Spec Me A Road Bike - £3k to £5k

[AndyCr15]

As some of you will recall, last year I got heavily into cycling, to lose weight. I started on an old hybrid, then bought a new hybrid, then bought a friends old carbon frame road bike. Even when buying this one (only £500) it was to see how I would cope on a road bike (6'3 with a bad back at times).



I seemed fine on it, but really miss the disc brakes I have on my Hybrid. I'm also told the groupset on this 2nd hand road bike is very old. I replaced the wheels with some nice £700 Campagnolo wheels, which is annoying I can't transfer, but I guess they will bump the value of the outgoing road bike.

I have some cash saved up and could go as high as £5k I guess, but would much prefer to be about the £3k mark. At the same time, if that's a waste and I can spend £2k for the same experience, please tell me. I know nothing of bikes though, (not even how the gear ratios are explained etc) so looking for some help (and maybe explanation) here

Info you might need, I'm 6'3 and 97kg. On my current road bike I hardly ever use the smaller ring at the front. I'd love something with a power meter built in, to connect to my Wahoo ELEMNT, but at the same time, I can just buy this after. Let me know if you need more info.

Wiggle looks to be a good place for me to buy as I get 12% off a lot of bikes as a 'Platinum Customer'.

A lot of the 2019 bikes seem heavily discounted on Wiggle, like this one. But would I be better getting a 2020? Does the technology move on that much?

What would I get in this £5.2k bike that I wouldn't in this £3.5k bike?

I'm in no huge hurry. My original plan was to buy a new bike in March. Just thought I'd make a start on gathering advice

Thanks for any help.

 

[AndyCr15]

I’m no expert on bikes, however if you have a bad back I would go for a bike fitting when you have your new bike. You need to take into consideration geometry of your bike. Essentially you have a trade off of comfort and speed

I wouldn't say I have a bad back, but I have and was just conscious that a road bike could put me in a position that might make it come back. It doesn't seem to. I like that Wiggle and other places appear to do a 30 day test ride, which could be real handy.

With that budget I'd be looking to buy this:

https://www.e-bikeshop.co.uk/Orbea-Gain-D20-Alloy-2020

Whilst that sounds nice for the few climbs I have, I don't think I'd want electric assistance for my riding. Maybe if I was commuting.

From your OP it sounds like you don't do much climbing so you could look at one of the aero type frames, but be careful as the geometry will be more aggressive. Is it all road riding you're doing?

With a budget of £3k-£5k you've got the pic of some lovely machines. My advice would be to get to some shops and have a look at some in the flesh regardless of where you actually end up buying from. You never know - you might see a bargain in store and you're more likely to be able wangle a free bike fit and at the very least they will build it for you.

I don't know whats considered climbing, but an average ride for me is 20 miles with 1,500ft of climbing. Yes, it would be just for road. I put some knobblies on my Hybrid to do any off road I might want.

Can anyone recommend a good bike shop, preferably North London or Herts, that would have this sort of £3k type bike in?

What is involved in a bike fitting? Does it cost and what do I get? Ideal measurements?

Thanks for the help all.

 

[AndyCr15]

Such as this? It does look and sound nice. **EDIT** What would be the difference of Ultimate over Endurance? ** Can you only buy direct from them? Does this make the better value then? (A quick google tells me this is the case)

A thread I'm reading on road.cc people generally say very well specc'd for the price. Good enough wheels you usually don't need to replace. Maybe wait for them to have a sale, but tbh, I guess I could wait months and months for that?

What do they mean when they say 'tubeless ready'? It's not tubeless, but I could take the tubes out and put valves in?

 

[AndyCr15]

Bits I've read said Canyon customer service was very good. Everyone says they're the best value, so I'm leaning towards an Endurace at the moment. That or perhaps the Ultimate, but the slight edge toward comfort has me interested. I can't imagine there is that much difference in pace?

 

[AndyCr15]

I'm a mountain biker but i would test ride any bike especially at that cost.

A reasonable point. I guess/assume you're covered by distance selling regulations at worst? In fact, I see they have 30 day returns, albeit on the bike not being used.

**EDIT** Hmm, have just seen they do the Endurace Aero in Red...



Quite a bit of my riding gear is in red and black . Could be the winner right here.

