Road Cycling Essentials

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I put together a regular customers china-rello the other week there and the overall finish of the bike was fine. Slap a paint job on it and you could charge about double tbh!

It's not until you jump up a couple of quality levels the difference comes into effect. Built a look 566 with ultegra today and it felt heavier than some bikes but with a nice balance to the weight and would probably have a nicer ride off the frame compared to a china bike.

The bosses Felt F1 frame is something like 800g and you can see they put a bit more effort into the finish/design of it but they do want to charge about £2k for it...it's finding the balance between price/weight/ride quality at the end of the day.
 
£730 with a few extras.
Included is: Frame, forks, headset, carbon bung and lightweight seat clamp.
It's already been dispatched so will have it by Wednesday.

Haven't told the wife yet. She'll probably notice as my current bike is White. Lol
 
I got up at 5 this morning to go for a ride, and unlike the past two weekends, I actually went out and did it. My left thigh started playing up as I was riding up Biggin Hill and then it started to pour with rain, so I abandoned the excursion after just 98 minutes. I am shocked at how quickly I have lost what little form I had, I was cycling 60+ miles on my weekend trips without issues just a couple of months ago.

All this talk of new bikes has made my craving to buy one even more difficult to ignore. I have Wednesday off, I might have to get down to the local Van Nicholas dealer to check out the Yukon. The call is very strong :)
 
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Saundie, yeah, I know what you mean about how quickly you lose your form. The secret seems to be to recognise that it's happened and not go out hammer and tongs straight away. Gently easing yourself back into it seems to be the way forward.
 
willhub said:
After 2 months off I reckon form should come back pretty quickly?
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I certainly hope so. I went for another ride this morning, and it didn't feel as bad as yesterday. I think my problem was as Johnny69 suspected; I tried to pick up where I left off and I wasn't up to it. I guess it's just a matter of building up gradually.
 
CGrieves said:
I've got RS30s, very happy with them. The RS20's are cheaper and lighter by about 120 grams, but I went with the 30s as they have a reputation of being bombproof and my main use for that bike is commuting (and I like the look of the white 30's!). I had one fairly major almost-crash on the 30s- ended up riding off the side of the road into a 12 inch deep concrete rut. Tried to ride round it, ended up being spat back out onto the road at 45 degrees from vertical, kept it upright but landed hard enough to twist the bars in the headset. Lots of clanging, and expected the worst, but both wheels were perfectly in true, so job done!

For my weight-weenie bike build I'm probably going to go for the carbon laminate RS80s (if I can find any at a decent price)
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I should also mention im a rather weighty at around 98ish Kg, although dropping slowly. People think the rs30 will cope with that?
 
My thoughts as well. Looks like a set of Planet X model C will be the choice, im running 9spd so the freehub issues with 10spd should not arise.
Open pros would be nice, but dont want to sped too much as the bike isnt worth it imo.
 
re planet x bikes.

They look very good in the flesh only thing that let's them down is the truly awful planet x decals on the bike quite why the can't hire on a designer to get them better is a mystery, a student could do a better job.
 
Im looking into buying a Specialized Allez, went into the store today and the guy said the Allez 2012 should be coming out soon so I might wait for that to get a new model/cheaper 2011.

Does anyone have any ideas about when the Allez 2012 will be released?
 
kicks66 said:
Im looking into buying a Specialized Allez, went into the store today and the guy said the Allez 2012 should be coming out soon so I might wait for that to get a new model/cheaper 2011.

Does anyone have any ideas about when the Allez 2012 will be released?
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The UK release for 2012 Allez bikes is September.
If you want a 2011 bike then you wont find it any cheaper than it is now with the discounts.

2012 bikes will be at full price for a while and the only differences worth speaking of is the 2012 Elite bike comes with 10 speed Tiagra over 9 speed on the 2011.
 
SDK^ said:
The UK release for 2012 Allez bikes is September.
If you want a 2011 bike then you wont find it any cheaper than it is now with the discounts.

2012 bikes will be at full price for a while and the only differences worth speaking of is the 2012 Elite bike comes with 10 speed Tiagra over 9 speed on the 2011.
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I read on another forum about people getting Allez 2010s for £400 after the 2011 came out.
 
kicks66 said:
I read on another forum about people getting Allez 2010s for £400 after the 2011 came out.
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That will be the Allez 16; this year the 2011 Allez 16 RRP price is £60 more than the 2010 model so it's unlikely to drop below £450 (currently it's £499 from £560). Also you run the risk of your size selling out - already the Allez 16 is sold out completely in anything but sizes 56 (low stock) and 61 at Specialized Concept stores so it's down to what each store is carrying.

You take your chances :)
 
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SDK^ said:
That will be the Allez 16; this year the 2011 Allez 16 RRP price is £60 more than the 2010 model so it's unlikely to drop below £450 (currently it's £499 from £560). Also you run the risk of your size selling out - already the Allez 16 is sold out completely in anything but sizes 56 (low stock) and 61 at Specialized Concept stores so it's down to what each store is carrying.

You take your chances :)
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I didnt realise the 2011 had a higher initial selling anyway, thanks for the advice. Think im going to go reserve a 2011 to pick up on the weekend.

On a related note, do you have any comments on the Allez 16? It will be my first proper road bike, I had a £40 second hand one for a year or two before it broke so this is a big step up.
 
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I just got this for a bargain:

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It's an off-brand taiwanese thing as far as I know, cheap Shimano and unbranded bits on it but the frame looks halfway reasonable. I'm in just horrible shape, and a couple of mates ride road bikes already, so me and another friend have decided to get involved and get in better shape.

Need to give up smoking, I'm the only one of us who still smokes and it's a big part of why I've just got no chance of keeping up with them at all. I started off slow and got slower :/ I must be getting worse too because we used to go riding in the woods around here at night on up and down singletrack and while I'd fall a little behind on the really hard bits, largely I could keep up - this time I had no hope :(

I just plan on riding it to death until I can afford a nicer bike, if I stick with it that is. I think I will though, I quite like it. Even a cheap piece of poo like that is just ridiculously quicker than my MTB (which to be fair is single speed these days).

(ignore the platforms, I've got spd pedals on the way and buying shoes when I get paid!)
 
Is it me or are those handle bars very long??? I've never seen the side of em reach out so far :eek:

I rekon you'll need to get the position sorted.
 
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