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My brother, who used to ride a fine road bike back in the day, would like to find himself something cheap and cheerful to get himself back on the road.
He has asked me for advice, but having been away from road bikes for so long, I don't have much clue either.
Other than components and frame materials being better than they were in the olden days (read: 1986-1990ish), is there anything I and/or he needs to know? After all, mountain bikes are completely different machines than they were in the same period...
BUMP
Maybe it's an inappropriate/boring question for this forum, but... anyone?
lol . . you may need to define his concept of cheap?
He'd be best to try out the sizing as the majority of bikes come with compact frames now.
It's a good time to pop out to a local bike shop and see what's in the sales.
I would guess 5-7 hundred quid for an unfashionable named bike with an aluminium frame, carbon fork and Tiagra or Sora groupset.
if he used to ride and enjoyed it back in the 80's, get on ebay and for a few hundred get a well specced 80's bike. If he gets into it then there are endless £1000 bikes, mostly with carbon frames and reasonable spec.
I'd be inclined to favour alu over carbon in chaeper bikes. Though the frame is important, so are wheels/tyres/brakes and these can be expensive to upgrade.
Gears wise, Sti's are the way forward (or whatever Sram/campag call their systems). 2012 tiagra is now 10speed so compatable with superior groupsets, though I've found even the bottom end groupset to be perfectly adequate.
If you're going second hand, specialised allez are popular for a reason, older cannondales (Caad frames etc) get good reviews.
Going new, the cheapest ribble alu bike seems popular and although low spec, will fufil a role at a great price.
Yes, i think it would be worth giving us a price range to work in. There's quite a few considerations
get a good fit would be the best advice re: road bikes.