Entry level road racers

"Brian" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dawes Giro 400 (~£300)
Saracen Sestriere (~£400)
Saracen Aubisque (~£400)
Bianchi Via Nirone Aluminium Sora (~£500)

Does anyone have any experience of these bikes, or any
advice/opinions/suggestions of other bikes to look at?

I bought a Giant OCR3 (~£425) which I'm happy with .... but don't really
know enough to recommend why etc ... but when I first bought it, I did the
London to Southend and a few people came up and said what a nice bike it
was. I was quite embarrassed!

Brian said:

Hi all, I'm nearing the end of my undergrad degree and as a treat, I am
going to buy myself the new bike I've been hankering after for the last
year or so. I've got a budget of £500ish, so it'll have to be an entry
level racer, but hopefully a darnsight nippier than my current one!

Are you looking for a "true" racer (i.e. for racing),
or a fast bike for general use?

Both perfectly valid things to do, IMHO, BTW.

BugBear

Quoted message said:

Are you looking for a "true" racer (i.e. for racing),
or a fast bike for general use?

I'd like it to be more of a real racer, as I'm keeping my current bike
for day-to-day use. That said, I dont actually enter races, although I
would quite like to give it a try in the future, should my fitness
improve sufficiently!

Brian

in message <[email hidden]>, Brian ([email hidden]'😉

Quoted message said:

Hi all, I'm nearing the end of my undergrad degree and as a treat, I am
going to buy myself the new bike I've been hankering after for the last
year or so. I've got a budget of £500ish, so it'll have to be an entry
level racer, but hopefully a darnsight nippier than my current one!

At the moment, the bikes I'm looking at are:

Dawes Giro 400 (~£300)
Saracen Sestriere (~£400)
Saracen Aubisque (~£400)
Bianchi Via Nirone Aluminium Sora (~£500)

Does anyone have any experience of these bikes, or any
advice/opinions/suggestions of other bikes to look at? Any help would
be appreciated - I think I'm likely to have to buy mail-order (for
price reasons), so might not be able to test-ride them!

Ribble Cycles do a Terry Dolan frame bike with carbon forks and Campag
Mirage groupset and Campag Vento wheels for £499.

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/details.asp?D=&Cat=&Section=&GenCode=RIBBXRIB0200

That is one hell of a deal. However, people on this group have had some
difficulty dealing with Ribble by mail order, so it might be better to
make sure they've got exactly what you want in stock before you bend
your plastic.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; Generally Not Used
;; Except by Middle Aged Computer Scientists

Brian said:

At the moment, the bikes I'm looking at are:

Dawes Giro 400 (~£300)
Saracen Sestriere (~£400)
Saracen Aubisque (~£400)
Bianchi Via Nirone Aluminium Sora (~£500)

Does anyone have any experience of these bikes, or any
advice/opinions/suggestions of other bikes to look at? Any help would be
appreciated - I think I'm likely to have to buy mail-order (for price
reasons), so might not be able to test-ride them!

After about 6 months of choosing I finally just took the plunge and
bought the Sestriere. This was a couple of months ago as a first road
bike and it's been absolutely great. Puts a smile on my face every time
I ride it - shame the weather hasn't been up to par though. I guess
you're looking at the 2005 model for that price which is what I have. No
idea how the others compare, my mate has a Giro 400, but it's a few
years older so the spec's completely different (has Campag Xenon for a
start.)

Oh there was one problem with it actually - a broken snap ring on the
quick release skewer, but I guess that just happened in transit (bought
it mail order.)

Anyway, I'm sure you'll enjoy it whichever bike you get!

Andy

Simon Brooke said:

That is one hell of a deal. However, people on this group have had
some difficulty dealing with Ribble by mail order, so it might be
better to make sure they've got exactly what you want in stock before
you bend your plastic.

That's if you trust the answer they give you.

--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

Quoted message said:

Does anyone have any experience of these bikes, or any
advice/opinions/suggestions of other bikes to look at? Any help would be
appreciated - I think I'm likely to have to buy mail-order (for price
reasons), so might not be able to test-ride them!

Have a look at what the local bike shops have second hand. Their stuff
will be serviced -so in good condition- and you'll get something with much
better spec.

Brian said:

Hi all, I'm nearing the end of my undergrad degree and as a treat, I am
going to buy myself the new bike I've been hankering after for the last
year or so. I've got a budget of £500ish, so it'll have to be an entry
level racer, but hopefully a darnsight nippier than my current one!

Sorry if this is unhelpfully pricey above your £500 figure, but if you
can go a bit higher then the Cannondale R500 from Bonthrone seems to be
a well-specced bike at a good price (£675):
http://www.bonthronebikes.co.uk/515-12030

I have had my eye on one recently. But I haven't ridden one, so I can't
review it.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Francis Barton () said:

Sorry if this is unhelpfully pricey above your £500 figure, but if you
can go a bit higher then the Cannondale R500 from Bonthrone seems to be
a well-specced bike at a good price (£675):
http://www.bonthronebikes.co.uk/515-12030

If, that is, one can get Bonthrone to acknowledge one's existence.
Recent evidence presented to the froup suggests that this may be more
difficult than anticipated.

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
If you want a bicycle, buy a bicycle. If you want something that folds,
buy a deckchair.

I'd be looking at:

Bianchi Via Nirone Aluminium Sora
Giant OCR 3
Specialized Allez

I think there is a £500 Decathalon model which gets good reviews.