Road bikes have advanced a lot in recent years, but, the essential aspects of a good road bike remain the same. These are some of the most important things to bear in mind when choosing a road bike.
Frame
It is easy to upgrade components, but, more difficult to upgrade a frame. Therefore, buy the best frame that you can. In a frame you are looking for a combination of stiffness and lightness. Carbon fibre is increasingly popular, however, it is significantly more expensive. A better deal may be got through a scandium or aluminium frame. Titanium frames also offer good value for money and performance.
For example, an excellent entry level road bike is the Focus Cayo which comes with a Focus carbon fibre frame. The quality of the frame and £1,000 price tag means it is highly upgradeable. You can always spend more on components and gears later.
How Much To Spend?
Entry level road bikes start from £350. If you get a reputable brand like Raleigh or GT, you can get a reasonable starter bike such as the Raleigh Airlite or GT GTR Series for under £400. For this kind of bike, you will get the real road bike experience. It won’t be the lightest or fastest, but you will definitely be able to go out with other road cyclists; if you really get into road bikes, you can keep this as a winter training bike and you haven’t lost too much.
If you can jump up to the £1,000 price bracket, you start to look at bikes which can be competitive in road racing. They will be much more enjoyable to ride and you might be able to squeeze into a carbon fibre frame, which (in my opinion) offers a big upgrade from an aluminium frame. (see: Aluminium vs Carbon fibre)
After the £1,000 price bracket, you are looking at marginal gains for big increases in money. You can spend up to £6,000 on a top of the range bike. This will get you a bike close to UCI weight limit of 6.7 KG. It will also get you a top of the range gear system and components. They are beautiful to ride (see: Trek Project One)
Customisation
Let’s be honest, we like a road bike to look good. When I bought my dream bike, I decided I had to have the colour scheme that I liked. This was an advantage of Trek Project One – you could choose your frame colour and also choose the specs of the bike. There are other companies who offer this bike building service. My first two bikes were from Ribble and I used their bike building service. More than anything else, it gives you a say in the procedure of building your bike.
Value for Money
To get the best value for money isn’t necessarily the cheapest. There are definitely advantages and disadvantages to buying a bike online. If you know exactly what you want and have experience buying bikes, I would tend towards mail order. If it is your first road bike, I would prefer buying from a shop which has a passion for road bikes. I have bought from both shops and online. To get best value for money, it is worth waiting towards the end of the season, where last years models will be sold off cheaply. You can save 20% and get a really good value deal. I bought my time trial frame at this time of the year and saved £500 on a Trek Equinox frame.
Never compromise on frame size to get a good value deal. Choose your optimal frame size and then stick to it.
After sales Service.
When buying a bike it is important to be aware of the after sales service that they offer. If the after sales service is not available (i.e. from mail order) make sure that you are able to make small adjustments to the gears and brakes e.t.c. Generally speaking if it is your first road bike, I would advise buying from a local shop, rather than mail order. Even if it is 10% more expensive it is worth it due to the increased peace of mind.
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