i think i'll need to spend around another £100ish anyway to buy stuff like a helmet, lights, bottle holders etc.

Martynt74 · 22 Feb 2018 at 10:08

Balls, after actually checking my Vitality account i got mixed up with the levels. I'm only Silver so only get 50% up to £600 (so max rebate is £300)

As such i'm going to pull the budget back to around £600 which would cost me £195. Going up to £700 increases the cost to £295 which i could possibly go to if it was really worth it.

Ok, think this is my shortlist. If anyone could take a look through and let me know which they'd go for given the situation. One thing for me to consider would be re-sale value. As my membership level increases with activity i'll earn bigger discounts. If i decide i love cycling and want a better bike i could sell on and buy something better. Whilst given my discounts i can probably expect to sell it on at cost/profit. Ease of resale would be good.

Focus Cayo Al Sora 2017 - £175 - https://www.evanscycles.com/focus-cayo-al-sora-2017-road-bike-EV308650

Trek Domane - £220 - https://www.evanscycles.com/trek-domane-al-2-2018-road-bike-EV311989

Cube Attain - £242 - https://www.evanscycles.com/cube-attain-2018-road-bike-EV319175

Jamis Ventura Comp - £252 - https://www.evanscycles.com/jamis-ventura-comp-2018-road-bike-EV306033

Pinnacle Laterite 3 - £292 - https://www.evanscycles.com/pinnacle-laterite-3-2018-road-bike-EV299415

Cannondale Synapse - £316 - https://www.evanscycles.com/cannondale-synapse-alloy-tiagra-6-disc-2016-road-bike-EV239411

Martynt74 · 22 Feb 2018 at 14:45

Also in typical stupid man style, i have convinced myself a direct drive trainer is a better option. Especially given it'll be used indoors (noise issues) and it won't be a permanent setup so setting up a direct drive should be faster with less need for re-calibration each time, compared to the wheel on Kickr Snap

UTmaniac · 22 Feb 2018 at 16:36

Cube Attains have high stack for their reach, which is great for weak lower backs, you would need a larger frame size than in most other brands (my GTC Pro Disc is a 58cm and I'm just 5'10"). It will also fit at least 31mm wide tyres. The 11-34 cassette might also help get up any hills and as your fitness improves, swapping to a cassette with a smaller range is a simple job.

The Pinnacle has the best groupset, so jumps between gears will be smoother, but it's limited to 28mm tyres.

It's a tough call, but I would probably go with the Pinnacle.

MM-Seat · 22 Feb 2018 at 17:32

I suppose some consideration of the Cannondale and it's great frame and discs if this becomes more than an indoor fitness thing. Also, would probably be the easiest to sell if you didn't enjoy it. Some great advice in here already though!

sHo0sH · 22 Feb 2018 at 21:28

Cycle republic have a cheap direct drive trainer for £290 at the moment, but I am not sure what your budget is for that?

Martynt74 · 22 Feb 2018 at 22:41

I got a little carried away on that one and ended up with the Elite Direto

Cycle republic have £75 off spend over £500 which brought it down to £625 and then I got Evans to price match.

sHo0sH · 23 Feb 2018 at 11:20

It blows my mind that you're spending more on the trainer than the bike

Martynt74 · 23 Feb 2018 at 11:23

My mind works in mysterious ways

On a serious note, if i could buy a static indoor trainer i could use with zwift etc i'd be all over it but i can't seem to see any that are less than £1500.

Given my revised lack of discounts (i can't even buy cheap gift cards as Vitality won't accept a receipt paid in gift cards). I'm now considering looking at used bikes, from looking i think £300-£400 looks to get me something much better than a brand new £600-£700 bike.