1st Road Bike - Australia

It is around this time of year that you get an idea of the new stuff that's being offered by the manufacturers.
If you can wait till around october, the new models will start to come out and runout sales of last year's models will begin. In may cases well stocked bike shops will have quite a few left overs from two years ago which may be an even better bet on price.

I've just bought myself a Trek 1200. They're discounted $200 to $1400.
A mate has the 1000 and I was pretty impressed with it, so I went one better and got the 1200. ;-)
It has carbon forks and tiagra group set.
Can't wait to get on it. If only it would stop raining. It doesn't usually rain this much in Hobart. :-)

I recently bought a Felt with carbon forks and 105 group.

They are good value when available.

A firend of mine went through this a while ago, and was considering these bikes. The prices are retail, so they could most likely be discounted a bit. They are also Melbourne prices.

Raceline Pave $1700

Trek 1200

Merida 904 $1900

Felt F70 $1600

Avanti Giro $1800

Giant OCR-2 $1500 - Probably the best value for money this bike was $1900 when it came out.

Alchemy Diablo $ 1600 approx

Specialzed ????

Gitane Mach 1800 $1900

Le Mond ?????

Not sure about the prices on the Le Mond or the Specialized, but I thought he should've bought a Specialized. After all this (it went for months) he bought a 2nd hand steel Pinarello with Campagnolo Veloce and Campagnolo Proton wheels for $1700.

For the USA readers, he's looking to spend about $1050 USD

I got an Alchemy Diablo about 4 months ago, all I can say is two thumbs up.

For the $1500 I paid it is really well speced, shimano everything (except FSA cranks) as apposed to some of the other bikes listed.

Ritchey Wheels.

All you need is some good pedals and you will be set. The new 105 pedals are great and match the black FSA cranks.

If you can get one for around $1500 and $1600 you will be doing yourself a big favour.

Look around for a secondhand bargain.

I got a $3500 bike for $1500 with only 10 weeks use and A lot of expensive bikes get sold after a year of light use for up to 50% off

For example my girlfriend is selling a Giant TCR0 with Dura ace for $3000 and it retailed for about $6000

Thank you to everyone that replied.

I purchased a Raceline Pave (older stock) for about AU$1000, which I thought was a pretty good buy (although no carbon folks).

Regards,