in message , stupot
') wrote:

What would be the fastest type of bike for a 7 mile(ew) commute.
Dont care about luggage - just carry a wallet down to work.
It is downhill on the way in, so dont get sweaty - just shower
at home at the end of the day.
Do I need a fast road bike?

A time trial bike will be fastest; if you get a road bike, fit tribars.

Does ~£400 get a reasonable one?

Add a nought. Cannondale Synapse with Record groupset, a snip at
£5,000... But seriously, you can get a half decent road bike for around
£400; Giant OCR3, Claud Butler Roubaix. There's nicer stuff around £500,
and you don't start seeing Campag kit on bikes until around the £600
mark. But it's probably a mistake to get bottom-of-the-range Campag
stuff anyway; at that price point Shimano is possibly still better.

And the silly question, can I spend less? :-)

Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op's Revolution Continental at £375.

You could spend less than that but the compromises start to mount up.
You'd be unlikely to get a carbon fibre fork at less than £370, the
frames get heavier, and the kit gets tattier. However it's worth
pointing out that next year's models will be out in a little over a
month, and that you will then be able to get substantial discounts on
this years models.

Finally, if you just want to go for it as fast as you can, get a time
trial bike or at least fit tribars.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

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