The bikes you see at the Tour de France look incredible. I bet you’re thinking you’d be super fast on one of these things, and everyone at the cafe will be extremely envious of your shiny paint, wireless gears and superlight wheels.
> Ranking all the bikes at the 2026 Tour de France
But… we probably have the same issue in that your bank balance does not like these bikes. Because I hate to break it to you, but Tour de France bikes can be ridiculously expensive. So, I’m going to show you how to get these things at increasingly cheaper prices. Plus there’s one way to get your hands on a genuine pro team bike. It’s not necessarily cheap though…
First things first: why do Tour de France bikes cost so much?
If I tell you that Tadej Pogacar’s Colnago Y1RS costs £14,549, you might wonder why. I don’t blame you, but it’s best to think of it like this – Tour de France bikes are a bit like F1 cars. They’re highly specialised, and the ones the pros ride are fully tuned for speed.
They will also have the best of everything. So these will be the fastest and lightest frames from the manufacturers, and some even lose their paint to be as light as possible.
The bikes will also have the best gears and brakes available. They have the fastest tyres, and their wheels will be changed to suit the stage each day. Certain components will be from boutique brands because the riders deem them better, and even the saddles have 3D-printed padding these days.
You can easily buy all of these components should you wish. In fact, you can go and buy Pogacar’s exact race bike. But that’s a very expensive hobby. Instead, this is the first way to save money…
Buy the ‘cheaper’ Tour de France bikes
The first thing you can do is to identify the cheapest bikes that are being used at this year’s race. We’ve even got an article which ranks all of the bikes you’ll see at the Tour by order of price.
> Tour de France pro bikes you can buy yourself
But to use the word ‘cheap’ in any form here is a little bit of a stretch. Yes, a bike like the new Cube Litening will be about half the price of a top-spec S-Works Tarmac SL9, but it’s still going to cost you around eight or nine grand.
Buy last year’s bikes
If the cheaper bikes in the Tour are still a bit expensive – they certainly are for me – this is the next thing you can do. Have a look at last year’s model or the bike that has just been replaced by something shiny and new.
Take the Specialized Tarmac SL8 for example. It has just been replaced by the Tarmac SL9 which is claimed to be 4 watts faster, which is… pretty much nothing in the real world, but the good news is that the old SL8 has just dropped in price.
> Specialized Tarmac SL9 vs Tarmac SL8: Which is better in 2026?
And it’s not just Specialized that does this. Canyon will slash their bike prices around a launch, so will Giant and their bikes are very well-priced to begin with.
What you need to do is, when new bike time is approaching, keep an eye on what has been launched recently, and see if the bike it has replaced is still being sold. You could save loads on what a few weeks ago was a top-end Tour de France bike. But, this still doesn’t save enough money for me. We can save a lot more…
Buy a lower-end model
We know that Tour de France race bikes have the best of everything, but that’s not always the best way to go for us general riders. When we talk about top framesets, groupsets and other fancy kit, we’re talking about fractional improvements over the mid-range versions.
So if you want to save some serious money, then forget about the Canyon Aeroad CFR and have a look at the second-tier bike, the Aeroad CF SLX.
Most of the time, you’re going to get exactly the same aero credentials out of the frame, the bar and stem will still be a fancy one-piece thing, and the gears will still be electronic.
Second or even third-tier bikes can also be better set up for general riders. The carbon frame might be tuned to be more forgiving, so you’ll be comfier. The gears might be smaller to help us get up the hills, and you might forego the time trial tyres that a lot of pros use for something a little more well-rounded for regular roads.
Aside from a slightly heavier weight, all you’re really going to notice is the vastly reduced price. But this is still not cheap enough. Time for the penultimate stop on our quest for a cheap Tour de France bike…
Buy used
We have landed on Facebook Marketplace, or eBay, or wherever you buy used bikes from in your area.
Buying a used bike is by far the cheapest way to get your hands on a Tour de France machine. You’ll find examples from pretty much every brand and if you’re willing to do the digging, you’ll eventually find what you’re looking for.
> Your complete guide to buying a second-hand bike
Sounds good, right? Well, there are a few caveats with this method. The first is that you’re buying a used bike, which means that unless you buy from a really good seller, you’ll probably need to replace some parts and sort some issues. Things like the chain and bar tape are really good to change, the first because it’s generally the most worn component and the bar tape because it’s probably full of the old owner’s sweat.
But you’ve also got to prepare yourself for a decent amount of mechanical work. A bike that looks perfect in the pictures might need new bearings in the bottom bracket and headset. Doing those jobs might require new tools or just a lot of time if you’re dealing with an integrated front end.
When I’m buying a used bike I simply ask the seller what state these things are in as I’d simply like to know what I need to buy ahead of time.
However, the savings associated with buying used can be massive, and I would argue that it is worth the work.
Buy old team bikes
If you want something very special, then you can buy actual pro bikes. Teams such as Visma often have an end of season sale at their service course in Belgium where you can go and buy the machines of the best riders. You generally have to sign up to their mailing list to find out about the sales, but that would be a great weekend trip in my eyes.
And then there are sites like Bike Room, who have a bunch of options from various teams. It’s hard to say how much these bikes have actually been ridden, but Bike Room offers a year’s warranty and from what I’ve seen of the team sale days, the bikes are in very good working order. The savings are massive, and I have to say it’d be very cool to own an actual pro bike.
What are your top tips for getting hold of a pro bike for less? Let us know in the comments as always
1 thought on “Buy used, seek out last year’s bikes, check team auctions: Liam’s top tips for acquiring a Tour de France bike for less”
So the “buy a lower end bike” section is “acquire a Tour de France bike for less by buying…a bike that isn’t used in the Tour de France…”