new bike

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hello...

ive been doing cross-country for a while now and im just wondering what sort of road bike might suit me well as im thinking about selling the xc bike and getting one.

ive looked on google and various other search engines and havnt had much luck - i guessed taking advice from road cyclists with experience in the sport might be a better idea :)

so.. im looking for a good quality bike, around 20-21" in frame size with plenty of space (longish wheel base) as im quite tall - about 6ft 4"

i dont want to be spending over £500 really, but will expand my budget if is nessacary.

i will probably be buying from the internet..

any help much appreciated!

thanks in advance

josh

Most of the decent big manufacturers have something at that level if you want a new bike (have you considered 2nd hand?) I've just bought a road bike after several years on a MTB and found the best thing was just to get out to all the bikes shops in the area and try out as many bikes as possible to get a feel for how they differ. I'd definitely recommend spending some time making sure that you're on the right size (top tube length is more important than height) - certainly this took me quite a while to figure out and the guys in the shops all seemed to be giving me conflicting advice (I'm sure based on what stock they were trying to shift!) There are some good deals around at the moment from winstanleys, evans, buyabikedirect.com etc on the '07 models as the '08s are just coming out. If you can stretch I think you'll find you have more choice if you spend a bit more. £700-800 gets you a pretty decent bike. My last piece of advice is that you definitely should not be scared to ask for a discount. Everywhere I went they immediately offered me 10% when I asked and when pushed some of them dropped another 10% (plus offered me freebies, pedals, lights etc)Happy shopping!:)

thanks for the advice. im going to have a look around some local bike shops and see what they have on offer.

and i always ask for discount where ever i go :p