Road Cycling Essentials

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Unless you can find something heavily discounted in the sale, I don't think you will beat the Triban 3 from Decathlon for £300.

That's about what I paid for a hardly used Trek 1.1 at the time, and I'm not sure it's much better than a new Triban. Same low end groupset minus the carbon forks the Triban does have the rest of the premium is probably for the brand name.
 
[DOD]Asprilla;23497754 said:
No pleasing some folks.
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That's not really fair as I had already conceded and you quoted me on saying:

Edit; although I guess if you sold the replaced mechanical shifters & mech's it could be a more reasonable(ish) price upgrade.
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I would still hang fire for now though as:

a) Mechanical Ultegra is still an excellent groupset and £700 to go electronic is a lot of diminishing returns.
b) Ultegra is likely to get a makeover later this year going 11 speed and probably some improvements over first gen Di2 and possibly some minor cosmetic changes/weight etc.

Making current Di2 a) legacy b) cheaper
 
It's worth driving for. The nearest competitor is the carrera tdf from Halfords, which is currently £300, but which doesn't have a carbon fork. Beyond that, you're basically looking at second hand.
 
Well I've had better rides! Was really in the groove about 7 miles in today and got a rear puncture :( replaced the tube and then could only pump it up to what I presume was about 50 psi. So ended up just turning back and riding home on a half flat tyre. Decided to drive to my lbs and pick up a co2 inflator for future. Bought a load of spare cartridges and tried one, 120psi in literally a second, well impressed :D
 
Thinking of unsuccessful rides... We had a bit of a sobering moment on ours, passing a cyclist who'd come off. There's a long descent where you can really build up speed if you want - a mate claims he's done 50 down there - and there's a cattle grid near the bottom. I guess he slid on the grid, or caught a wheel or something, but he'd smashed the front of his helmet and was bleeding all over his face. His bike looked a bit mullered as well. Nasty stuff.
 
Vonhelmet said:
It's worth driving for. The nearest competitor is the carrera tdf from Halfords, which is currently £300, but which doesn't have a carbon fork. Beyond that, you're basically looking at second hand.
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Thanks. Are there likely to be any decent deals on 2012 bikes now that we're in 2013? Hoping we can pick up a bargain like we did a few years ago on her Giant MTB. Any particular bikes I should look out for 2nd hand at this price point?
 
olv said:
I can barely imagine how awful that is. I can't believe your saddle is close to being the right height either. If I cycle for more than about 15 minutes in jeans my legs are raw.
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wait wait.. what does the seat height have to do with my clothing while cycling? :)

I guess I'm used to it! :) i feel comfortable tbh.. but then again i only do 23 miles a day :)
 
SaBBz said:
Thanks. Are there likely to be any decent deals on 2012 bikes now that we're in 2013? Hoping we can pick up a bargain like we did a few years ago on her Giant MTB. Any particular bikes I should look out for 2nd hand at this price point?
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If she's 5'7 (ie. normal sized and not really tiny) then the real bargains probably will be out of stock in her size. Usually massive and tiny bikes left and sold off really cheap just to get rid of.
 
SaBBz said:
Thanks for the replies. I did see the Decathlon, but there isn't a shop very close to have a look at it.



She's about 5ft7 tall, so I think she wants about an 18inch frame.
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At that height you have the pick of whatever's out there really as she could fit most frames. Ignore the marketing stuff about women's specific frames and either get the Triban from Decathlon, the Carrera from Halfords, or failing that a second hand Specialized Allez/Giant Defy/Trek 1.1 off eBay. There'll be plenty in that size on eBay or BikeRadar classifieds.
 
grudas said:
wait wait.. what does the seat height have to do with my clothing while cycling? :)
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If you can get your leg over your seat when you're wearing jeans, then it's probably too low (or you're wearing tight stretchy jeans? :p).
The seat on my commuter is about 2-3 inches lower for this reason.
 
touch said:
If you can get your leg over your seat when you're wearing jeans, then it's probably too low (or you're wearing tight stretchy jeans? :p).
The seat on my commuter is about 2-3 inches lower for this reason.
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i kinda have to lean my bike a bit to do it.. :D tbh i only ever wear one pair of jeans and those are quite baggy compared to the rest so its not that hard but still not easy.. chinos on the other hand are a bit more problematic - i have actually managed to rip a hole in one pair :(

the reason really is that i cant be bothered changing clothes when i get to work and then change again when i leave.. summer will be easier but for now i don't really find jeans that problematic - even tho i look weird compared to other guys on road bikes.. :o
 
I commute 90 minutes every day in your average pair of jeans on my bike that fits perfect!

Done 5+ hour rides, london to brighton etc, wearing the same jeans rolled up an casual tshirts

You really dont need lycra to ride a road bike!
 
rogan said:
I commute 90 minutes every day in your average pair of jeans on my bike that fits perfect!

Done 5+ hour rides, london to brighton etc, wearing the same jeans rolled up an casual tshirts

You really dont need lycra to ride a road bike!
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yup i do around 100 mins a day for 5 days a week and im cool with it.
 
It's weird as I used to do casual mountain biking many years ago and for that I would wear jeans or trackies. Never have done for road cycling though and I could only imagine it being unpleasant! :confused:
 
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