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Hi all,
Looking for recommendations on road bikes around the £1500 mark to buy using CTW.
Ive had giant Defy in the past and much prefer the higher front end of similar bikes.
Anything you can suggest looking at?
Thanks
If you're around 5'10" and have short legs like me, you have the pick of sm/med/l, possibly needing a 110/120mm on the smaller frames (my Cube Attain GTC is 388mm reach, 610mm stack, with 110mm stem; approx 89cm pedal top to saddle top and 55cm Selle SMP Extra "beaky" saddle tip to centre of bar clamp).
I'd be getting something planet x
I'd get the Boardman, it's got 105 rather than the Sram muck that comes on PX bikes 😉
But in typical STW style, are you sure you don't actually want a gravel bike instead?
The ADV 8.9 is reduced to £1080, with BC discount and cashback it's easily under £1k. The ADV 9.0 that I regretted not buying in '20 is reduced to £1688, but out of stock as per normal, until supposedly later this month.
Must admit I'm getting tempted myself! 😆
Hmmm that Boardman is pretty nice and would be £75 a month on CTW.
Any ideas how they size? I dont want to be lay over like Lance Armstrong and prefer to be a bit more upright.
From my limited experience, I'd expect a racey 388mm reach road bike to have no more than ~560mm stack.
My Cube at 610mm is an aero brick, but while I could have gone down a size to the "56cm" frame which has 590mm stack iirc ( @molgrips ? ), my lower back has been very delicate at times over the last 15 years so I played things conservatively and these days run an adjustable stem to lower the front end when my back is good with all spacers above stem.
The large Boardman is 390mm reach and 588mm stack, a decent middle ground, flipping the stem upwards would raise the bars 1cm+ and you can play about with stem position among the presumeably 30mm+ of spacers. Seat tube C-T is 15mm lower than my "58cm" Cube, so bit more of exposed post, bit more comfort. It also comes with 172.5mm cranks, same as my Cube, which has a 172.5mm 4iiii power meter on it... My Voodoo Marasa commuter has 170mm cranks, can't really notice, with ~82cm cycling inseam I'd supposedly benefit from shorter cranks.
The one thing the Boardman doesn't have over my Cube is chainstay length for tyre clearance, 410 vs 415, doubt you'd be able to fit 32mm tyres on it. Maybe a small 30mm?
Your frame size options will depend on your height and the relative length of your legs, I'm very much torso biased for 5'10".
Im a smidge over 6 foot.
I find sizing weird (or maybe its me!)
Back in 2018 I had a M/L 2016 Giant defy. Loved it, felt it fit me well and did the tour de broads on it (100mile in a day)
Sold it just afterward with the intention of buying carbon version but never got round to it.
last year I started looking again and found the same Giant Defy for sale in the same size. Bought it and straight away it felt wrong and too small?? How does that work.
I then sold that and bought a large version and couldn't get on with that either so gave up.
Just going on https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/defy-advanced-2 ('22 model), I'm not surprised you found the M/L a bit small...
381mm reach with a default 100mm stem, I'd want a 120mm stem on there to get a similar bar reach position to my Cube.
The large is 2mm longer reach and 5mm shorter stack than my Cube (388mm reach with 110mm stem).
Although at a quick glance, that looks very similar to https://geometrygeeks.bike/bike/giant-defy-2016-1/
Canyon Endurace 105 with discs is £1449. £1300 with rim brakes. Clearance for 35mm with discs, but no mudguard mounts.
Also depends on whether you want to try one for size or trust the geometry charts.
The Canyon is a lovely bike, but good luck getting one this year. Estimated delivery is October.
Can you get the Canyon on the CTW scheme??
EDIT: apparently you can !!
Just had a very quick look at Paulscycles and came across the Revolt 0 and 1, that can apparently take up to 50mm tyres in the adjustable dropout.
https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/bikes/road-bikes/giant-revolt-0-gravel-adventure-bike-black__10639
Any interest in that type of road/gravel, or are you strictly looking for a tarmac speed machine that isn't too racey?
Strictly tarmac to be honest.
My mate will be selling an XL Defy imminently. Not on C2W though.