would be a great first road bike. mudguards mounts too, so good for commuting on. carbon fork for extra comfort. very hot at this price.

great find op

just noticed the rack mounts too! it's superb! especially as the weather is just getting nice for cycling to work!

Yes looks good to me. I've been using Claris groupset on my Carrera Cirxus II and i think it is great equipment to start with. 10/10

n00b question here - is the Large frame only 54cm? that seems a bit small compared to other bikes I've seen!

Very tempted to buy this. Although I know nothing about bikes it looks like a great entry level road bike. Does anyone know if deals like this are common throughout summer? And anyone had personal experience with this brand?

£247.50 for me :-)

What would the cycling experts suggest for a 6'3" bloke with long legs? My height puts me between medium/large and large on the sizing chart. I'd probably go for the larger one for comfort, but is that right? Any advice on whether this is a good deal, or has anyone spotted anything better for around £300 to £350? Looking to get back in to cycling after a 20 year absence :smiley:

right then, a bit f nice weather and I'm suddenly considering a bike. £330 is about my limit fir a road bike. Is the opinion that Im likely to find a better deal in the next month? Muchly appreciated. Also if the poster that said they'd get this for much less could spill the beans on how (cycle to work scheme?) It'd be appreciated.

Crikey, alloy frame, carbon forks, Shimano Claris 8 speed lever/shifters/derailleurs at £330.
Deserves to heat ...

We bought a Cannondale Synapse with similar spec for £450 last month, and current year's Synapse is around £600, so this is good value.

Quick Edit, this bike isn't available on wiggles cycle to work scheme, shame.

Second Bike newbie question (last time I biked it was mountain bikes or drop handle bars only), this bike is 'drop handle bars' yet I'm more likely to tootle along sitting upright, at least initially. What options do I have (other than learning to ride a bike properly! )? Is this bike going to be inappropriate for me? Cheers

Review of the Avanti Giro 2
Is this the same frame but with Tiagra groupset anyone??

Can't say for sure, but the manufacturer's website seems to suggest that the Giro 2 is the same bike but with better Shimano kit?

http://www.avantibikes.com/gb/bikes/on-road/series/giro/

If you look at the specification of the frame and fork for both the Giro 1 and 2, the wording is identical. Both also seem to have the same brakes, rims and tyres too.

I am getting quite tempted myself. Although I'd be interested to hear how one of the earlier posters got what appears to be 25% off :smiley:

Sounds like you need a flat bar hybrid - if you choose one nearer to a road bike than a mountain bike you'll have the ideal fast commuter machine.

This or btwin triban 500 se?

You don't have to use the lower part of the drop bars all the time, you can hold the top part too and adjust the handlebar height if needed. If you're going to be riding on roads a road bike is the better option- a mountain bike will be built stronger (read: heavier, more sluggish, less enjoyable to ride on the roads) and hybrids tend to suck unfortunately.

2.1% TCB Cashback.

My personal choice would be the Btwin....great bike for the money. Just seen a second hand one in cash converters for £179.

Ways to get this cheaper

Wiggle are doing a £10 off voucher if you subscribe to their newsletter
If you are with Santander check your offers, mine includes 10% off wiggle purchases (may be worth checking for other banks)
if you refer yourself and make a new account, you'll get vouchers of 10% of the order + £10

Already got a road bike but nice find OP. Heat added!

Stevesuk the general wisdom in cycling if caught between two sizes is to go for the smaller as a smaller bike can be made bigger without much trouble (saddle position, seat height, longer stem etc) but it's harder to make a bike smaller if it's too big.

Really appreciate the Santander cashback, well played

Ordered a large...hoping they will have better customer service than Ribble!

I'd go for the Btwin 500SE. It was the 2014/15 Road CC Budget Bike of the Year. My brother and a friend both have them and love them. I have the Triban 520 (Btwin) which is even better. Review for 500SE Road CC 9/10 review

Anyone has a better customer service than Ribble

Anyone with a code they could let me have for an extra 10% off?

It'd be much appreciated and in the grand scheme of things it might help save the NHS thousands if it prevents me having in coronary from driving too much!

Cheers

Nask

Bah, I logged in to my Santander offers page (for the first time) and all I've got is Waitrose and several chain restaurant type places. I guess the discounts on offer vary on a customer by customer basis?

I have the offer available on a graduate account so maybe it depends on the type of account

Just in case anyone misses it, the callipers aren't Claris unfortunately :disappointed:

My Charge Scourer hybrid does not suck at all :smirk:

So I still haven't made my mind up about this yet. By the time I do, they'll have probably sold out :smiley: The main reason is that (from replies above), I started to look at the B'Twin Triban 500 SE - which at £299 seems to be good value, and very well regarded in reviews.

Does anyone have one? It seems the main downgrade is that it doesn't have Shimano kit on it. Shimano seems to have been the "go to" brand for bike kit for years, so I'm a bit concerned that the Microshift etc. stuff on this bike will feel massively inferior from a shifting/smoothness point of view.

On the other hand, the fact it has a triple chainring makes me think that the gearing is more flexible for a novice rider tackling hills.

This bike is going to get used perhaps a 2 or 3 times a month for a 20 to 30 mile evening ride with some friends ... any opinions on the B'Twin vs. the Avanti Giro would be appreciated.

Or, do I decide to spend an extra £150 and go for the B'Twin Triban 520 with it's Shimano Sora groupset? Which I'd rather not do, unless it's going to make a massive amount of difference for a novice rider who's not planning on riding it every day.

​You are not wrong but that said, I really don't see a 6'3" bloke with long leg as a medium. Typically I would have thought he'd be between large and XL.

​i bit the bullet and ordered it last night. had the email today saying it's built and will be with me in 2-3 business days. The plan is to eventually use this for a commute of 9 miles, but it might take a bit of practise before I'm able to do that!

That would be m/l not m, still would think large is best.

Good luck! Decided to go for the B'Twin Triban 500 SE in the end, mainly because I discovered that there was a Decathlon store nearby, so I could try it out before committing, and to check sizing. Haven't ridden it properly yet, but it seems nice. Noticed the cranks and chainset are Shimano Claris.

I read that later eitions would have claris shifters (some earlier ones had Sora apparently), but doesn't this hav microshift gears though?

I got my bike yesterday, it's pretty great I'm really happy with it, well packaged and much lighter than I expected.

Also the orange is darker than anticipated which is nice.

Only issue was YODEL couriers, they were pretty awful in tracking my package and was unable to rearrange, just lucky someone was in to see the van pull up!

Mine has Microshift shifters, front mech and rear mech. But it seems the crank and chain rings are Shimano. I've only been round the block a couple of times on it so far, but the gears seem to work OK. Having not done much cycling for the last 20 years, having an extra chain ring to play with appealed to me - because I hate hills :smiley: It effectively gives you 24 gears (although I've no doubt there's some overlap).