Hi, I am after some recommendations on a new road bike.
I want to be able to do distance rides and maybe triathlons. (I have no intention to win, just finishing will be good). I have no idea about brakes, gears, cassettes, or any of the terminology at all to be honest. Sorry if this is pure beginners post?
I’m based in North East England.
Thanks
Everyone starts somewhere. My 2 cents is as soon as you are able go to your local bike shop and test ride as many as you can that are in your price range and fit you. This is a terrible time to be looking for bikes due to a global shortage on everything from chains and brake parts to bikes themselves.
There’s loads of info on the interwebs that should help too.
Edit: good luck and have fun!!
You might want to visit our partners at Global Cycling Network and look at the videos on the Ribble bicycle company, Note: This is a suggestion and supports a UK bicycle company.
I was actually going to mention Ribble. If you’re in the North East they’re basically just over the other side of the Moors as they’re base in Lancashire I believe. I’m sure I saw an article in Cycling Weekly that they’ve got a new showroom as well.
Edit: Dales!! Not Moors 
Hi, thanks for the info regarding Ribble. Seems to be a great website for me. I think I’ll plan a day out over to Clitheroe, I’m just under 5ft 7in, but more than 5ft 6 1/2, so I’m just between sizes. So I think it might be best to get sized up properly.
Absolutely.
Get sized properly, but also have a very solid think about what you’re wanting to do, what your budget is and what your potential future holds.
If you’re between sizes then you will be able to make either fit, but one will potentially be more “comfortable” while another slightly “faster” (“slightly” being a strong word in both cases)…
I took a full year over deciding what bike I wanted with my last purchase and I’m really glad I did, it’s working out perfectly.
I won’t name it as that’s pointless, it’s a very personal decision. I would suggest, however, trying to make sure you get a bike with decent tyre clearance (which plenty offer these days) as it offers more options down the line.
I wanted a good proxy for the “One bike garage” approach, so picked up a very aggressively positioned “gravel” bike. I ride it out with both a road cycling group on very fast group rides and also a mountain-biking group on serious (for East of England) off-road trails and it sits with the more “specialised” bikes in both groups. At the same time, it doesn’t quite match the road bikes in flat-out sprints (different tyres would help) but only at absolute max efforts, and it’s not as comfortable as an MTB off-road (but more enjoyable in my, very personal, opinion).
Ribble are good bikes and they can meet your requirements or mine as above, but as any good “independent” channel would say “Other brands and models are available”.
Have a good shop around, aside from a stock issue, the bike market is fantastic at the moment with completely specialised bikes to suit any single riding style and some amazing “do-it-all” bikes that will do everything except maybe win an Elite classification event (but I would argue that right up to the very top level you (and I) are more of an impediment than a good “do-it-all” bike)
Since you are in England, I’ll also throw in Boardman bikes as an excellent option for some great performance value. I bought a SLS 9.2 back in 2014 when I had roughly similar experience and intentions. I’ve put tens of thousands of miles on the bike and it’s never missed a beat with just basic cleaning and maintenance. I’m in the U.S. so unfortunately I don’t have access to their new bikes, since they no longer have distribution in North America, but I would purchase again in a heartbeat.
They consolidated the SLS and SLR into just the SLR line now, which seems to continue to get some very good reviews and offers a pretty wide range suited to endurance or triathlon usage. If you might want something a little more versatile, the ADV line fits in with the larger tire clearance and option for more types of riding in the future as Jon mentioned above.