Raliegh Airlite Carbon - or other Cycle2work qualifiers.....

gkerr4

Hi there - what are the thoughts on the raleigh airlite carbon road bike?

At 999.99 it's a contender for the cycle2work scheme that I am thinking of joining. Obviously the other two main contenders are the Cayo and the PlanetX

I have ruled the PlanetX out as I just don't like the super-compact frame (sorry to all PX owners - I know you all love them!)

I like the cayo - but am unsure about the geometry. The bike I have that fits the best is my Spesh langster which shares Allez geometry and has a 150mm headtube. I worry that the 135mm on the cayo will be too short (am I worrying about nothing here btw?)

Now, I can't find any geometery figures for the raleigh - has anyone seen them? - but it is only available in 3 sizes and I would imagine i would need the middle - one thing worrying me is that it looks suspiciously like the PlanetX so even the middle one might be unsuitable.

On the plus side - it comes with campag equipment which any of the bikes I get will be getting (- if I get the cayo all the Ultegra stuff will be going on ebay to be replaced with Campag Centaur and a set of Eurus Wheels)

so - anyone got the airlite? what do we think of it? anyone seen the geometry stats?

Thanks in advance

gkerr4

oh - should have added - the c2work scheme will be through halfords and you I can;t add any money to the bike (else I'd have bought a wilier mortirolo centaur) and I want a carbon frame (for right or wrong!)

gkerr4

nobody got one then?

DavidBelcher

gkerr4 wrote:

Hi there - what are the thoughts on the raleigh airlite carbon road bike?

Don't own an Airlite, but did give one a look-over at Cyclelife in Canterbury the other weekend - pretty impressed by both the low weight (and this is compared with my own bike, which is a carbon Look KG241, and so no heavyweight itself!) and value for money. They've obviously used some low-budget (Tektro brakes & Michelin Speedium tyres) and unbranded (hubs, though they are cartridge bearing and nice & smooth as a result) parts to keep the price down, but all in all it seems a good package, especially considering that to buy the frameset alone is only 100 quid less than the complete bike. Frame design is apparently nigh-on identical to the Raleigh ridden by Nicole Cooke, though I suspect she has the luxury of custom rather than stock geometry.

David

simbil1

Are you talking about the airlite carbon comp? The airlite carbon looks strikingly similar to the planet-x, both being semi-compact.

airlite carbon:

http://www.raleigh.co.uk/bikedetails.aspx?ID=2920

planet-x:

http://www.planet-x-bikes.com/road/inde ... AGE_id=234

The comp looks different, more like a Specialized:

http://www.raleigh.co.uk/bikedetails.aspx?ID=5464

Given the finishing kit, the planet-x would get my vote unless the raleigh frame is something really special. The airlite carbon race looks good but is £1500. That AIRLite Carbon Race Chassis scores well in the looks category I reckon

richardjallen

I agree with simbil. My LBS has an Airlite. Edit - the one at £999. I put my PX along side it and it is in every detail identical. I mean everything - except the colour. The components on the PX are better though. Another LBS has a MASSI carbon frame which is also identical. I think they are a generic frame and the factory badges them up for bike vendor.

Smokin Joe

If you find the link someone posted to the Guardian interview with the clueless wanker who is in charge at Raleigh these days you might re-consider the wisdom of buying one.

In fact, here it is -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007 ... d=business

cougie

Erm yeah - those bikes look pretty identical. I wouldn't worry about the compactness - you dont even notice it when on the bike.

Altho the Raleigh seems to have a Campagnola (!) gruppo.

gkerr4

oh right - in that case I need to re-think the planetX

I haven't seen a px in the flesh, but the geometry specs smade it sound pretty small, but in the flesh the raleigh frame actually looked pretty good.

thanks for the responses..

carlstone

Raleigh:



Planet X:



I own a Planet X procarbon and have had a good look at the airlite in my LBS and I am 99% sure they are exactly the same frame. Now that being the case you have the groupset, wheels and customer service to differenciate on. Well on the first two the Planet X wins hands down. As for customer service I was totally satisfied with the buying experience from Brant at Planet X, but I am also sure that Henry Gregsons (my LBS) would have been every bit as good.

