Need help on what bike to buy

plus one on what campag says. you need to ride for a while to find out what you like and don't like.
it also took about six months of moving all the components around to get exactly the right fit. so just trying it out for half an hour won't necessarily give you all the answers.
i did a 135 mile ride last weekend and was in amongst a lot of carbon with all the add ons. kept up with them no problem apart from a little 60 year old man who flew up the hills. must have been drugs.

Only problem with Canyons is their website is showing most models/sizes sold out.

For a first bike, I would recommend buying from a bike shop. Getting a bike that fits is the difference between a bike you'll love to ride and one that stays in the shed. There are just too many pitfalls in the sizing guides to take a chance buying online.

I also reckon that for most first time buyers, 2300 or Sora are absolutely fine – the cash saved on spec can be put towards a decent lock, toolkit, cycle kit, etc. Building up fitness, endurance and speed can be done on a low spec bike. That way, upgrading to a better bike is far more pleasurable.

i bought the sport 1 from decathlon which is essentially the same as the triban 3. i upgraded the wheels and just done 8,000 miles in two years. i can highly recommend it.

I think if I were to be spending that sort of money on a starter bike I'd be taking a good look at Ribble ... I spent some time looking at their offerings at the Cycle show at the w/e and although I was looking at the spennier end (just window shopping), their bikes seemed to be very well specced for the money..

+1 for Raleigh's idea.

If you can put in a bit of your own money you'll get a really good return on it at this price point. Avoid Shimano 2300 and Sora if you can, they just aren't as good as the Tiagra or 105 or SRAM Apex or Campag Veloce. The Canyon looks very good value indeed.

Boardman Road Race currently available for £629 with Halfords web discount offer ('til 4 Oct).

Cycling Active magazine rated the B'twin Triban 3 (from Decathlon) highly. It's a £300 bike which would allow you to upgrade the wheels and tyres. Do a search and you'll see the bike has quite a following.

I see you live in Wigan - you could do worse than go to the Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op in Rusholme in Manchester. Their own brand range Revolution are very good value for money.

Save 228 quid and you could get the Canyon roadlite AL with 105. Looks pretty good.

Or Ribble.

Look for a Cube. I had a similar dilemma a year ago, whittling it down. I went for Bianchi but spec-wise in that orice range you can't beat Cube.

I would say right now is just the right time because the 2013 models are all being released - so all the retailers will be trying to get rid of their 2012 models.
£500 would normally be just under the right amount of money to get a decent road bike but you may find a £600/700 2012 bike discounted down to nearer £500.
Most of the big companies offer a road bike at that price point so i would say you can pretty much pick and choose.