Road Cycling Essentials

[DOD]Asprilla · 28 Sep 2011 at 19:32

CGrieves said:
When you say the hubs buzz, do you mean the freewheel ticking when you coast?

Yup, it's very loud indeed.

At any reasonable speed it's a buzz on hope hubs.

Jonny ///M · 28 Sep 2011 at 23:02

[DOD]Asprilla;20171056 said:
I've been running them for six months now and I think they are great. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone else.

Looks like they are a little expensive for me to buy just now...only saving around £35 on the RRP which is pants. Be aswell buying them online somewhere.

Appelhanns · 29 Sep 2011 at 11:34

Looking at getting a Genesis in the sales but nobody stocks them for me to size myself up anywhere!

I am about 6' to 6'1" and not sure about the 56cm or 58cm sizes.

Any advice?

L_mo · 29 Sep 2011 at 18:38

Osian said:
Looking at getting a Genesis in the sales but nobody stocks them for me to size myself up anywhere!

I am about 6' to 6'1" and not sure about the 56cm or 58cm sizes.

Any advice?

I'm 5'8"/ 5'9" ish and my 56cm Genesis Equilibrium fits me perfectly. Tried the 54 cm frame, but found it a little cramped. So by that reckoning maybe the 58 cm will be better.

Lovely bikes too, this is my first foray into road cycling (mountain biker by trade) and can't get enough of it! In fact I did a 100 mile sportive the second day of owning it, mega!

Appelhanns · 29 Sep 2011 at 18:56

L_mo said:
I'm 5'8"/ 5'9" ish and my 56cm Genesis Equilibrium fits me perfectly. Tried the 54 cm frame, but found it a little cramped. So by that reckoning maybe the 58 cm will be better.

Lovely bikes too, this is my first foray into road cycling (mountain biker by trade) and can't get enough of it! In fact I did a 100 mile sportive the second day of owning it, mega!

Cool, that put's me at ease as nobody outside of London seems to have any!

I've had a 58cm Allez so just double checking!

The Equilibrium looks v.tasty, just a little out of my price range though!

Is yours that lovely red colour?

L_mo · 29 Sep 2011 at 19:26

Osian said:
Cool, that put's me at ease as nobody outside of London seems to have any!

I've had a 58cm Allez so just double checking!

The Equilibrium looks v.tasty, just a little out of my price range though!

Is yours that lovely red colour?

The red looks gorgeous! Mine is the black one, not quite as tasty as the red but still a looker in my opinion!

Streeteh · 29 Sep 2011 at 19:27

Hi guys, i've already posted something similar to this in the other bike thread so apologies for spamming, but this is slightly different.

I'm pondering the idea of going road bike from my old knackered mountain bike for my daily commute. My school is likely going to sign up to the cycle scheme which means i get to save money and pay for a bike in monthly instalments over the course of the year.

Problem is, i know nothing about bikes. I do know however it has to be a store supported by cycle scheme which turned me off my original interest cotic (i know they're more off road focused, but i'm beginning to resign myself to road only) as no one stocked it. My local cycle scheme store is this one:

http://www.questbikes.co.uk/

I'm currently looking at their wilier range, more specifically the Escape Xenon and Laverado Mirage which can be seen here:

http://www.questbikes.co.uk/acatalog/Wilier.html

Are these good deals, especially considering i'll be saving 15-20% through the scheme? Is there anything else i should consider which is better value for money. Also is it worth forking out the extra for the Mirage? I want something that'll last me a long while as £1k is a lot to me.

Appelhanns · 30 Sep 2011 at 01:08

I'm pretty sure one reasonably local bike shop would be able to order a Cotic at RRP in for you!

Have you specifically asked any?

Streeteh · 30 Sep 2011 at 06:37

Osian said:
I'm pretty sure one reasonably local bike shop would be able to order a Cotic at RRP in for you!

Have you specifically asked any?

