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In 2025 you can get a lot of road bike for under £1,800 or $2,400, here's the best road bikes that we've reviewed under this budget. Whether you're looking for the best value road bike, a road bike under £1,000 or $1,000, the best budget all-road bike, best aluminium road bike or best rim brake road bike in 2025 then one of these is sure to fit the bill.
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If you're bikeless like me and have £2,000 to spend, then you are rather spoiled for choice
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Whoa! But at this price point, what is the best bike for you? Do you go for a carbon frame and
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sacrifice on groupset? Do you go for one of the big brands? Do you go for something a little bit
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cheaper? Well, we're going to answer all of that and whether you get more for your money now than
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you did a decade ago. Let's get into it. We'll kick off with the best option for under £1,000. It's this, the Tribun 520 with Shimano
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105 shifting. Now, Tribun is, of course, a Decathlon brand and they've managed to absolutely
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cram some serious spec into this not-so-large price tag. The aluminium frame now comes with
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well, it's got a carbon-bladed fork. It's also got disc brakes that come from TRP's
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well-regarded HYRD mechanical offerings and amazingly for a bike of this price you also get
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Shimano 105 as I said earlier so the shifters and the mechs. Now the frame's geometry places the
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520 clearly in the endurance commuter kind of light tourer camp. Think generous stack height
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a slightly shorter top tube but if you're looking to get long and low then this probably isn't going
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to be the bike for you. However if you favor comfort and stability over speed and need a bike
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that can handle the trifecta mentioned above then the 520 is well worth consideration. It really is
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a versatile machine and in fact you can fit 36 mil tires in the frame and it's also got rack and
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mudguard mounts and some nice easy gears for getting up all that steep stuff
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Right, so the Alley name has been absolutely synonymous with the backdoor into high-performance
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road bikes for years. If it has the Alley name, it has that legacy to live up to. And I was a little
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bit fearful about this one because they seem to have kept the Alley branding quite, well, it doesn't
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hardly says it anywhere, but it does say it here. And luckily, it does live up to that name
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so let's just get this straight the Alley is not just a bike that is pretending to be a tarmac
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in fact with this version Specialized has started with the geometry off of their Roubaix
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and then tweaked it and to be fair its judgment has been absolutely spot on
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no it's not as lively as the Alley of old but the balance sensations remain and it is a fun
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an eager little bugger to ride. The wheelbase is slightly shorter than that of the Domane that
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we'll see in a minute and this combined with the responsive frame really does make it feel
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performance focused. In fact out of all the bikes here I think that this one definitely has the best
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aluminium frame and it would be this one that I chose if I wanted to upgrade it over time. So if
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you wanted to buy one bike and then potentially upgrade the crank set or upgrade the wheels and tires This Alley retails at and it got Tiagra 10 mechanical it got a 50 crank set at the front which is from
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Praxis, it's got an 11-32 cassette at the back and it's obviously a 2x. Most of the other parts
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are from specialised in-house brands which helps to keep the costs down without ruining the
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performance. Now whether you're a rider who wants some excitement from your road bike or you just
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crave practicality, we're pretty sure that either way you'd be very happy with the Alley. And yes
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it is well worthy of that name on its down tube. That's a seat tube
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Now, I think that you will agree with me that this Boardman SLR9 is a good looking bike
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potentially the best looking in this test. Yes, that helps, but the main appeal of this bike
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is its spec sheet, which is quite simply exceptional for a bike at this price point
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This frame and fork is carbon fiber. It's been wind tunnel verified with one eye on aero performance
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and it manages to pull it all together in a package that includes 105. Not this bit though
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that's a non-series chain set. But even so, it's a very good value package. Yes, this is the most
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expensive bike in this roundup but it's also the only one with a carbon fibre frame. Now finishing
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kit is often a very personal choice but there's little skimping that's gone on here. It's got a
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Prologo Scratch M5 saddle and Goodyear Sport tyres in a size 30mm which fair play Bourbon, good choice
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and the frame it's got space for 36mm tyres so if you wanted to take it on some light gravel then
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then you could it really is a bit of a road bike all-rounder are they hydraulic brakes yes ed they're hydraulic brakes the wheel set is an alex setup and i think
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you'll agree that they look the part with their 30 mil deep profile they are aluminium but yeah
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a bit deeper than some on the other bikes which i think works well with this aero frame they rolled
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smoothly and remained true throughout our testing and that does indicate that the build quality is
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well at the very least decent. They're also tubeless ready which is a big plus. There's also
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d-shaped seat post so you can't put it wonky and it's all quite nicely finished and the frame is
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really compliant. There's two layback options on this as well which I think that's also a nice
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touch. So you can see this the saddle clamp you can move it back depending on your on your fit
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preference because whatever one of these bikes you go for the difference between the bikes will make
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very little difference to your performance whereas getting comfortable will make a huge
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difference to your performance. So it's touches like this that are actually far more valuable
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than the paint job for example. Now there's a lot to like about this bike it's even got
