I realise this is a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string?' type question but... How much would I need to spend on a road bike to see an improvement over the hybrid/commuter that I'm currently riding? The bike in question is a Claud Butler Urban 200 on 700C wheels running Shimano Tourney kit. Not a bad bike but a bit of a tank at 30 LBS out of the box.
I was thinking that the entry level Planet X bike would be a decent upgrade but I then look at something like a Dawes Giro 300 at less than half the price and wonder if for an amateur like me that would be all the bike I'll need?
I'll be keeping the hybrid, kitting it out with full mudguards and lights and running it as a wet/winter bike as a quick look on ebay shows that it is worth more to me than the paltry sum they sell for second hand.
How much to spend on a road bike that will be better than a hybrid, you say?
The red Triban 3 from Decathlon is a good bet, but it's getting harder to find, so you'll be limited by whether you've got a store near you and what sizes they have in stock. That comes with a carbon fork and 2300 gears, whcih aren't great, but for £250 it's still an absolute steal. The white Triban 3 isn't quite as good, as it only has a steel fork, but is still alright considering it's only £300. That has microshift gears, which some people are sniffy about, but some pro level teams use microshift, so meh. Decathlon also have the Triban 5 for £430, which has a carbon fork and Shimano Sora triple gears, which is very respectable. That's a very good starter bike, for sure. The bikes from Decathlon also come with pedals, while most others that I'll mention below won't, so that saves a bit of cash.
The cheapest Planet X is the RT-58 alloy bike, which has a full Tiagra groupset (bar a couple of off series parts which are actually marginally better than Tiagra) and costs £600. I ride one of these and it's very nice. It's a good bike for the money, but whether it's a starter bike depends on your budget really. I certainly wouldn't say it was too expensive for a starter bike, but that's clearly a judgement call depending on you.
Ribble have some good deals at the moment. The 7005 Sportive bike costs as little as £559 with sora, or the 7046 Sportive is £599 with sora, though who knows whether 7046 Al is £40 better than 7005. You can do a reasonable amount of customisation on Ribble bikes as well, which helps.
Beyond that you've got Wiggle, who usually have good deals on Mekk or Felt bikes. Merlin might have some decent ones in as well.
I'd avoid Halfords - their bikes aren't great until you get up to more like a grand. Evans have some good bikes, but not so many great ones at the cheaper end of the scale.
That Dawes Giro 300 only has Tourney gears by the look of it. I wouldn't really recommend them. Only 7 speeds at the back and rubbish levers. Every bike I've mentioned (other than the Triban 3 red) has better levers than that.
) and then ride it to work.
