[Colmsport]

Originally Posted by JR1664

Decent bike, good reviews and excellent groupset. (I have two 105 bikes and love them)

Strange times, if its available, within your budget and you want it now then move on it.

The market is totally distorted, there is a massive shortage of road bikes. Pre covid there would a numerous 105 groupset bikes at £800 that would give it a run for its money but they've evaporated.

Thanks.

Availability is an issue as it seems that when the very limited stock arrives at Halfords, it’s soon gone.

Under the cycle to work scheme, by my reckoning, it’s a cost in region of £700 which I feel makes it excellent value for money.

Trouble is, it’s a bit of a chicken & egg situation in that the cycle to work voucher has a limited life span with my employer & yet you are unable to reserve the bike with Halfords. Can see myself going around in circles with this one.

May just stick with my cheap 10 year old Carrera & get it serviced instead

[SantaEugence]

Originally Posted by Colmsport

Thanks.

Availability is an issue as it seems that when the very limited stock arrives at Halfords, it’s soon gone.

Under the cycle to work scheme, by my reckoning, it’s a cost in region of £700 which I feel makes it excellent value for money.

Trouble is, it’s a bit of a chicken & egg situation in that the cycle to work voucher has a limited life span with my employer & yet you are unable to reserve the bike with Halfords. Can see myself going around in circles with this one.

May just stick with my cheap 10 year old Carrera & get it serviced instead

Exact problem I'm having. Can only order the voucher before pay day and it turns up two weeks later (at the earliest) which makes it difficult since you need to specify voucher value and can't reserve bikes. Only thing you could do is find a local shop who'd be willing to take a deposit to hold the bike but it's not Halford's of course.

[gangzoom]

Originally Posted by Colmsport

What’s people’s thoughts on this???

https://www.halfords.com/bikes/road-...es-365462.html

That's a great bike, I believe just sub 9kg with stock wheels, looks like its got good aero features and the 105 groupset is fab. I think you would be hard pushed to find a better bike at £1k. Spend some extra on better wheels/brakes/saddle and your be at under 8kg for a total spend of well under £2K.

For reference am currently looking at a 2021 Trek Emonda and to get that thing under 8kg its looking like I need to spend £5k on a SLR frameset, and apart from disc brakes there isn't a massive difference compared to my current 2011 Trek, so £5K to go from rim to disc brake....humm even my man maths cannot justify that .

[gangzoom]

Originally Posted by Colmsport

May just stick with my cheap 10 year old Carrera & get it serviced instead

What spec/frameset is the Carrera. Apart from disc brakes not much has changed on roadbikes. A decent carbon frameset, with 105 level groupset and decent wheelset is all you really need to have an enjoyable ride, age of the stuff doesn't really matter.

[Colmsport]

Originally Posted by gangzoom

What spec/frameset is the Carrera. Apart from disc brakes not much has changed on roadbikes. A decent carbon frameset, with 105 level groupset and decent wheelset is all you really need to have an enjoyable ride, age of the stuff doesn't really matter.

I’m almost embarrassed to say really - it’s the bargain basement Carrera TDF road bike, which has a ‘lightweight’ alloy frame & Shimano groupset (not sure which...) - cost about £250 10 years ago.

Been ok to get me back into cycling but want to treat myself & man maths suggests that I’ll instantly get out every night of the week & lose loads of weight / get healthy with a new bike

[gangzoom]

^In which case a £1000 road bike will feel like a totally different machine!!

The weather is now turning though, last few weeks I've ridden my eBike more than my road bike. Still getting a good work as it makes riding into a 20mph headwind just about bareable!

[JayR328i]

Just checking in chaps, been in Cornwall for 2 weeks visiting my mum. Hired a trek AL4 with tiagra 20sp on it, my lord I'm spoilt at home. I did a "tour de lizard" around the Helford river which was brutal! And then down to lizard point a day or two later.

