recommendations for a bike around 1k ???

Specialized allez comp from Evans £1100. Aluminium and carbon. Shimano 105 all round.
However at around a grand Boardman got to get a look.

OOPs forgot Planetx ..... 999 deal.... and you can get planet x 999 deals from GB cycles........ GOOD DEAL.....VERY GOOD DEAL..

You could get a good ribble for around £1000 ,,,,,AND/ BUT you may be some further discounts (soon) , their advertising budget seems to have shrunk drastically.....
wonder why ? ........

Also consider Rose bikes, they are excellent value for money- http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/article/best-road-bikes-under-1000-29719
Very light too, my Rose Pro-SL2200 with Apex is 8.1kg.

Fab website too, you can customise your bike and instantly see how it looks- http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/configurator

Steve

My fat to fit Blog- http://chub2stud.wordpress.com

All the big brands (and plenty of smaller/newer ones) are superb bikes.

None of us can tell you which bike is best for you but one that fits you and feels right is top priority. Look around, visit some bike shops. Some 2011 bikes are on offer now as 2012 range are in or due very soon, so feel free to haggle!

I'd argue colour and styling is more important than specification. Why? Because you may well change the drivetrain, wheels etc sooner or later but you won't change the colour or frame shape.

I've got a Felt z85 which is an absolute dream to ride and it's now about £900.

Felt are worth a look.

You're not going to go wrong with a Giant, they are well designed bikes and usually deliver a lot of bang for your buck, can't really comment on the Ribble because I've never ridden one, but you do hear good things about 'em.

Do you have any preferences for the type of frame material you want for your money? At £1000 you are just getting in to entry level carbon, but you'll probably get more from an alu bike or a carbon alloy one, or indeed a steel bikes. When it comes to aluminium race bikes Cannondale seem to be shaking things up a bit at the mo with their new CAAD 8 and CAAD 10 models - they might be worth checking out.

I have a Giant OCR as a winter training bike and it cost me about £1000 to set up. I bought the bike originally for £350, it had some old campag parts which i sold and put the money towards SRAM Rival/Force and some 3T parts. I already had set of Fulcrum EVO 5 wheels as a spare set for my main race bike. I put these on and have a great bike for about £1000. Do you know what gears you are using now, are you on a triple or a compact?

Ribble seem to do some nice bikes, although you may find that they are base models, once you start adding nice groupsets and wheels, you'll notice the price climbing, but with a £200 air of wheels and SRAM Rival as a gruppo you should get away with about £1400

I think going used is fine if you know what you're after, there are some bargains to be had for sure. Have a look in the back pages of Cycling Weekly, they tend to have all kinds of bikes which have generally been put together rather than picked off a shelf. (not that that's a bad thing)

Also, take a look in Evans, they have a few Cannondale's in at about £1300, depends if you can stretch another £300.

These would be all be aluminium frames with a carbon forks, if you're after a full carbon bike you'll need a bit more budget.