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hidden mudguard mounts I do have some bad news for you though and that is that Boardman is a UK brand they relatively small compared to some of the other big hitters like specialized or giant and you might struggle to get one of these
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in the us so um sorry you guys preck talks up this damane al4 as being both speedy and versatile and it certainly is the
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latter. With a Shimano 10-speed Tiagra route set and bosses for, well, everything you might need
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including racks and mudguards, this is a great bike on which to take on a big sportif or go on
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an adventure on, where reliability, practicality and comfort are needed. And that is why it's our
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recommendation for the best budget all-road bike. Either way, the handling is self-assured and, well
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straightforward I guess. It's not exciting but it is exactly as it's designed to be. It's all very
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confidence inspiring especially when you're in the market for a bike that's going to expand
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your road cycling experience. Actually scrap that, cycling experience. When you buy from a big brand
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you also get lots of its parts and this is no exception. So Bontrager absolutely dominates the
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spec sheet. You get Bontrager's Paradigm SL wheelset which is pretty bomb proof and even a
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copper with a stinger would probably struggle to puncture these Bontrager R1 hard case light
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tires. Also fair play to Trek there's some pretty cool details. Look at these bottle cage mounts
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the through axles they're also gold and that headset spacer also matches and this generation
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also gets semi-integrated cable routing which actually we don't like that it does kind of make
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things or everything a lot more complicated. Issues with routing aside once set up you can
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ignore that and it is a very competent, compliant, incredibly practical and pretty good looking bike
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That should make it easy to live with, ride and enjoy in a whole variety of different settings
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We are of course well aware that plenty of people aren't all that keen on disc brakes and would
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rather rely on something with rim brakes. Rim brake bikes are becoming less and less common but our
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pick of the now limited bunch has to be this Cannondale CAD Optimo 4. Put simply it's good
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value, has stable and predictable handling and reliable components. It's built around a frame
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that uses Cannondale's SmartForm tech, which is designed to balance strength and weight
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with the addition of a carbon fork to hopefully reduce some of that road chatter
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There are drop seat stays here too, again, used to add some compliance
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although in reality, the ride quality probably isn't the high point of this frame
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but we still think that it's a bike that is well-suited to those buying their first drop bar road bike
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or any cyclist operating on a tight budget. You watched this far and your reward is what we think is the best new bike that you can buy for under In a market where many direct brands can offer carbon frames
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it's easy to overlook the value of a well-executed alloy road bike
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The giant contender SL1 is just that, showing that there's life left in aluminium yet
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if it's done right. Retailing for £1,649, that's $2,100, and weighing in at 9.5 kilos, this is a bike that offers a thoughtful spec, solid performance
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and real-world versatility without trying too hard to be something it's not
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Built around Giant's Alux SL-grade alloy frame and matched with a full carbon fork
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the Contender SL1 has a balanced geometry that straddles the line between sporty and endurance
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It's quick without being twitchy, composed without feeling dull, and Shimano's Mechanical 105 12-speed groupset provides smooth and reliable shifting
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Giant provides much of the finishing kit itself, including the saddle, wheels and tyres
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and the result is a package that rewards input without punishing you for missteps
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Looks-wise, the Contend plays it safe, but cleanly. Internal cable routing helps, and the paint job is solid
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Mudguard mounts add practicality without visual clutter, and in short, the Contend SL1 proves that you don't need carbon to have a good time on the road
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It's not flashy, but it's well built, nicely specced and just plain enjoyable to ride
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For riders who want reliable performance without breaking the bank or sacrificing versatility
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it's really hard not to recommend this bike. So there you have it. I think you'll agree that you
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can get a hell of a lot of bike for under 1800 pounds but which one is best well as always there's
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something for everyone but Andy Cycling Weekly's tech editor has been out riding all of these bikes
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back to back and reckons that the giant contend is the bike that he would have it just keeps things
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simple but executes it brilliantly so well in fact that it's already buggered off to the next reviewer
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So second question, do these bikes offer you more than you could get 10 years ago? Well this is a
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debate that we've also been having here at Cycling Weekly and the simple conclusion is yes. Contrary
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to what we often hear, you do get more for your money now. Full carbon forks and carbon steerers
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have improved weight and steering responsiveness. Wider tyres make them, well, quite a lot more
12:03
versatile. Hydraulic discs are now the norm and in some cases you can even get 12 speed shifting
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Worries about harsh ride characteristics are also less of a worry now than they used to be
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as every bike in this test proved ably and anyone who says that one material is infinitely better
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than another well I just don't believe them and don't think they've tested many good bikes
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As always let us know whether you agree or disagree with us in the comments below. Make
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Make sure you're subscribed to the channel for lots more bike stuff and we'll see you
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next time. Now, which one shall I take home? Where's my trolley
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