Looking for a new bike

[rdleaper]

Hi all

After my accident a few months back, my bike has been declared a write-off I'm therefore looking for a replacement. I'm after a full carbon road bike, after rather enjoying the Trek Madone I hired in Mallorca in April - I quite fancy an upgrade. Budget is max £1,500 (though I could stretch slightly above that for the right bike).

First question - all the carbon bikes I've seen in that price bracket seem to be compacts; why is that - do they work better with a carbon bike for some reason?

Some wise advice from Greg Thompson was to look for a bike with a good frame and a lesser groupset, because the latter can always be upgraded. So which frames do people recommend and what makes them good?

Wiggle/Evans the following that are potential buys:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/felt-f5-2015/

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/mekk-primo-6-2015/

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/raleigh-revenio ... apex-2015/
A wildcard; no idea about SRAM or Raleigh road bikes to be honest.

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/tre ... e-ec068062

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/can ... e-ec071020

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bmc ... e-ec071733

Any of these any good and can I do better elsewhere?

Any help/advice you can give would be much appreciated - thanks!

PS this one looks quite good too:
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/jam ... e-ec072093

[laurence_cooley]

First question - all the carbon bikes I've seen in that price bracket seem to be compacts; why is that - do they work better with a carbon bike for some reason?

Nope, that's just a matter of fashion (and now apparently compacts themselves are going out of fashion).

[petemarshall]

For that sort of budget you are not going to get that decent a Carbon frame, but you could get a brand new Caad 10 with a decent groupset. Alu may not be all the fashion these days, but the Caad frame is a absolute classic and for the money better than any carbon frame in the same price bracket. Wish my old Caad 3 hadn't been stolen as this was still going strong after more than 10 years of serious abuse.

[Tim]

Sounds like if you got on well with it you should get a Madone from Greg at Red Kite then. You can't beat a long test ride in mallorca! Pete's advice is good too, I now have two Cannondales, 100% happy, Northfield Cycles sell them.

[martin mc]

I'd have to disagree that you can't get a decent carbon fibre frame at this price range. I have a 2013 felt f3 bike which I think has almost identical frame to the current f5 & really like it. The price for this bike seems good value (currently showing at £1244 with platinum discount). The wheels would probably be weakest component (at this price point usually on heavy side) & perhaps you could factor in a future upgrade in this department. The 105 groupset should work fine - a compact chainset seems sensible for most types of riding, it really helps for steep uphill gradients to have that 34 28 gear.
That said i haven't ridden any of the other bikes you list so can't compare them. I'm sure there are lots of other good bikes out there in both carbon or aluminium. Good luck with whichever bike you buy.

[bobg]

Just to confuse you a little more. I would also look at Canyon. The only problem, you can only buy online direct from Canyon. You complete the online form, pay your money and 3 days later your new bike arrives in a box from Germany. They are certainly good value for money. I think that my alum bike was about £1100 and came with Ultegra groupset, Mavic wheels and Conti tyres etc, You also get a choice of compact or double. They also sell off team bikes from time to time.

[Matt Hale]

I think Canyon are moving all of their builds to semi-compact. Good value though!

[rdleaper]

Cheers all for your thoughts. I might pop in to Evans (it's 400 yds from work) to have a closer look at some of the bikes above; I'm not entirely comfortable with buying from an online only site. Or even Red Kite

[Patch]

I don't think it makes any difference whether it's carbon or alloy at that price. I really think if you were blindfolded you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Get 11 speed it's ace ! Can't actually tell any real difference between 105 or Ultegra. Off the peg bikes will have bars that are too narrow stems that are too short and shit saddles and tyres. After James experiences with canyon I'd avoid like the plague.
Go to a shop they can change bits that are not right for you. What's wrong with Red Kite ?

[Tim]

The choice is endless.

a Genesis from Chris or Urban who have £300 off at moment I think. After buying my first two bikes from Evans then Wiggle I would definitely go down the LBS now, and if bought off people you know like Greg, Nic or Chris then if something goes wrong like another car hits you or a part fails then you know the support is there, Evans in my experience were condescending and just tried to sell me the bikes they had most stock of or got most commission on not the best frame or bike for me. But at the time every penny counted.

Or a Beacon bike?! they look great are well built up and include bike fit but aren't the best value, great shop experience though although it's 120 miles away

[Andy Terry]

+1 for Red Kite

[rdleaper]

What's wrong with Red Kite ?

Red Kite is my 2nd option alongside Evans - it was a poorly written comment! Probably worth the effort of the extra 3 or 4 miles to travel

[Si_Walker]

Red Kite, A*, bought my Condor from there, you can be assured of a good service.

[Andy Terry]

Probably worth the effort of the extra 3 or 4 miles to travel

Definitely.

[dweben]

Nowt wrong with Canyon... no troubles here, even arrived 2 weeks early. Just in time for me to put it in the car and drive to ... er, Germany!

Planet X are doing a nice exocet 2 for £1,500 with good groupset and their own brand carbon wheels. Also worth remembering expensive alu/ti is better than cheap carbon... but not as sexy

[Nicks_77]

I'm another advocate of Canyon, I own 2 now the Roadlite & Aeroad and have to say they are the best bikes I've ever ridden.

I sold my Pinarello last year for the Aeroad & I loved the Pina but Canyon are just such good value for money. The only downside is you have to wait and UK Customer service can be rather poor but the product I cannot fault.

Take a punt, you won't be disapointed!