Buying a Road Bike - £500 Budget - Choices and Decisions

Preparations are afoot to progress along the training path to complete a Triathlon in my fiftieth year. As mentioned in my previous ramblings on this decision, I already run and have appropriate kit to use on and off road. However the battered mountain bike, while still good fun, is not going to be suitable for the task ahead.

Therefore a road bike is required, the choice of which is quite frankly a minefield. When I was young any bike with drop handlebars was a racer, read road bike, and professionals had frames made out of Reynolds 531 tubing, apparently the options are now somewhat more complicated. Then there is the price, it seems that you can spend more on a bicycle now than a small car costs. Now I am sure that the technology is fantastic on the expensive bikes and that they are extremely light, but they are also way outside the budget of £500 that I have in place. Also my suspicion is that while the latest components might make a difference to a professional cyclist, actually being fit and completing the required training is more likely to be the best solution to covering the required distance in a reasonable time.

So what can you get for five hundred quid, well quite a lot it would seem, alloy frame, carbon forks, Shimano gear sets and a weight under 10kgs. Interestingly though these are not all bikes from budget manufacturers, Dawes and Raleigh have plenty of machines in this bracket and some companies associated with the more expensive end of the spectrum, such as Specialized and Trek, also have entry level bikes around this price.

To be fair you are quite likely to get what you pay for at this price, so my feeling is to go close to the budget level and choose something from a manufacturer that I am familiar with. Personally I know very little about Norco, Pinnacle and Fuji, actually I was not even aware that Fuji even made bikes as my association with them is more on the electronic side of things. I am naturally drawn to Dawes, although I suspect this is because a Galaxy Tourer to ride around Europe on was high on my list for some years, Specialized bikes have always appealed and discovering that Trek make something within my budget has just made the choice even more complicated.

Obviously I have to make a choice over the next few weeks, currently my shortlist contains the Secialized Allez, Dawes Giro 500 and the Cannondale Synapse Alloy Claris, although there is a temptation to spend a little bit more for the Trek 1.1 or 1.2. The odds are with one of these, but there is certainly a chance of going with something else entirely, the problem being that specifications are very similar on all bikes of this price, maybe I should just pick a nice colour.

Andy

LuminAID PackLite 12 - A Pleasantly Bright Surprise.

A recent trip away camping gave us the opportunity for review to test out a little lantern that my wife had for review purposes. Normally I would not give my views on a product that she was testing, however as this was relevant to my usual subject matter and also something of a revelation, I decided this should be an exception to the rule.

Basically what we have here is a small inflatable, solar powered lantern, which struck me as a recipe for disaster, however I was in for a shock. Possibly my lack of enthusiasm could be put down to experiences of solar powered lights of a few years ago, apparently though things have advanced rapidly.

The lantern itself is about 10cms square on the top and around 12cms high when inflated, pull out the plug and it packs flat for transport. As the picture shows it comes with a hanging strap and a small solar panel on the top.  It weighs about 100g which combined with its small size would make it ideal for backpacking, although on this occasion it was being used in the family tent.

The real question is though, how well does it work. Embarrassingly, considering my preconceptions, it is brilliant.

The lantern was charged during the day and supplied a bright light throughout the evening, due to being inflatable it is also quite robust, ideal for carrying around at a festival or out in the wilds. It is easy to inflate, although tricky to get the stopper in without losing some air, not a problem that impacts on its use at all though. We did find that the switch could be a bit hit and miss on occasions, but generally speaking it was fine.

Would I recommend it, absolutely, in fact this little lantern has made me a real convert, it can obviously be used for camping, great for fishing and I suspect you could float it in the bath if the electric was out, not that I tested that however. It seems very robust, light and is ideal for keeping in a rucksack or jacket once charged, smashing little bit of kit quite frankly.

Andy

Camp Bestival - Fantastic As Always

A great event as it always seems to be, for us Camp Bestival never seems to disappoint, although I must say that it seemed even busier than normal this year. Anyway, rather than ramble on I thought I would use the old adage that a picture tells a thousand words, so here goes.

Giant letters were a hit with the children.

Volvo rocked up with some cars, a wooden horse and coffee, which was nice.

The Pimms was flowing, which certainly pleased Zoe.

The family bear seemed quite interested as well.

A very important sign.

The fabulous Farmers Market.

The main stage, before it opened obviously.

Barefoot Walking.

A very slim Panda.

Dark and busy at night.

Even darker, although the music was good.

And rather cold.

The famous DJ Barbecue in full swing.

Better prepared for the cold on Saturday night.

The best coffee.

A giant screen, which is useful if you cannot see the stage because of the bloody great merchandising stall as normal.

Wouldn't be complete without the castle.

So overall a great weekend, was it as good as last year, not really. Certainly the bands were high profile, but it just seemed very busy and some of the smaller stalls seem to have disappeared over the past few years.

Andy