Carl.

gkerr4

hmm - but the airlite comes with Veloce - which is closer to the centaur that it is going to end up with than the ultegra on the PX - althought I would imagine that the ultegra will have a higher 'ebay' value than that of the raleigh.

it has a higher head tube than the focus cayo - which I think is a very racy position (I'm coming from a trek Pilot which has a V.high "roubaix-like" headtube)


don't know that I can live with a raleigh though - doesn't have much snob value even if it is the same frame as the PX / Massi / probably-countless-others-not-sold-in-the-uk....

carlstone

If its snob value your looking for then IMHO you need to go Italian, frame and high end Campagnolo, not to mention Assos (OK they are Swiss).

However your company will need the consumer credit licence for a bike and gear costing £2,500 (i.e. over £1,000) under the cycle to work scheme

richardjallen

richardjallen wrote:

I agree with simbil. My LBS has an Airlite. Edit - the one at £999. I put my PX along side it and it is in every detail identical. I mean everything - except the colour. The components on the PX are better though. Another LBS has a MASSI carbon frame which is also identical. I think they are a generic frame and the factory badges them up for bike vendor.

I garbled that a bit. I did mean the frame appears identical. The fork is different though as is ahem :oops: everything else. As someone else said its Veloce so I can't really say if 105/Ultegra is better :oops:

richardjallen

Smokin Joe wrote:

If you find the link someone posted to the Guardian interview with the clueless wanker who is in charge at Raleigh these days you might re-consider the wisdom of buying one.

In fact, here it is -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007 ... d=business

I read that article. The part where he talks about independent bike shop owners:

'If you want to imagine the typical independent bike dealer, he is 50-60, highly cynical, miserable, moaning, scruffy.'

That the image of one of the LBS owners where I live.

The part where he says every department he worked for eventually got sold off is a bit ominous.

acorn_user

That article did not betray him as a clueless tosser at all. A slightly riled up guy, but nothing too bad. A lot LBS's, sadly, are far worse than Steptoe and Son. And Halfords are vipers from every piece of info I've ever seen from their suppliers.

I think the Raleigh looks nice. Given that it has a Veloce groupset, I would go with that. Plus it would have some snob value in that there probably are not that many about. I'm sure the old boys would reminisce about Team Professionals with you.

dnsmiff

Any views on the Carrera Virago?

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_370039_langId_-1_CarSelectorCatalogId__CarSelectorGroupId__varient__categoryId_47151_crumb_33980-33957-103669_parentcategoryrn_47151#


I have the valour right now and need to choose the value of my bike today, was looking at the vanquish (circ £400), the boardman comp (£600) or the Virago. The halfords I use let me use my accessory voucher toward the bike last year and if I wait for a 10% deal I was hoping to get the Virago for around £800.

Quite happy to have a Carrera again

redddraggon

dnsmiff wrote:

Any views on the Carrera Virago?

I have the valour right now and need to choose the value of my bike today, was looking at the vanquish (circ £400), the boardman comp (£600) or the Virago. The halfords I use let me use my accessory voucher toward the bike last year and if I wait for a 10% deal I was hoping to get the Virago for around £800.

Quite happy to have a Carrera again

I like my cheap Carrera aswell, but I couldn't see myself paying £1000 for one, plenty of other good choices out there at £1000, not too many at the £300 range

dnsmiff

However there is something strangely appealing about riding around on £1000 carrera (if it is any good???) I would be quite happy to ride an Apollo badged bike if it was any good.

il_principe

I'm sure I read somewhere that the PX and Airlite are exactly the same frame... they certainly look identical... not a fan of either pain tjob though; PX should stick to black!