GO Outdoors selling £800 and £1,000 carbon fibre road bikes

Outdoors retailer GO Outdoors has expanded its 2015 range of bikes with the launch of its first carbon fibre road bike, with two models costing £800 and £1,000.

GO Outdoors first got into the bicycle market with two mountain bikes back in 2013, its first road, urban and cyclocross models followed in 2014, and for 2015 it launches its first full carbon fibre road bike.

The Nibiru 1.0 (£800) and Nibiru 2.0 (£1,000) both feature the same full carbon fibre frame and fork with a tapered head tube and internal headsets. GO Outdoors says it has sought to create a bike that has “sprightly but stable steering” with a “stiff frame under sprint loads coupled with the compliant seat stays.”

The range-topping Nibiru 2.0 is specced with a Shimano 105 11-speed groupset with a 11-28t cassette and a compact 50/34 RS500 chainset. The wheels are Shimano’s RS11 wheelset wrapped with Continental Ultrasport 25mm tyres. Finishing kit, so that’s handlebars, stem, saddle and seatpost, are all from Ritchey.

Step down to the Nibiru 1.0 and we find a bike equipped with a Shimano Sora 9-speed groupset, with a compact 50/34 chainset and 11-32t cassette, and Mavic CXP-22 rims on Formula 32 hubs with the same Continental Ultrasport 25mm tyres. Again Ritchey supplies the key contact points.

Mike Sanderson, who used to work at Raleigh and Diamondback, is responsible for creating the GO Outdoors Calibre bicycle range.

“Calibre came about after seeing too many people on bikes not designed or capable for proper mountain biking, I wanted to create a “high Calibre” brand with well thought out geometry and frames, great spec at a great price,” says Mike.

“The first bikes gained top honours with MBUK and What Mountain Bike which gave the brand the best start I could have hoped for. I expanded the range into road and commute with the same design ethos and passion to give customers the best experience in cycling so they can enjoy the sport/hobby/lifestyle I love so much that has brought me so much.”

The current aluminium Calibre road bike range starts at just £224.99 for the Progress pictured above, an aluminium road bike with a steel fork, 24-speed transmission from a Shimano Claris/220 transmission and Tektro dual pivot brake calipers.

Spend a bit more and you can get the Achieve costing £399. It gets a fork upgrade over the cheaper Progress to a carbon fibre fork and the same double butted 6061 aluminium frame. The parts are upgraded to a Shimano Sora groupset with a compact chainset and 23mm Schwalbe tyres and FSA Vero compact handlebar. 

The top model in the current Calibre aluminium range is the Stat, a £649 road bike with a 6061 double butted aluminium frame, carbon fork and full Shimano Tiagra groupset. It's finished with FSA components and 23mm Schwalbe Lugano tyres.

See the full range at www.gooutdoors.co.uk/cycling/bike-shop/road-bikes