new to cycling, need some advice.

[nathan king]

first off i am new to this site so please take it easy and break me in gently.  i bought a race bike from my LBS about  6 weeks ago and have been riding it to work every day which is about 4miles round trip. i used to ride a mountain bike so i have got used to the dfferance between the 2 over the last 6 weeks.  basically the bike i bought was a old raleigh bike (80quid) just to get me started and now i want to move up the ladder and buy a bike that will last and see me some good miles. my budget is around the £500 mark, less if possiable and i was thinking of buying a second hand bike to get a better spec rather than buying brand new. my knowledge of bikes is very minimul so some guidence would be apreciated. after looking on a few websites i came across people saying that the trek 1.5 is a good bike to start with and after reading some reviews sounds a good bike. i will be taking a trip to some bike bike shops over the weekend to hopefully help my knowledge.any advice would be greatly apreciated.

[Ewen MacDonald 2]

NathanThe Trek is a decent bike but at £500 will probably be out of your price range if new however you might get a deal on a 2009 model., other good entry level are things like the Giant Defy range, Specialised Allez, Bianchi Nirone , you might at this time of year pick up a 2009 model Allez in a sale with some cash off. What does your local shop stock, it might be worth poppinf back to them and see if you can cut a deal. Secondhand can yield some bargains, if you know what you are looking for and at.

[Graham Gamblin]

I have a Trek 1.5, it is a decent bike but I paid closer to £700 for it. Apparently the 2009 models are hard to come by now, or so I'm told.

[Salmon]

Nathan - ask your employer if they take part in the Bike2Work scheme that allows you to get a bike tax-free. So long as it is used (in part) to get to work you can get a lot more for your money.

[nathan king]

i am going to look at some bike shops 2morrow see what they have got and what offers they do, i think one of them is a Merida dealer, wether there any good or not i dont know. what is the bike2work scheme is it some thing you have to apply for, i work for a family business you see ??

[Ewen MacDonald 2]

Meridia are one of the biggest frame manufacturers, they make stuff for other people so should not be overlooked.

[Salmon]

Bike2work is a tax-free incentive that allows a company to 'hire' a cycle to an employee at a cheaper rate; at the end of the period the compnay can choose to sell the bike to the employee for a nominal amount.A family business could sign up if they are willing to purchase a bike and 'hire' it to an employee; so long as the bike is used to get to work and the employee doesn't go below minimum wage it should be possible to do.See here for more details.

[nathan king]

after buying a cycling magazine i read a reveiw of 5 bikes the Carrera Vanquish (549.99), Pinnacle Sentinal 1.0 (549.99), B'Twin Sport 2 (499.95), Raleigh Airlite 300 (549.99) and the Trek 1.2 (549.99) which are all within my budgets or very close.  The review read that theTrek and B'Twin machines where best but the B'Twin just piped the Trek being 50quid cheaper and just as good a bike for the first timer, also i think the B'Twin looks very nice. Im just after peoples oppinions on the bikes and wether a B'Twin would be a good purches for me

[eliot coolican]

How much do you weigh (in stones please)? 

[nathan king]

not sure why you ask that but 15 stone

[Crankster]

nathan king wrote (see)after buying a cycling magazine i read a reveiw of 5 bikes the Carrera Vanquish (549.99), Pinnacle Sentinal 1.0 (549.99), B'Twin Sport 2 (499.95), Raleigh Airlite 300 (549.99) and the Trek 1.2 (549.99) which are all within my budgets or very close.  The review read that theTrek and B'Twin machines where best but the B'Twin just piped the Trek being 50quid cheaper and just as good a bike for the first timer, also i think the B'Twin looks very nice. Im just after peoples oppinions on the bikes and wether a B'Twin would be a good purches for me Nathan, I read that review too and I thought about getting the B'Twin, which is very well specced for a bike of that price. 500 quid is a difficult price point. I agree that the Spesh Allez is worth a look, but very tough to get your hands on one. It all depends on how much you are prepared to compromise, because you will have to at that price!

[eliot coolican]

They say that 15 stone is pushing it with carbon fibre,don't worry, I'm 17.5 stone so it's out of the question for me as well.You need piece of mind when your riding and with our weights and the crappy road conditions of our dear land would you really be getting that? I'm not going to take the chance.I've been very lucky with my alu, but it was made by professionals.(columbus,italy). 

[nathan king]

crankster- i agree with you and i think you can get them from evans cycles also there is a LBS near me that deals with Specialized so i might have a chat with them see what they say.

[Lacarnie]

Firstly like you Nathan i am a newbie to this forum so i will take a min or two to introduce myself ,i am 37 years old and gave up smoking too many a day 6 weeks ago now, and i just want my health back! my 18 month old daughter kick started all the big push to do so,i started cycling again 6 weeks ago and have'nt looked back one of my friends in a local village is a keen cyclist so i decided to get out with him and it bloody near killed me! but i still went back for more we did 32 miles on saturday in just over two hours which i might say i am very proud of!  some of you might be thinking is that all! well we all have to start somewhere.Like you Nathan i have been faced with the same problems as you regards which bike,where to buy from dealer or tinternet what to buy etc,etc.........well heres what i decidedi went to a local dealer Cycological in Deddington James was very helpful and he remembered me from about 9 years previously when i had to do a lot of cycling(result of IN10 twice) anyway i walked out with a brand spanking new Giant Defy team Rabobank ltd edition it cost £550 i also bought a pair of Richie wds wheels to go in her a few weeks earlier from ebay and they look fantastic but what i liked about the Giant was the weight, also compared to the Dawes that i was riding it is so smooth and effortless to get it moving, i took about 3 weeks of talking to people who ride and have ridden and was still well in the woods before speaking to James. In all honesty this particular bike is perfect for me and bit tarty, but none the less enough for what i want to do with my cycling firstly ask yourself what you want out of it. Best of luck, kind regards Ant