Road bikes of the pedal variety

I know a few of you are keen cyclist and i was wondering if you could offer me some advice.

I am thinking about getting back into doing a bit of road cycling, i used to really enjoyed it when i was younger. Can I get a decent road bike with some kit (shoes etc) for £350.

I am looking for something thats not cripplingly uncomfortable as well, something with a saddle you can sit on for 4-5 hours without being in pain.

Any ideas


Cheers

[fizzwheel]

TBH I think you'll struggle on that budget, it depends what you mean by decent...

Have a look at the range of bikes by Giant, they seem to be reasonably spec'd for the money. My friend has one the Giant Hybrids, that he paid around £300 ish on, he's just spent another £150 upgrading the wheels and chain set, and also sticking SPD pedals on it, like I said to him he should have just spent the extra in the first place and got a better spec bike in the long run it would have saved him money.

I reckon if you could find £500 you'd have a lot more choice and wouldnt be looking quite so much in the budget range, so you'd get a better frameset, wheels etc etc.

As for the seat, buy a pair of proper cycling shorts with a padded insert, it makes life much much more comfortable.

Is there a local bike shop to you that you could go and have a wander around and see what deals they've got ?

[mattSV]

Shoes are going to set you back around £50, shorts around £20, a decent lid £50 - that leaves you with just £230 for the bike, which as Fizz said is not a lot.

You can however get some good deals as most manufacturers are bringing out their 2008 ranges at the moment.

Again I think you're going to struggle at that price, might be worth looking for a second hand bike, either one someone's bought and hasn't used, or one that someone's selling to upgrade. Road bikes in general don't suffer a lot of wear and tear compared with mountain bikes.

If you do go down the second hand route make sure you get a bike that is the correct size.

[fizzwheel]

This is probably what I'd be looking at

http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/giant_scr_20.html

Alloy frame, with carbon fork, so you get a comfy ride and the bike will be responsive, the group set is reasonable so if you start taking things a bit more seriously the bike will still do what you want it to.

But if you want to go clipless pedals, which you oughta think about as it makes pedalling more efficent that'll be extra cash.

Or this, which might be more on your budget, frame set isnt as good, neither are the components, but it leaves you more room to spend on shoes and bits and pieces in your budget.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetai...%20Road%20Bike

wrt saddle pain, if you have a half decent saddle it shouldn't be uncomfortable after the second or third ride.
Your body needs to adapt a little the first time, particularly if you have been off the bike for a while, and just get back on and ride 50 miles the first day or something. But, basically, bicycle saddles are far far more comfortable and superior in their ability to support you than motorbike saddles.

Right went to the bike shop and see what you mean. I think 350-400 will need to go on just the bike. As I know nothing about road bikes can anyone point me in the right direction of a good website/magazine for road bikes.

The guy at evans in milton keynes was very helpful and showed me a few diffrent frames to get some idea of the diffrent manufacures standard riding postions. The le Monde seemed most comfotable to me being a little more laid out and not quite so bum in air. Are there any other bike manufatures with similar layouts?

Try this rather nifty resource:
http://www.ctc.org.uk/desktopdefault.aspx?tabid=0

[fizzwheel]

You can tweak the seating position on any bike to suit yourself, the main thing to make sure you get right is the frame size, which the guy in the bike shop should help you with. Once you've got the right size frame, your then roughly in the right ball park and tweaks to the bars and seat height, seat position should see you end up nice and comfy on the bike.

Oh and its Lemmond, not Le Monde, google for Greg Lemmond its his own range of bikes, from what I've read even the entry level bike is reasonably spec'd and priced so I think you're looking at the right kind of thing.

Don't what ever you do, please dont buy a bike from Halfords / Bikehut, stick to a local bike shop and build a rapport with the staff in there.

You might find it better to go to a local bike shop rather than Evans, personally I think you'll find you get better advice and a better range from somewhere smaller, I think evans are a bit like the PC world of bike shops...

theres a couple of bike forums I found that should help you.

www.bikeradar.com
www.cyclechat.co.uk

Have a read of the stuff on there, should point you in the right direction.