I used to ride a ‘Decathlon Sport 7.1’ and replaced it with a Triban 500 SE when they rebranded. Each was <£400 and I held my own on club runs on both.
Honestly they’re such good bikes, the only reason that I replaced with a Carbon Fibre Ribble was because it was a bargain (part Ultegra, full CF for £1000) so was cheaper than the Decathlon equivalent at the time.
My biggest cycling regret is selling that bike rather than keeping it as a commuter/winter bike, but I didn’t have space to store it at the time. I know the guy that I sold it to and try to buy it back off him at least 3 times a year.
When they finally start stocking XL bikes in the UK again I may well pick up a 500 for commuting. I’m starting to feel too old to commute on a fixie that seems intent on killing me.
ETA: new pic of my bike since upgrading the crankset and handlebars to avoid posting something other than bike pics
Have wanted an MTB for ages, but struggled to find anything in stock at a reasonable price. Got this using cycle to work scheme ( ) and it had the benefit of actually being in stock.
I replaced the stock tyres with Ardent Race, I’d like to replace the wheels with something a bit lighter, and get a dropper but mainly a front fork - it is a bit hard work on rocky descents. Fast bike though. Looking at doing some endurance races on it.
I got this Specialized Roubaix Expert about a month ago and it’s sooooo comfortable for long rides!! Last weekend I did 192 miles over 2 days and it didn’t miss a beat. I was going back and forth between this and an SL7…I think I could have been happy with either, but the Roubaix felt “right” from the first minute of the test ride.
The new Emonda looks simply awesome. I was always a Madone fan before, but I think if I was buying one now it would be the Emonda. Considerably lighter, while the aero losses are likely marginal. Also think it looks better, slimmer, less bulky, and likely rides much better as well.
I’m still on a 2016 Emonda SL but would snag a new SLR if I had the cash for sure
It really is a fantastic bike, light enough with the normal FFWD RYOT44 wheels to climb well and feel snappy, but with deeper wheels, it’s a seriously fast bike in a straight line and feels highly efficient. It can also happily take 32mm tyres so works great for rougher roads.
For context, this is the cheaper SL frameset and with the usual wheels weighs 7.4kg all in.