[gangzoom]

I'm in the process of getting my road bike serviced for a winter rest, so instead has been going on my eHybrid bike. This week got some aero bars for it off eBay for £15, and went out on a ride today.



I never got why people have TT bikes, well after 20 miles on a hybrid with cheap TT bars I now get it.

Aero really does makes a massive difference, with the aero bars I was able to get within 1mph of my road bike with drops on a relative flat section. I can see why TT bikes are needed if you really want to hit a fast average speed.



These eBike motor made mince meat of the steepest hill around me, sucked it in and spat it out like cat toying with a mouse, and my eBike is suppose to have a 'weak' motor + battery compared to some .



Used 37% charge on my Boardman which has a relatively small 250watt/hr battery to cover 21 miles with a reasonable amount of climbing at over 18mph average. So in theory 100-0% on the battery should cover over 50 miles of range easily, and nearly 3000ft of climbing.



Now that I can get into an aero position on my hybrid, I can see my self hardly touching my road bike over the winter. Up until the puncture, todays ride was one of the most fun I’ve done in a while, my legs also still aches like crazy as you would expect from trying to push a near 20kg bike at a reasonable pace over 20 miles.

[JayR328i]

Originally Posted by gangzoom

Now that I can get into an aero position on my hybrid, I can see my self hardly touching my road bike over the winter. Up until the puncture, todays ride was one of the most fun I've done in a while, my legs also still aches like crazy as you would expect from trying to push a near 20kg bike at a reasonable pace over 20 miles.

[img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...64f63e46_b.jpg[/img]

Rule #54 // No aerobars on road bikes.Aerobars or other clip-on attachments are under no circumstances to be employed on your road bike. The only exception to this is if you are competing in a mountain timetrial.

From https://www.velominati.com/comment-page-8/#comments

I suppose if you're putting them on a hybrid you have avoided breaking this rule you sly fox! Haha

[MashinBenzin]

Originally Posted by JayR328i

Rule #54 // No aerobars on road bikes.Aerobars or other clip-on attachments are under no circumstances to be employed on your road bike. The only exception to this is if you are competing in a mountain timetrial.

From https://www.velominati.com/comment-page-8/#comments

I suppose if you're putting them on a hybrid you have avoided breaking this rule you sly fox! Haha

But what do the Rules say about electric motor assistance?

[JR1664]

My last 8 rides have been on the turbo ...just no time for the road recently.

However the last road trip I came across some guy on a hybrid thing and gave it the absolute beans for six miles up to the next major junction, only to find Mr hybrid right up my chuff but looking like he was about to have a coronary when I glanced back.

I'm presuming he wasn't electrically assisted, well I dunno usually you can tell as they just don't spin that much and stick out like a sore thumb .

[gangzoom]

Originally Posted by JayR328i

Rule #54 // No aerobars on road bikes.Aerobars or other clip-on attachments are under no circumstances to be employed on your road bike. The only exception to this is if you are competing in a mountain timetrial.

From https://www.velominati.com/comment-page-8/#comments

I suppose if you're putting them on a hybrid you have avoided breaking this rule you sly fox! Haha

Back on the road bike today, not sure what the rule books say about a back pack with a rain cover .

Been looking at TT bikes, surprisingly cheap used, for under £1.5K you can get a decent looking one. Its simply a matter I've been warned multiple times about not adding to the bike collection.....

[JayR328i]

Originally Posted by gangzoom

Back on the road bike today, not sure what the rule books say about a back pack with a rain cover .

Been looking at TT bikes, surprisingly cheap used, for under £1.5K you can get a decent looking one. Its simply a matter I've been warned multiple times about not adding to the bike collection.....

Happy wife, happy life>N+1

[gangzoom]

I fear I might be getting into this Cyclocross/off roading buissness......Ended up facing this chap down the end of a bridle path, thought about opening the gate and seeing if I could out run him with my eBike, but than decided to best to turn back as I'm still recovering with my last encounter with tarmac

[mikeoz]

Don't message with that Ginger fella...

