NeilT

looking at getting a road bike for the journey to work (6 miles) a few times a week, and maybe a few weekend rides. Looked at the offerings from Cannondale, Specialized, GT, Giant and Felt, and so far reviews seem to rate the Felt F4 carbon as the best for the money Felt Bicycles 2008

Havent ridden a road bike for years (I do a lot of off road on my Kona, which is just too hard going for road use), so any opinions on the Felt bikes, or a better bike for the money

Will go test ride some before laying out the £££

Neil

dpb

Its a fare pile of wonga to lay out for a 6 mile commute id have to say , but hey....

B0DSKI

iTrader: (17)

Nice bike Neil. maybe a bit overkill for a 6 mile commute to and from work. With the full Ultegra u could well use it for racing if you felt that way inclined. I personally prefer Campagnolo STi levers & Groupsets, my Colnago has done over 3000 miles in the last 12 months and they are still silky smooth. Did have Ultegra on my last Bianchi and it certainly wore out a lot quicker.

Have a look on Chainreaction cycles, they do some great deals on Beone & Cube which get good reviews. If not check out Wiggle as they do the Focus range with some good prices to be had. they continually get superb write ups.

Myles

iTrader: (40)

I have a Felt F90, entry road bike and I have nothing but good words to say about it, only thing is the fork angle can cause the front wheel to touch the foot in the pedal of the longer footed homo sapiens on turning the bars.

PG

With the cyclescheme hopefully happening again soon at work there are a few guys asking my opinion on a road bike.
The Felt F75 for their £1k voucher does seem by far the best option. I too prefer Campag kit but for a grand I'd certainly consider it. If you've got the disposable to spend out on that bike for a commuter then fair play The F75 would do the job nicely.
That said, IMO you can never have too much bike.

HUDDERS1

have a look on the ribble cycles website.

Ribble Cycles

PG

Good shout.
One of my road bikes:

SiPie

Neil

If you are planning on commuting all year round then forget spending any more than the minimum amount of cash .......

The destruction from the salt in the winter is just amazing, you can watch the feckin thing rust in front of you.....

Hate to say it but I'd buy somehting around the £300-£400 mark, stick your tyres up to 110psi, (the winds will be that bad you'll be going so slow anyway !!!) and get ready to replace drivetrain etc every 6 months

Waste of cash spending big money on a daily commuting hack IMHO as you can never be arsed cleaning it after daily use....

Best not to get carried away with a big spend based on a few weeks of spring sunshine as the reality of the rest of the year just ain't like that, a workhorse is a better bet for a commute with the state of our roads

Cheers

coolangatta

....^^^^^^.....
What he said!
I just bought a commute hack, Scott SUB30 for £300
I've got to say how surprised I am at it's alround strength and usability.
Fast enough, comfortable and a very good utility bike.
Took it from the shop and did 35 miles the long way home and was well pleased with my 'cheap' buy.
My more expensive bikes are unlikely to see much daylight this year.

dpb

blumey you can get an all carbon (deda) with full dura ace for 1300 nowadays then - paid 850 in 2000 for look 241 and centaur ..!

dpb

I guess its up to him how much he wants to spend .The thing is despite the claim that carbon produces a light forgiving ride - In the configuration displayed ( and especially with 110 psi lol) the thing will be about as far from a safe comfortable useful year round commuting bike as is possible to acheive

with the exception of ^ mateys^ colnago perhaps



ps youll be requiring a hefty d-lock (negating the pounds saved on the light framework) to keep the burglers at bay.

NeilT

thanks or the comments, all interesting.

I wont be using the bike all year round, just for the decent weather for the 12mile round trip each day.

I want something as light as possible so the hills on route (and theres a few of them) wouldnt be so much of a task and I wouldnt arrive at work drenched in sweat (I sweat buckets, despite being fit), and would rather spend the money once and keep it for life (assuming it doesnt 'walk' in the midst of the night) rather than upgrade every few years.

Also, lots of cycling clubs around this neck of the woods, so would probably join up and see how I got on. Used to do a bit of this in my late teens on an old Raleigh Pursuit

Will have a look at the Ribble range, hadnt considered those so far. Doesnt seem to be many dealers for the Felt bikes as yet.

Neil

Mogsi

SL Pro Carbon Ultegra Road Bikes - £999 - Planet X :: Triathlon

Use the change that you'll save on decent clothing/shoes/helmet......

B0DSKI

iTrader: (17)

Winstanley bikes used to sell Felt Neil

B0DSKI

iTrader: (17)

Felt : Winstanleys | Bikes | Components | Accessories | Clothing

Iwan

I don't suppose you'd be interested in one of these would you?


Specialized Allez Comp Gerolsteiner Road Bike 06


I bought it a year ago and haven't ridden it once, it's been hanging on my garage wall since then - with the clear stickers still on the gears to protect them. £650 if you're interested.

I bought it then just carried on using my MTB.

NeilT

thanks for the offer Iwan, but I think I'll try and get a bike through cyclescheme - been reading up on it and seems like a tax efficient way of buying a new bike

Iwan

No worries mate.

NeilT

well, after spending hours in bike shops and forums, ended up buying this

Focus Cayo 2008 for £999.99 | Focus Road Bikes | Cycle | Wiggle

One cycling mag reviewed it and gave it 10/10 and voted best buy under 1k. Full carbon frame cant be bad for £1k

Should arrive this week - cant wait!

Neil

the big yim

That was my first choice from wiggle too!
Ended up buying



Couldn't fault wiggle with the service. Plus you'll now be a platinum member so you get 10% off everything. Wait till you see the size of the box

B0DSKI

iTrader: (17)

Good choice Neil & also one of the ones i recomended above

dpb

If cycling weekly reckon its a bargain then its likely to be ..!

Good riding

Mogsi

The cycling worlds equivalent of the News of the World......

Good bikes though the Focus range, we have plenty of club riders racing on them week in week out.....

r32

Ribble, ribble ribble .................

r32

I cycle weakly.