Buying first 'proper' road bike - please help!

I've just spent £799 on a new B'Twin 900AF. It's proved to be a great bike so far in that it's light for an AF with carbon forks and it seems to beg to be pushed harder. It's a comfortable ride and the Shimano group set is great. The only issue that I have is that I've had two punctures in four 35 mile trips. The Ypsium tyres are like butter and seem to invite sharp objects!

http://www.bikebargains.co.uk/bikes/road-bikes/

That looks great value for money.

I'd be torn about whether to wait for the newer version or not. Hydraulic disk brakes are really good, but there's nothing wrong with ordinary rim brakes, so I think you should plump for a bike you can get and ride now rather than waiting.

Don't worry about searching for the absolute best deal you can find - £700 will get you a bike that's lots of fun to ride and once you've done hundreds/thousands of miles on it you'll know much more about what you want from your next bike.

I'm tring to work out why disc brakes are more difficult to set up, and I can't. It was always a case of loosening the calipers slightly, squeeze the lever, tighten the caliper and off you go. If your pistons stick, which they shouldn't with good maintenance, just use a bit of brake fluid as a lubricant and ensure that you don't let the pistons pop out.

As for what to buy, identify how you're going to ride (commute, recreational, racing) and see what fits the bill (commuting with mud guard clearence, racing shorter head tube, etc).

Then go and buy what looks good. You will lose money on it as you'll either be upgrading or buying a new bike within a couple of years and pretty much all (major brand) bikes are much of a muchness.

I bought one of these for about £700 http://www.wiggle.co.uk/felt-f85-tiagra-wiggle-exclusive/ and it's still going strong, albeit with a new set of brakes and wheels, but it won't take mudguards.

I was recently in your position, I was looking to spend a lot more but instead plumped for a base model Specialized Allez 2018 model for £599.

Having never ridden a road bike before, it has been an absolute blast!

The geometry has been dubbed by reviewers as "in between" endurance and race in position and I'd agree, making it perfect for beginners like us!

Importantly too, it's a great frame for the price and highly upgradable. My plan is if I get really into the cycling then I'll upgrade the wheels and groupset.

Just one further thing to add, don't get hung up too much on groupset differences. Yes 105 is just heavier/cheaper Ultegra and you get 11 speeds like the pros but that comes with a small but significant price premium. Tiagra gets you everything for less money at the cost of 1 cog and a bit more weight. Even Sora level (1 cog less than Tiagra) is ergonomically very similar to Shimano's more expensive groups. 

The point is that the bike will handle, stop, and go the same regardless of what group is on it these days and unless you're racing you really won't notice the difference in available gears, particularly with wide-range cassettes available. There are a lot of really excellent frames in your budget dressed up with lower-end Shimano groups, don't overlook them just because of that. 

Are you commuting? And if so, are you going to ride through the winter? Whilst the disc brake debate is controversial I think that's the use case where it makes most sense. 

If you're just leisure riding with the occasional sportive I'd go with rim brakes - modern caliper brakes are awesome in all but the foulest of weather, easier to set up than discs, and less prone to squeal. Bike will be lighter by a few grams too. 

There's always going to be a better deal somewhere.

Personally with £700 in my pocket I'd be looking at eBay for bargains. You'll find 2 year old race bikes that originally cost over £2k available at that price. The thing with buying a brand new bike is, particularly if you're commuting, it's going to pick up dents and scratches pretty quickly. Buying 2nd hand isn't difficult - check the ownership, stick it on a stand and check the gears, check for chain stretch, check the hubs for play and you're good to go.

The 540 is an excellent bike but Decathlon's prices have crept up to a similar level to name brands. Specialized Allez springs to mind, and some of the Giants. It also comes with a 52/36 chainset - how fit are you? 36/28 lowest gear might be a struggle if you're regularly riding in the hills. 

There were some very good deals in an article on this site yesterday, have a look at some of those. There was a Pinnacle Arkose which is a cracking bike.

Yeah I’d wait for the sales if I were you or have a look on Paul’s cycles  or crc good looking cube attain on Paul’s https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s6p8346/CUBE-ATTAIN-RACE-DISC-2017

Depends on your timings, but it's probably not long until a lot of the main retailers will be starting 'end of season' sales, so you might be able to get a deal on a 2018 model as the 2019 versions start to appear.

Before you spend your cash don’t forget the Cycle to Work scheme, can save you a few hundred pounds, and therefore potentially give you more choice.

For that money I don’t think you can do better than decathlon.

My advice...

Btwin are fantastic value, really can't fault them.

I highly recommend buying 11 speed, Shimano 105. It's sort of future proof, if you don't buy 11 speed it's quite likely you'll want to upgrade (at a higher cost) in the future.

I was dubious of disc brakes at first, having switched to discs I'm totally sold. If you want a bike that is great to ride all year round (assuming you're in the UK), disc are an absolute must.

If you want disc brakes, hydraulic is the way to go - cable discs aren't great (having used them).

If I were you, I'd wait for the Decathlon RC 520 - it really does look fantastic! Hydrocable discs and Shimano 105 for £700 is a bargain. In the long run, you could even think about getting a swanky set of wheels.

It seems they have an Ultegra version in the pipeline, I'd certainly wait until they release their 2019 models. You might find that the new 2019 Triban's have the new 105 R7020 and Ultegra R8020 groupsets on them (which are very good!).