[moonshine]

Originally Posted by JayR328i

Happy wife, happy life>N+1

I've 6 bikes at the moment.
Cervélo C3 Ultegra Di2;
Canyon Grail AL GRX;
Santa Cruz Hightower C 29er;
Cervélo P5 Dura-Ace Di2;
Argon 18 Electron Track bike;and
kona fixed wheel training / commuter

Here is a couple of photos of the P5 TT bike

[gangzoom]

I keep on looking at this, £5k is crazy amount to spend on a pedal bike, but we are done with buying new cars now for the next 5 years+, so £5k on a road bike that will last 10 years+ is 'cheap' compared to the cost of changing cars......That's my man maths anyways .

[gangzoom]

Didn't go riding today, but did take some snaps of my 2011 Trek, comparing it to the 2021 Domane they looks almost identical!

As much as I would wasting money on gadgets as anyone here, its just very very hard to justify spending £4-5K on another road bike when my nearly decade old one still looks this good.....If only cars aged so gracefully I think all of us would have much larger bank accounts .

[JR1664]

Originally Posted by gangzoom

I keep on looking at this, £5k is crazy amount to spend on a pedal bike, but we are done with buying new cars now for the next 5 years+, so £5k on a road bike that will last 10 years+ is 'cheap' compared to the cost of changing cars......That's my man maths anyways .

Looks nice but how does it work ? (I know its got a battery in that big fat down tube :-)

Its limited to 15.5 mph and any speed above that you're dragging 17.5kg around which on a road bike is a hell of a lot of weight bearing in mind your speed on the flats will massively exceed that.

To me on a road bike that's slightly counter productive unless of course you have a medical condition or similar, or are very old if so I apologise. If not then surely in the road bike stakes you would gain more from spending your £5k on a lighter bike.

[SantaEugence]

Been trying to get a gravel bike through my work scheme for the past couple months, given up now, no where has anything in stock or likely to have this year. Had a long chat with my local Giant manager who said they have a spreadsheet for some bikes with over 200 names on and currently less than 10 allocated from Giant this year for their store, madness! Found a nice Oreo Terra C in the right size local but without trying others I'm hesitant to drop £2k on it.

Thought I'd pick up an 'ok' second hand job from eBay etc but even that's ridiculous when you consider the chap above with the Halford's bike running 105, 9kg for £1k, and people listing their used Sora/Tiagra with rim brakes and 12kg frame for over £500 🙄 definitely a sellers market. £1k with the work scheme tax/NI savings probably mean it would be cheaper than the used one!

Guess I'll have to keep using my loan hybrid with Tourney set and solid lead frame for a while longer... on the plus side it's a great workout, I've warned my friends when I get a better spec bike like theirs they're going to be in trouble...

[gangzoom]

Originally Posted by JR1664

If not then surely in the road bike stakes you would gain more from spending your £5k on a lighter bike.

Part of the 'issue' for me is even a £5K non-assisted road bike is essentially the same as my current bike, but with some nicer stuff on. With an eBike at least am getting some proper extra stuff for the outly, plus the extra power more than offsets the weight increase which really only matter on hills....

I was on a mouse click away from dropping £1.5k on an 2019 Emonda SLR frameset+Dura Ace crankset, but pulled out of the deal last minute.

Am going to try sitting on my hands for a while longer I recon, but if Trek ever do discount the current electric Domane to a figure starting with 3 rather than 4 I would have one very quickly. The fact to my wife it'll look pretty much identical to my current Trek help things alot .

[JayR328i]

Does anyone else think that in 6-12 months time a load of these bikes that have sold out everywhere will be listed on ebay or stolen and put on gumtree? There may be some deals to be had as we see the novelty wear off for a lot of lockdown adopters.

It would be fantastic if there was a lasting legacy of more cycling from this year of bs, but I just don't see the investment from either the local councils or people not on bikes sharing the roads sensibly. Plus the huge mop up that the economy will require will mean budgets for infrastructure won't be there.