It is amazing how slowly race bikes changed from the 60s through to the early 80s (when alternate frame materials and then integrated brake/shifters started to make an appearance). Without looking closely, it can be hard to date them within 10 years. Nowadays, even a 2 year-old bike is easily spotted as it will be lacking the newest “features”. Aero, discs, electronics, brand-specific “integration” with proprietary parts…it’s all changing.
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It’ll work better with pedals Wicky!!
Slightly outside OP’s budget… cracking bike though!
Peter
Over 300km on gravel is an incredible effort/ achievement. Very well done.
Peter
Given the fairly tight budget, my suggestion would be to go for a used bike from a well known auction site.
My preference is for racing/ drop bars for the reason an earlier poster gave – much more options for placing your hands and slightly transferring loads for greater comfort.
Frame material – I am still commuting most days on my 2006 full carbon Specialized Roubaix Pro. After all these years in all kinds of weather the frame appears to still be structurally sound – I have no intention of testing it to prove the point! I would not be concerned therefore about risks of carbon frames failing any more than I would with other frame materials. When buying used, the frame is the most important part to closely inspect for cracks in paint finish/ dents/ etc – it does not take much of an impact to cause significant damage. My inclination would be to go for carbon frame or possibly one of the better aluminium bikes with carbon forks. On a limited budget I’d probably not bother with steel, stainless or otherwise not titanium., unless a particular bargain presented itself!
Use of the bike – will you be out in the rain much? If so, it would be wise to make sure the frame has adequate clearance for mudguards. They don’t look great but make a huge difference to control getting soaked! Will you be carrying much regularly? It would be handier to use panniers if the answer to this question is yes – not many bikes are able to take them. Possibly a red herring but thought worth checking.
Frame size – I am just over 6’ 1” and I was told I should definitely get a 58” frame and that’s what I have on the Roubaix. Thing is that my previous bike was a 56” and my subsequent (non commuter) bikes have been 56-57” – I much prefer a slightly undersized frame with adjustments made with the stem length etc for fit. This is an important consideration and I suspect given the time you have had your old bike, you may well have a good idea what works best for you.
Tyres – you mention that you may want to fit larger width tyres. Only thing to watch out for is that some of the older frames may not have the clearance to take the wider tyres – as you may realise (I didn’t until I fouled a frame!) wider tyres also tend to be much ‘taller’ and can foul the underside of the front forks particularly.
Brakes – I wouldn’t be too fussed about rim vs disc brakes in terms of parts availability. New bikes will undoubtedly head towards discs as the pro racers adopt them, but there are so many rim braked bikes around that there will be a strong market for many years to come serving rim braked bikes. Personally I am fine with rim brakes on a road bike and cemented that decision recently by purchasing a nice pair of enve wheels for my best bike. No going back on this any time soon!
Gravel bikes – no clue I’m afraid!
Manufacturer – I would probably stick with the usual main brands and not get hung up on any in order to get the best deal possible. Just try to make sure you have an understanding about the frame geometry which will best suit you and you should be able to check this against potential bike purchases. If you run a filtered search on fleabay for a week or two I suspect one or two models will emerge as a stronger preference.
Good luck hunting!
Peter
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I ride lots of hills, and at certain times of the year we get a lot of rain. I ride nearly every day, regardless of weather. For me, rim-braking on carbon wheels doesn’t appeal. But it’s horses for courses for sure. If I lived somewhere flatter and drier, I’d have no issue with sticking to rim brakes.
You mean centimeters.
Probably meant centimetres!
Peter
If I were starting from scratch I’d defo get discs. But I have so much bike stuff including wheel sets that it would be a world of trouble to do so. I’m off to the Dolomites on Thursday and hope the rain stays away and that my Campy Shamal Mille rims are up for the challenge of slowing sufficiently for the bends on the downhill bits!! Looking forward to the Maratona on Sunday albeit I’m not nearly fit enough to take on the 4,300 metres of climbing it entails…
Peter
I rode the Dolomites last year. Lovely scenery. Ran the Fulcrum PED version of your wheels on my rim-braked C59 with the blue pads. They were absolutely fine. We didn’t get much rain, though. Good luck with the bloody motorcycles. We were lucky to actually get a little drizzle on the climb of the Stelvio which meant it was pretty quiet, traffic-wise.
Good luck in the Maratona. It looks a great event.
Cheers Winky
It’s such a beautiful part of the world that the scenery helps disguise the effort required to get up the hills. This will be my third visit. Last time I did the Maratona (2017) I ducked out of Passo Giau which you may have come across and is a bit of a beast. Hopefully I have a bit more fitness this time and hope to give it a go. Great thing about the Maratona is that the roads are closed to traffic for most of the day.