 

[AndyCr15]

There's still some good deals around eg:

Synapse with eTAP - £4999 (RRP) down to £3249

https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product...bon-disc-red-etap-2019-19cdalesynapsecrbetap/

Synapse with Dura Ace - mechanical shifting but top-end groupset - £3999 down to £2499

https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product...arbon-disc-dura-ace-2019-19cdalesynapsecrbda/

The DA bike leaves a nice budget to replace the stock wheels. Both are in-stock in 58cm which I would think is good for a 6'3 person as I'm 6'1 and ride a 58cm Synapse as well.

Oooh, thanks. They both look pretty good deals... I also came across this -

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/propel-advanced-pro-disc

Not as big a discount, but I notice it has a power meter built in, which seems quite a plus as I would spend another £500+ on that otherwise. They have a shop only 40 minutes away from me, so there's the advantage I could go and check them out I guess.

Who told you the groupset on your Felt is 'very old'? It's hard to make it out, but I'll go out on a limb and call them out as being wrong. To me the RD looks like 108/Ultegra. Cassette looks like 10/11 speed. Shifters have internal routing and again look like 105/ultegra, so it's younger than what I would call 'old'. It's either 11 speed 5800/6800 or 10 speed 5700/6700. Not old. The fact you have white hoods, I've seen them more on the older 10 speed. Think they are available if you look hard enough as an extra on 11 speed but not really seen many of them. Think some 10 speed you could generally buy the shifters/bike with them white so saw more of them.

Hmm, someone in the road cycling thread. You can see the discussion starting here.

Haha don't fall down that rabbit hole... Buying a £3000 frame because it matches several £30 jerseys.

Just get the colour you like best, then buy more jerseys to suit!

I was kinda half joking. I wouldn't buy one over another because of the colour. It would just be convenient

 

[AndyCr15]

I love my Giant TCR and for that budget you could get the Advanced Pro Disc 2 which has full hydro ultegra, decent carbon wheels and a power meter : https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Giant-TCR-Advanced-Pro-2-Disc-2020-Road-Bike_218350.htm

Is that just this years version of the one I linked above? I guess not? What does the TCR and Propel bit refer to?

 

[AndyCr15]

Good article here about understanding Giants 2020 range and has some nice history references too (you can find similar articles for most manufacturers): https://www.cyclingweekly.com/group-tests/giant-bikes-346737

Thanks, that's a great link for understanding the brands naming conventions.

The Giant TCR Advanced Pro Disc 0 does look like it would be the Giant model for me, the equivalent of the Canyon Ultimate I suppose.

That was one opinion that several others of us didn't agree with (hence my other comments above!)

I do wonder if I should just save my money and stick with the Felt for a while. I don't think it's all that nice a ride though. Gear changes, for example, can be a little slow. Maybe I just need it aligning better...

 

[AndyCr15]

So, I just went and did it... why not! In the end i figured I can't go far wrong with a Canyon. Initially opted for the Ultimate... then saw it was not available in my size, even the XL which would probably be fine was not available until June! Went for the Endurace instead.











Went out for a quick ride, just to test it and with a segment targetted. Greenhill Dragrace, I've done it 78 times and not been able to better my time I set back in May (when I was still pretty heavy) at 1:13. I got close when I put the new wheels on the Felt and had a go, think I did a 1:16 or something... on this bike I just did a 1:08!!! Well happy!

Generally it felt great. Breaks are soooo much better and love Di2, so responsive. Feels a more sporty and stretched position than my felt, but at the same time, really very comfy.

Photo's make it look rather orange, but in reality it's a matt red and looks amazing IMO. Really happy with it. Now I just need to set the wireless part up with the Di2 so I can connect it in to my Wahoo. I understand there's a high rate of bricking the thing when patching up though and needing the battery to be disconnected... which I have no idea how I do...

 

[AndyCr15]

Yeah, I had a quick look under that cover. Do I have to take the pedals... erm... and 'axle' out to get to it?

 

[AndyCr15]

I'm a stat addict though I will enjoy checking out what gears I use through my ride on Strava, lol. I will actually like to be able to see my gears on my Wahoo too and be able to control the Wahoo from the handle bars. Not essential, but kinda handy.

 

[AndyCr15]

Yes, bought it extra. It was about £60 and comes in the next couple of days.

 

[AndyCr15]

Thanks all.

Yes, I probably will get a power meter, it's certainly been on my shopping list for some time now.

 

[AndyCr15]

I bought a 4iiii crank already. What sort of price are the pedals likely to be?