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

 

[Anonymous]

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 ..