Not yet as i've only just started investigating this week. Will likely pop into my local one this weekend and will be sure to ask them.

platypus · 30 Sep 2011 at 09:14

On the C2W scheme all I'd ever get would be a Boardman, and then upgrade components over time.

[DOD]Asprilla · 30 Sep 2011 at 09:42

Considering that bike shop can't spell Lavaredo then I'd not be too sure about using them. They also state that the Xenon groupset is 9 speed, but I'm fairly sure it had been upgraded to 10 speed by the time it was discontinued in 2009.

Either way the groupsets on both bikes (*******, brakes, cranks and gears) were discontinued in 2009. There are better options out there for your cash.

Also, anyone looked at their own brand Quest bikes and think they buy their frames from Ribble?

touch · 30 Sep 2011 at 10:12

[DOD]Asprilla;20188818 said:
Also, anyone looked at their own brand Quest bikes and think they buy their frames from Ribble?

Some of them look very similar (the tt frame is quite distinctive and easy to see the similarities). And they are more than double the price :O

[DOD]Asprilla · 30 Sep 2011 at 10:41

touch said:
Some of them look very similar (the tt frame is quite distinctive and easy to see the similarities). And they are more than double the price :O

That Quest / Audax trainer is exactly the same as the Ribble one. They probably don't buy from Ribble, just the same suppliers since all Ribble's frames are generic / open mould productions.

Jonny ///M · 30 Sep 2011 at 15:19

[DOD]Asprilla;20189185 said:
That Quest / Audax trainer is exactly the same as the Ribble one. They probably don't buy from Ribble, just the same suppliers since all Ribble's frames are generic / open mould productions.

Pretty sure condor and some other company used to use the same frame as ribble but they doubled the price!

Condor now use a different frame though.

[DOD]Asprilla · 30 Sep 2011 at 15:54

Jonny ///M said:
Pretty sure condor and some other company used to use the same frame as ribble but they doubled the price!

Condor now use a different frame though.

De Rosa R848 aka Ribble Stealth. £2,500 from De Rosa with Athena gruppo and
£1,300 from Ribble with the same.

6thElement · 30 Sep 2011 at 16:17

Osian said:
Looking at getting a Genesis in the sales but nobody stocks them for me to size myself up anywhere!

I am about 6' to 6'1" and not sure about the 56cm or 58cm sizes.

Any advice?

Depends on the geo of the frame, my current road frame is a 55cm compact, but I'm a 58cm (seat tube) in normal geo.

To compare frames at 6'2" I'm looking for 57-58cm ETT (top tube).

touch · 30 Sep 2011 at 16:19

Just heard that James Cracknell + Jerone Walters is will be trying to beat the LEJOG tandem record this weekend.

I'll be tracking their progress on their website and, as long as they dont go past in the middle of the night, i'll go along and see them.

touch · 30 Sep 2011 at 16:25

6thElement said:
Depends on the geo of the frame, my current road frame is a 55cm compact, but I'm a 58cm (seat tube) in normal geo.

To compare frames at 6'2" I'm looking for 57-58cm ETT (top tube).

Thats around the same as me.
i'm 6'1" and my current frame is a 54cm. I would normally go for a bigger frame but it's quite long (56.5cm ETT) so it doesnt feel small.

[DOD]Asprilla · 30 Sep 2011 at 16:44

The 58 Equilibrium has a 567mm virtual top tube whilst the 54 has a 545mm virtual top tube. I'm 5'10 and have a short body but I was looking at the 54 as a near perfect fit (actually needed 15mm on the head tube).

If I could have got a frame only in August I would have got one straight away. Unfortunately I couldn't lay my hands on one and Genesis ignored my email about availability.

PardonTheWait · 30 Sep 2011 at 17:49

If anyone's interested, I just got some of the arm & leg warmers from Aldi yesterday, and I wore the arm warmers for the first part of an early ride this morning. Comfy and toasty warm, fuzzy roubaix-type material inside is nice. £14 for both is good

Don't want/need any of the other stuff so dunno if it's any good.