We Bought The Best Budget Bikes & Entered An Elite Road Race!

Were you impressed with the budget bikes? What other challenges would you like to see us do with them?

Can you do a review of the Giant Contend AR4?

got a Triban RC 120 yesterday, my first ever road bike (I've always had MTBs), flat bars version 'cos I prefer to be more upright compared to drops though I like both systems. It's really good to see "realistic" bikes for most people being able to at least compete

Surprised that Alex didn’t find a full Dura ace groupset in his parts bin for this 😉

GoCartopias fake play section is perfect for youths, and the free shipping policy is a mother or fathers finest good friend.

I got a specialized allez sport compact for under $160 USD 💪💪

its not Le Mans its Lemons, its tour de discount.

When i bought my 500£ bike the shop staff kept saying it was cheap. Half a thousand pounds is a lot of money for me!

Old trek bikes are 🔥🔥🔥

I would love to see a challenge like this, but for long distance, and with budget STOCK bikes, no fancy upgrades.

lmao ... £500 budget and ultegra groupsets 🤣

I have Trek Domane as my endurance and gravel bike, and Lapierre Xelius as my racing bike

I think the point you had proven is that you can race on a really good, but second hand bike well, but a new, budget bike does not perform. All of you decided to upgrade the tires, which is another point to note. What do you think?

I came here hoping to find out what budget bike i could get for amateur racing i left realizing i still need a pro level bike for amateur racing 😂

Can’t believe one guy went preowned and used his own tyres! Blasphemy tbh

Been throwing this comment around looking for skme help. Its hard for me to find triban in a physical store where i am to size myself for their bike. They claim xs ends at 165cm and small starts at 165. If i am 166cm (5'6) could the xs (all they have in stock right now for rc120) fit?

I would love to see a similiar challenge but in the Gravel segment!

So moral of the story you can’t get a decent bike for £500 as both them bikes are probably worth more like a £1000

Also regarding pros hiding data, it ensures their rivals can',t base a race strategy to pick on their weaker points. If you know your rival is great at short climbs but fades on longer ones or has trouble facing change in pace often, that's how you can attack them.

more videos like this please! more races on budget bikes with the price of the bikes increasing each time

My road bike is even older than the Trek Madone, a 9-speed Scott AFD 709 and the most expensive thing I replaced were the chainrings and cassette. It was fast enough for my only KOM on Strava, even though it's only a short sprint.

So sad to see road racing reduced to laps of the local dog track.

Finishing last but only seconds behind.....shows gear makes only marginal difference.

you kind of do need a 14k bike, because no one nowadays wants to put in effort into anything, if bikes truly needed to be under 6kg then there wouldnt have been people riding heavy ass bikes 100 years ago and winning races unimaginable to us.

This is much more fun! Love to see this thanks guys!

I love my Triban RC 120. GCN just proves they are now relatable to average blokes like me.

Brilliant this is

I would honestly love either one of those bikes. I'm new to cycling and can't afford even a 500 pound bike yet.

500? You're crazy. I'm trying to get a bike for 200$ to replace my 4 year old 200$ bike.

"elite road race."? By whose standards? Other than you sods, it looked to be a typical club race - where $thousands of expensive equipment is wasted on not much talent.

Mark is actually a power house. He could sustain more than 300w on tt position on a tri bike, so that's probably more if he's sitting more upright and open his chest to breath more easily. Thanks for playing as Ollie's part lol (although Ollie now transforms from dropped to dropper)

All 3 of them are nicer than my 2010 Trek 1000c. Of course, my idea of success at 64 years old is to persist on a regular schedule and watch the data, which helps to keep me interested and engaged. My peripheral goal is better fitness, but getting stronger, faster, and smarter is my main goal. This was an interesting video, and my main takeaway is the importance of bike maintenance. To date, I have never dropped a chain, but my bike is maintained well. Thanks for this video!!

The earo bit lmfao

Just because someone owns an expensive bike doesn't mean they have got lots of money. its usually there passion so they put there life and sole into that one thing. Carn't blame them for that.

Great video! It's a pity that the guy on the "Trek" lagged behind the first group. It is unlikely that the bike was the reason. Most likely, he had a bad breakfast, and his strength failed him.

Lol I can’t believe you ruined that paint

Two of these three "old" bikes would be an upgrade for me.

wish i could have one

The TREK is such a beauty even today

How do I knos my size?

I think its important to appeal to the people into cycling first rather than buying expensive bike or gear

Obviously most normal people are most interested in the $500-1,500 price range for bikes. That’s a solid range to get decent quality build and components for a normal working class person who is relatively new to cycling and/or only rides bikes for a bit of fun and exercise.

The types of guys who show up for these races will almost always be riding bikes which cost $2,500-6,000+ and they take cycling very seriously.

got nothing on 44 teeth

Now do £100 lol

What makes the bike go faster?