A Grand Day Out

The £1,000 mark is the most competitive around for road bikes, which means you should expect a lot for your money…

- James Witts

One-thousand pounds – it’s the benchmark for the increasingly serious rider’s first serious bike. But there are a few factors that you need to consider before you splash out. The first is the bike’s intended use. If you’re spending £1,000 there’s a good chance it’ll be used as both a training and a race bike. That means you need to make a choice between a bike with geometry that maximises speed or one that’ll better absorb the bumps and let you rack up the miles more comfortably.

Either way, you’ll probably be excited that carbon fibre – the material the pros’ bikes are made from – is now within reach. But should you be? Aluminium and other metals are isotropic, meaning their properties are the same in all directions. Carbon, on the other hand, is formed of fibres arranged in a particular orientation and tightly held together by resin. That means while it’s incredibly strong in certain directions, it not so strong in others. In other words, it lacks the all-round strength of metal.

Then again, because carbon tends to be manufactured in a monocoque – moulded as a single structure – designers can play around with the fibres to add strength, improve aerodynamics and cut weight. Aluminium, like steel, is limited in this respect because frames are made by welding tubes together.

But, as is the case with all frame materials, there’s good carbon and, well… not so good carbon. And at this price the argument for carbon against other frame materials, particularly aluminium, is less persuasive. Especially as, when it comes to comfort, there are often greater benefits to be had by choosing the right sort of tyres and running them at the right pressures for you and the terrain you ride on.

TWO CARBONS, ONE METAL