Road Cycling Essentials

George Hincapie · 5 Jan 2013 at 14:20

One More Solo said:
I seriously can't think of any situation where an amateur rider should be spending £170 on shorts. Imagine if you came off and put a hole in them.

If by amateur you mean beginner, then I agree. If you mean amateur then I disagree.

One More Solo · 5 Jan 2013 at 14:22

George Hincapie said:
If by amateur you mean beginner, then I agree. If you mean amateur then I disagree.

No-one in their right mind would wear Rapha for racing crits or similar events.

touch · 5 Jan 2013 at 14:28

George Hincapie said:
If by amateur you mean beginner, then I agree. If you mean amateur then I disagree.

You have to wear the approved kit of your affilated club when you're racing (in a BC race), you cant just chuck on your £170 team sky top.
Although, you'd probably get away with wearing the shorts if you had on a club top.

George Hincapie · 5 Jan 2013 at 14:30

Vonhelmet said:
I'm still not wrong that most people aren't riding £10k bikes. I doubt the average bike on the road costs 1/10th of that.

Obviously most people aren't, but more than you'd think. The majority of non-commuting road bikes would be worth between £1000 & £5000 I'd suggest.

£150 still isn't a lot

chanjy · 5 Jan 2013 at 14:31

But if you are doing a really long ride then wouldn't you want a good pair of shorts?

Amateurs do Paris-Brest-Paris which is 1200km - probably wouldn't want to wear a £10 pair of Decathlon shorts for that?

chanjy · 5 Jan 2013 at 14:32

Still have to agree that the majority of people wouldn't wear £170 shorts. The small minority is still a substantial number though!

George Hincapie · 5 Jan 2013 at 14:34

One More Solo said:
No-one in their right mind would wear Rapha for racing crits or similar events.

I didn't mention crits?! I'd agree though. I wouldn't be using a decent bike either.

grudas · 5 Jan 2013 at 14:37

George Hincapie said:
Obviously most people aren't, but more than you'd think. The majority of non-commuting road bikes would be worth between £1000 & £5000 I'd suggest.

£150 still isn't a lot

well my bike costs 300

and my shorts are my jeans

One More Solo · 5 Jan 2013 at 14:48

George Hincapie said:
I didn't mention crits?! I'd agree though. I wouldn't be using a decent bike either.

Most of the amateur racing, crit or otherwise, in this country is circuit based and very crash heavy though.

Anyway, if you've got the money to spend then good for you. For me, if something fits well then I'm happy whatever the price. Clothing is probably the least exciting bike thing to buy, it won't make you faster and it only makes your wallet lighter.

uniQ · 5 Jan 2013 at 15:36

[DOD]Asprilla;23496921 said:
But if you don't need s new crankset or brakes then why spend the extra £300 on them?

Pretty sure you don't need electronic shifting either so why spend £700 on them?

Point was compared to the full gruppo price. £700 for part of a group doesn't seem like the greatest deal imo.

Edit; although I guess if you sold the replaced mechanical shifters & mech's it could be a more reasonable(ish) price upgrade.

olv · 5 Jan 2013 at 15:39

grudas said:
well my bike costs 300 and my shorts are my jeans

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.

Vonhelmet · 5 Jan 2013 at 16:04

I've done a couple of short rides on my mountain bike in trackies this week just gone. Not fun for the bum and thighs. It felt good to pull on the bib tights (Lidl, £20) this morning.

Saytan · 5 Jan 2013 at 16:22

chanjy said:
But if you are doing a really long ride then wouldn't you want a good pair of shorts?

Amateurs do Paris-Brest-Paris which is 1200km - probably wouldn't want to wear a £10 pair of Decathlon shorts for that?

A guy i know has done PBP. He did it predominantly in endura gear.

[DOD]Asprilla · 5 Jan 2013 at 16:34

uniQ said:
Pretty sure you don't need electronic shifting either so why spend £700 on them?

Point was compared to the full gruppo price. £700 for part of a group doesn't seem like the greatest deal imo.

Edit; although I guess if you sold the replaced mechanical shifters & mech's it could be a more reasonable(ish) price upgrade.

Electronic shifting is a change from normal shifting; it's an upgrade. The brakes and crankset you get with the full groupset are not an upgrade.

For example, if I were to buy the full groupset and replace my Force brakes and cranks with the Ultegra ones it would be a retrograde step.

uniQ · 5 Jan 2013 at 16:50

Now you're just stating the obvious for no apparent reason.

SaBBz · 5 Jan 2013 at 16:56

Hi guys

My girlfriend is look at trying road cycling, as she's taking part in a triathlon later this year. She's looking to spend about £300 on a bike, but I'm not sure whether she should buy new or 2nd hand. Does anyone have any advice on this and have any specific models I should keep an eye out for at this price point?

Cheers.

[DOD]Asprilla · 5 Jan 2013 at 16:58

I thought I had to as you didn't seem to get it that £700 for electronic shifting is better value than £1000 for electronic shifting and at 30% of rrp it's very good indeed.

No pleasing some folks.

chanjy · 5 Jan 2013 at 16:58

Hmmm... tbh I think Shimano cranks are much better than SRAM ones. Maybe it's just front mech design rather than cranks.

chanjy · 5 Jan 2013 at 16:59

SaBBz said:
Hi guys

My girlfriend is look at trying road cycling, as she's taking part in a triathlon later this year. She's looking to spend about £300 on a bike, but I'm not sure whether she should buy new or 2nd hand. Does anyone have any advice on this and have any specific models I should keep an eye out for at this price point?

Cheers.

At that price... Decathlon

One More Solo · 5 Jan 2013 at 17:00

SaBBz said:
Hi guys

My girlfriend is look at trying road cycling, as she's taking part in a triathlon later this year. She's looking to spend about £300 on a bike, but I'm not sure whether she should buy new or 2nd hand. Does anyone have any advice on this and have any specific models I should keep an eye out for at this price point?

Cheers.

How tall is she?