One tried and tested method for a new bike is the bike to work scheme that we have previously written about in our blog. With a ceiling spend of £1000 it opens up doors to some nice kit with carbon fibre frames & quality groupsets but still needs a careful eye on the numbers to get some serious bang for your buck. With discounts aplenty in the new year we have focused on those bikes currently sneaking above the £1000 mark on the assumption you will be doing some hard haggling for the best price come January. Below is our selection of best road bikes for under £1500 to buy on the bike to work scheme.
Ribble R872 Disc Road Bike
Online merchant Ribble have once more delivered a beautiful road bike. The R872 is the evolution of the classic Gran Fondo that has for many years been hugely popular. An carbon frame with good looks is great and impressive to see the carbon frames still not dropped at this price point by Ribble. Common to all Ribble bikes it has a build to your own spec approach this again is a great option in this price range. While we would love the money to stretch to the Ultegra groupset realistically building up an R872 with 105 is money well spent. By building your bike with Shimano 105 and you will have a lightweight, fast and good looking bike that offers real value for money. Big fans.
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Boardman SLR 8.9
Possibly still subject to some badge snobbery. The Boardman range continues to go from strength to strength and this is certainly a quality machine and offers good value for the money. Quite an aggressive design but paired with disc brakes as an option this is well worth a look. The bikes are easily tracked down at your local Halfords or Cycle Republic without having to look too hard. Basic models with Shimano Tiagra but also possible to get a well priced carbon framed bike and Shimano 105 Groupset. A lot of bike for the money. We have had some reports that the seat stem can cause some problems and subject to slipping. Worth checking out if considering buying one. Especially relevant if you are looking at the bigger framed bikes and a taller rider.
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Cannondale Synapse 105 Disc 2020
No carbon frame here as Cannondale continues to mature its aluminium frame design to reduce weight and improve stiffness. This well designed frame is finished with a full Shimano 105 groupset and carbon forks. With Mavic wheels as well you could ride this one straight out of the shop without any urgency to consider upgrades. We have a sweet spot for Cannondale at Trivelo so this one will certainly be on our shortlist to test next year.
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Specialized Allez E5 Elite 2020
Best price we can find this at currently is £1049 at Tredz contact us for latest discount codes to get money off
No list would be complete without a Specialized in it as they seem to have a model at almost every price point and bike type. The range of colours continues to evolve ditching the very conservative whites and reds of 5 years ago for more bold offerings. While no s-works this is a high quality machine and you can trust that it will be built to a quality finish and you are unlikely to be disappointed. We’re not big Specialized lovers at Trivelo with just too many of them on the roads but this is a nice bike, maybe lacking a little soul?
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Canyon Ultimate CF SL 7.0
Best price we can find this at currently is £1499 from Canyon contact us for latest discount codes to get money off
German engineering is vomited all over the Canyon and if you can secure this ride for under a grand your unlikely to feel short changed. Getting this in a sale might be more of a challenge as they operate a direct online business model but well worth checking before any money changes hands. All carbon means the frame comes in under 1 kilo with reliable Shimano 105 groupset and Fulcrum wheels. Looks and feels the business. We like.
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Bianchi Via Nerone 7 105
If a badge is important to you on those chain gang rides and you want to be holding your head high in the car park you can’t argue with the Bianchi. The frame here is an endurance sportive geometry more upright than the Boardman listed above. Shimano 105 groupset coupled with a very effective frame suited as an endurance road bike. A few other corners cut to make the price point but a beautiful looking machine as you would expect from such a well respected name. We had to include it in our list!
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Cube Nuroad Road Bike
Best price we can find this at currently is £1299 for from Chain Reaction cycles. We have the latest deals with Chain Reaction Cycles as well as other brands so contact us for the latest codes.
With an aluminium frame and all round tyres you could argue this Cube bike is more of a gravel bike. We all need another excuse to get another bike after all and if we don’t have a gravel bike sounds a good reason to get one! Boasting Shimano’s latest GRX groupset you can be the envy of the Sunday morning ride with the first with kit. Disc brakes and a very robust build make this a potential all year round bike option.
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Fuji Sportif 1.3 Disc Road Bike 2020
Best price we can find this at currently is £1499 from Chain Reaction cycles – contact us for the latest discount codes.
Fuji rocking a tried and tested formula with alloy frame and carbon forks although at the top end of our budget shame not to see carbon. Thankfully with Shimano 105 groupset on offer the Fuji recovers some ground in this highly competitive market. Finishing kit on the Fuji not bad and the bike is certainly no ugly duckling. Built for Sportive’s as an endurance bike with Disc brakes and 30c tyres this is a solid bet for any rider.
5 Comments
Stuart Howell · 26/03/2020 at 11:44 pm
Good set of bikes and useful comparison information.
Henry Stewart · 30/03/2020 at 8:43 am
Nice set of bikes. Shame they are over my budget of £1000 but will keep a look out for discounts.
Kevin Howard · 31/03/2020 at 12:15 am
So many other bikes could add to the list and so hard to choose!!!
Simon Sharp · 31/03/2020 at 4:54 pm
Love the Canyon.
Chris Young · 01/04/2020 at 8:50 am
Boardman is a great buy. Genuinely a lot of bike for the money.