Peter
Thanks Peter - very helpful indeed. I’ve already set up a few auction site searches and I’m now starting to be able to work out the wheat from the chaff. When you start looking there’s a lot out there for sale (if prepared to drive). Choices from the expected unused MAMIL bods, similarly, the used once cycle to work scheme bikes, the worn out and now upgrading and of course the suspicious ads. A few searching questions usually helps provide an insight in to the type of seller. It looks like a Defy, Synapse, CAAD and Roubaix are the logical candidates. Possibly an Allez as they are plentiful and then I wouldn’t be too precious about it. Lots to consider, but I’m slowly refining my choices.
I did find an interesting link detailing the most stolen bikes in the UK when researching. An old article, so stats will have changed, but still surprising to me, as I thought it would be the hyper bikes that would be targeted…
I just got one of these Felt F30x (2018) at half price. USD1000 instead of 2000.
It’s a cyclocross that I’m going to use for gravel and touring. it’s not very light but it’s practical.
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Lovely bike…but you might want to get it out of the road 
Take a look at Dolan , Planet X and Ribble
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I am aware of Ribble (only about 15 miles away from here) but know little about Dolan or Planet X - any specific models I should be looking at?
Reading this thread I think there is a risk that the vast profusion of suggestions and brands etc obscures some basic points.
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The most useful bike is one you use regularly ie fit for the intended purpose. So choose a bike that works for what you are going to do. Are you going to ride hard and fast, more touring type stuff, commute, gravel tracks etc. All weathers or not.
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Yes, some differences between materials but they are not quite as cut and dry as you might think. Not all carbon is light (and it is certainly not fragile), not all aluminium bikes ride hard and clattery etc
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A few grams extra weight does not ruin your cycling pleasure.
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Most manufacturers above a certain level make decent bikes that are far, far more similar than they are different. Whatever the manufacturer websites say. There is a mountain of bullsh*t out there to get you to part with your money.
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A good fit is crucial, and also good contact points ie saddle/pedals/bars. A comfy bike gets used. Don’t scrimp on these.
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No one bike is perfect at everything.
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A good bike shop (preferably independent) is a great step to getting your choice right if you are unsure. A Forum can just make life more complicated…
(and just for fun and to establish my credentials (!) I own a Burls Columbus steel frame, currently resting, a Zullo Vergine Columbus XCR stainless steel (as a work of art frankly), a Moots Vamoots Ti for mostly winter and holiday use and a Parlee Z1 carbon for fast dry use. All custom built. Also a Moots YBB Ti MTB softtail, plus my wife has a Ti road frame too)
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Both Dolan and Planet X have a full range of bikes and very reasonable prices.
Best thing is to have a look at their web site.
In terms of specific model, the issue is that although bikes are classed as ‘commuter’ , ‘race’ etc., the actual geometry is different in each manufacturer.
If you know your ‘bike fit’ measurements, then the web sites have measurements for each frame type, which can help you narrow things down.
I think Dolan offer a bike fit service at reasonable price. A good bike shop will offer this (sometimes for a fee, which may be taken off the purchase price)
When I used to frequent a biking website the common response to a newcomer asking ‘what’s the best bike for me?’ was ‘a blue one, if you like blue’.
For people new to cycling esp road bikes, buying a carbon fibre bike with Ultegra Di2 & carbon rims isn’t going to end well, esp if you’re in early 40s and enjoy regular eating out, wine and cake. You’ll find out pretty quickly that even getting your average speed into the teens is hard work and the image in your head of casually rolling along at 32mph like a pro or climbing your nearest hill like Chris Froome did isn’t as easy as you imagined. In fact it’s really quite hard to get to that level.
Much better is to buy a bike that you think looks nice. If you like it, you’re more likely to ride it rather than leave it in the shed. Once you’ve been riding it for a while and have presumably continued to join in on the biking forum you’ll begin to grasp what’s what and you’ll probably understand what you actually need rather than what you thought you wanted to make the leap to Being Bradley Wiggins.
So for beginners, if you don’t know what you want but you know you fancy a road bike, buy a blue road bike. Or a red one. Ideally second hand, close to what you imagine is your maximum budget, and be prepared to sell it on 6 months down the line either because you’ve lost interest or because you love it and now know exactly which carbon road rocket with electronic shifting & disc brakes you do want. Or need. By that stage you’ll also know that your budget is out of the window and that you need all the accessories too. By now, you should seriously consider selling the hifi to buy the Dogma you now covet.
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A blue one it is then! 