BIKETEST RACE-READY ROAD BIKES
The difficult thing about value is it’s subjective. You might consider an £8,000 bike good value if you normally lust after the growing spread of superbikes commanding five figures. Or you might still hanker after the days when a race-ready road bike with Shimano 105 cost around £1,500.
Sadly, bike prices have been on the steady increase for a few years now, not helped by intervening global crises. Here we explore what race-ready road bikes are currently on offer in the mid-price performance bracket, ranging from £3,000 up to £4,400.
What can you expect at this price point? Well, your money won’t go as far as it used to. In this price range, you can expect pared-back frame materials and groupsets, ranging from the venerable Shimano 105 R7000 up to the latest Shimano 105 Di2 R7100 (plus equivalent SRAM offerings, too). In time-honoured style, brands can scramble for value by trading off certain components.
You might find a lower-spec groupset but a better wheelset, the touch points might be lower-spec than flagship bikes and finishing kit like tyres is a commoncompromises are made in bike builds, often this means you need to leave some cash aside to upgrade. Key areas to pay attention to include tyres, wheels (often, a midlevel alloy wheelset can offer better performance than a cheap carbon wheelset), cockpits and seatposts. You may also want to think longer term about your groupset - will you want to upgrade from mechanical to electronic down the line? If so, a frame with universal cable routing is your friend here.
