Help me with a new bike

[Danny Winters 2]

Hi.Ive been riding a raliegh chimera for 2 years now and need to upgrade. I have £400 to £500 to spend. Suggestions please. I do three 40 mile hilly rides a week.

[Rob Davis]

More money!I know this is not much help, but 400-500 will not get you a great improvment.Check out your LBS 0% offers and go for something better. I bought a £549 Scott AFD Expert. First road bike. The cheap sora components, poor fork were a nightmare. I didn't know any better and wouldn't go over my initial budget.The Scott lasted 3 months until I swapped it for a Pinarello/Ultegra bike. The difference was amazing. Good Luck

[Gary Fisher 3]

I am also looking for a bike sub £500, (although mine will be used for commuting / bad weather training.) Most bikes in your budget will have Sora equipment (or worse). Like Rob I found this level ‘annoying’ for any distance / speed; but it does the job and is reliable. There are a few good deals around on 2004 models at the moment and its worth phoning around trying to find these; but these are the 2005 bikes I’m looking at: The Giant OCR 3 is within budget. The frame is good and I liked the riding position; but the kit level was depressing to say the least. Scott Speedster, Ok bike and a branded name but nothing special. Claud Butler Milano for £449. This bike has carbon forks and sora kit, which certainly looks impressive on paper.Claud Butler Strada. This bike is well over budget at nearly £800 for the 2005; but I’ve found the 2004 for £600 and I’ve always fancied a Carbon bike.

[Andy Sargeant]

I have a scott afd elite bought s/h realy cheap off a mate it has mavic cosmos wheels and some 105 upgrades also my trusty flite saddle Ilove the bike as my first road bike.Ihave ridden mtb for years. It is full alloy oversize etc so is really stiff .

[R3]

Specialized allez was my first road bike. I loved the ride, compact frame. very popular. A great frame and ok set up for £500.I dont think they make the standard allez anymore and teh other variations comp, sport, elite will set you back up to £250+more than you want to spend. I am cuurently rebuilding my allez as a project after i stripped it down to kit out my Casati. It will be a great first bik ethat i hope to sell on. i would recommend trying a second hand bike untilk you know what you want. its a good way to try out road cycling and you'll learn alot about how much you want to spend and how much you get for your money.

[rsmith85]

Just spotted the following bike (with a nice spec for the price) on Xpedia.SCHWINN FASTBACK ROAD BIKEBIKE SPECIFICATIONFORKS- Schwin Reflex CF-3 Carbon Fibre/CroMo steerer.CRANKS- TruVativ Elita Triple - 52/42/30TRANS- Shimano 105 rear mech, Tiagra STi ShiftersWHEELS- Jalco double wall rims 32 HoleTYRES - Vittoria Zaffiro 700 x 23BRAKES - Tektro Dual PivotHANDLEBARS/STEM - RitcheySADDLE - WTB£499Not sure how good schwinns are though, and because of mail order you can't try before you buy :-(You may be able to pick up a 05 bike cheaply at the moment though...Robert(not affiliated with any company unfortunately)