Road bike/Decathlon question

[Eatmorepies]

I want to buy a road bike to do about 40 rides a year (between 20 and 40
miles). Dry use only - unless caught out.

I have ridden a friend's Tiagra geared bike and enjoyed the smooth changing.
I have looked on eBay but haven't yet seen the bike for me.

Nelson's near Abergavenny will sell me a very lovely Tiagra groupset new
bike for about £570. Decathlon has a triple chainset bike for £350 - no
other detail available yet - I have to phone them.

The question;

Does the groupset matter than much? (It does for MTB, I tend to fit only XT
stuff on my Marin FRS.)

I want fairly faultless mechanical performance, should I shell out the £570?

John

 

[Paul - xxx]

Eatmorepies posted ...

> I want to buy a road bike to do about 40 rides a year (between 20 and
> 40 miles). Dry use only - unless caught out.
>
> I have ridden a friend's Tiagra geared bike and enjoyed the smooth
> changing. I have looked on eBay but haven't yet seen the bike for me.
>
> Nelson's near Abergavenny will sell me a very lovely Tiagra groupset
> new bike for about £570. Decathlon has a triple chainset bike for
> £350 - no other detail available yet - I have to phone them.

Based on purchasing a couple of childrens mtb's, a BMX and a Mountain Bike
from Decathlon I can only say that the Decathlon badged frames and fitments,
while not being either the lightest or nicest aesthetically, do work well.
We have had no problems from any of their bikes other than those caused by
mechanic or operator influences ...

> The question;
>
> Does the groupset matter than much? (It does for MTB, I tend to fit
> only XT stuff on my Marin FRS.)

Only if the frame and rider are good enough to notice any differences ..

> I want fairly faultless mechanical performance, should I shell out
> the £570?

Personally, I'd generally go for a known set.

If you already know the Tiagra set and know it'll work for you and work how
you want it to work, then it sounds like a no-brainer decision, IMHO.

However, a change can be quite good, and quite revealing .. Does the
Decathlon bike have something extra to offset any possible compromise of
gearset reliability that you want ?


--
Paul

(8(|) Homer rocks ..