How to Choose the Right Road Bike for a Beginner
How to Choose the Right Road Bike for a Beginner
Choosing the right road bike can be overwhelming, especially if you're a beginner. With so many options on the market, it's hard to know where to start. Do you need an entry-level bike or something more advanced? What kind of features do you need? And how much should you budget? We'll help you figure out what the right road bike for a beginner is. By the end, you should have a good idea of what to look for when shopping for your first road bike.
What Is a Road Bike?
As the name suggests road bikes are designed for use on the road. More specifically they are designed for road racing. Road bikes typically have narrow tyres and drop-handlebars, which makes them aerodynamic and fast. They're also lightweight and have gears and wheels designed to let you reach and maintain high speeds.
While road bikes have traditionally been designed for racing loads of people never go near a start line. There is a big culture of social club rides in the UK where coffee, cake and a chat is the main focus. Road bikes are also popular for doing long distance challenges and fast commuting. Bikes designed for this kind of use are normally referred to as endurance road bikes. When looking for a road bike for a beginner endurance bikes are often a good choice. They are more usually stable and comfortable to ride.
How much do you want to spend?
Road bikes start at around £700 and go up to over £10,000. As a rough guide you will get:
- £700 to £800 – a basic road bike with rim brakes built around an aluminium frame
- £800 to £1600 – a decent quality road bike with mechanical disc brakes built around an aluminium frame
- £1500 to £2250 – A top end aluminium road bike with hydraulic brakes
- £2250 to £4000 – A carbon frame bike with good quality parts and hydraulic brakes
- £4000 to £6000 – a carbon frame bike with electronic gearing
- £6000+ - professional level race bikes with higher quality carbon and all the latest tech
Most beginners will start with an aluminium bike as they are cheaper and tend to be built with new riders in mind. That means a more relaxed riding position and more forgiving endurance handling.
Rim, Mechanical or Hydraulic Disc Brakes
One of the biggest choices on entry level road bikes is the type of brakes. Rim brakes are normally found on the cheapest bikes. They are simple to maintain and some professional racers still prefer them, but they are not as powerful as disc brakes, especially in the wet. Hydraulic disc brakes are the new standard. They need very little maintenance, the pads last for ages and they are extremely powerful. Mechanical disc brakes are cheaper but they generally need more adjustment and tuning and don’t have as much power.
Do you need a carbon frame?
Most bikes over about £2000 will come with a carbon fibre frame, but do you need one on a road bike for a beginner? The simple answer is no.
Carbon fibre frames are great. They can be made lighter than aluminium and also offer a slightly smoother ride as the carbon soaks up bumps better than aluminium does. However, a good aluminium frame can be as light, and just as fast, as a cheaper carbon frame. So if you can afford it, or you are going to be doing a lot of really big distances, then sure go for carbon. But don’t feel that you have to.
How many gears?
Nearly all road bikes come with 2 chainrings on the front and then anywhere between 7 and 12 on the back. Entry level bikes will normally be 8 or 9 speed (2 chainrings on the front then 8 or 9 at the back). As you go up through the price range you get more gears at the back and the general quality of the gears gets better so they will shift more smoothly and last longer.
If you are looking for a bike you can easily upgrade then you want to try and go for a 10 or 11 speed bike. This is because the better quality replacement parts are now only available in 10 speed or above. If you buy a 7 or 8 speed bike you will be limited to cheaper parts.
Find out more about road bike gears.
Some of our favourite road bikes for a beginner
Trek Domane AL 2 - from £689
This is Trek’s entry level road bike. It uses endurance geometry for a table bike that’s easy to ride. It comes with simple rim brakes and 8 speed Shimano Claris gearing. It’s a good, low cost, option.
Specialized Allez - from £799
The Allez has long been the standard for a beginners road bike. It comes with the same 8 speed Shimano Claris gearing as the Trek Domane AL 2 and also comes with rim brakes. Although Specialized market the Allez as an endurance bike it is still a little more race orientated than the Trek.
Trek Domane AL 2 Disc - from £975
As well as getting mechanical disc brakes the Domane AL 2 Disc has much wider tyres than the rim brake version (32c instead of 28c). Trek say you can use this bike for ‘light gravel’ riding as well as on the road. So this is a very versatile option.
Cannondale Synapse 1 - from £1650
The Synapse 1 not only gives you a step up to 10 speed Shimano Tiagra gearing but also gives you more powerful hydraulic disc brakes. It comes with fairly wide 30c tyres and is an endurance focussed bike with stable handling and the ability to handle rough roads and a bit of light gravel.
Trek Emonda ALR 5 - from £1870
This is a top end aluminium bike. It is a lot more race orientated than the Domane or Synapse with a focus on being as light and fast as possible. If you are going to be riding with fast groups, or doing a triathlon, this is a really good option. It comes with 11 speed Shimano 105 gearing which is the choice of many experienced cyclists for it’s bomb-proof reliability.
Orbea Orca M30 - from £2499
For not much more money than the Trek Emonda you can get an Orbea Orca. It comes with the same Shimano 105 gears but swaps out the aluminium frame for carbon fibre. Like the Emonda it is a race focussed bike so if you want to go fast this is the bike for you. It’s also a great option for a bike you can upgrade as Orbea use the same frame on bikes which cost £5000. The more expensive bikes just come with fancier gears and wheels.
