Advice on new bike ..... again!

Alibran

There seem to be loads of threads asking about this recently, but this is the first time I've asked, so I guess I'll just go for it.

I'm currently commuting to work (10 miles each way) on a Halfords Apollo hybrid, which was cheap, and is nearly a year old. It's OK, a lot easier to ride than the mountain bike I had before it, but I'm starting to feel the need for something a bit faster and "aggressively" styled. (I've also noticed that sitting up straight doesn't seem to get you the best results for your pedalling effort.) I'm only cycling 2/3 days a week at the moment, but by summer I'd like to be cycling every day.

My commute takes in a little bit of main road and town (if I choose to go that way), but mostly small roads and lanes. The road surfaces aren't all that great, quite rough in places and with odd potholes and "dips" running right across the road. There's one section of road where I'm careful to avoid the roughest bits even on the hybrid because I don't like the vibration. It's also pretty hilly - I live in the west of Cornwall.

My LBS stocks Trek, Scott and BH, and I've talked to them a lot about the most suitable bike, but I'm still confused. It's a small shop and their stock is very limited, so most of what I've seen is on paper at the moment. I'm seriously considering a female specific bike because I like the idea of the shorter reach, although I believe I am shaped more like a short man with longer torso and shorter legs, so I could well get on fine with a small framed man's bike.

Bikes that fall within my price range are:

Trek 1.2 (1.2 WSD) and 1.5
Trek 2.1 WSD
Only the 1.2 has rack and mudguard eyes, which seems to restrict my choice somewhat, as I want both of these.

Scott Speedster S60, S50, S40
I don't know about rack/mudguard eyes on these, as I haven't seen them "in the flesh", and the pictures on the website aren't big enough.

I don't know anything about BH, since their site jumps to Spanish as soon as you try to use it, and their current catalogue is a long time in being available.

I've been worrying about the wheels and tyres being up to my regular commute, and was told the other day at my LBS that "it doesn't matter how expensive your wheels are - they'll still be damaged if you hit a pothole". Is this true? And what about grippy tyres?

Thanks to the review in the latest Cycling Plus, I've been looking at the Focus Merluza on Wiggle, which seems as though it could be the kind of thing I want. It sounds as though it's a bit tougher than your average road bike, and comes with good tyres, and with the other bits I want included in the price. What do you think?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?Cat=cycle&ProdID=5360032393&N=Focus%20Merluza%202008

I'm hesitating because the smallest frame size is specified for 5'5-5'8, and I'm only 5'3, and it also seems a bit heavier than some other bikes. Would a couple of kg make that much difference to me?

Any advice, or suggestions of other bikes that might fit the bill? I'm aware that I need to try some bikes before I make a decision, but for that I'll need to go further afield.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Just seen that you won't be sticking just to roads! In that case, sounds like a cyclo-cross is the way forward!
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=22907
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.a ... oss%202008

Alibran

NitrousOxide wrote:

Just seen that you won't be sticking just to roads! In that case, sounds like a cyclo-cross is the way forward!

I don't actually ride off the road, although some of the roads I use are pretty poor - the kind of lanes you used to see with grass running up the middle, although I haven't seen one like that for a few years now.

I had a look at the cyclo-cross bikes you mentioned, and they're quite interesting. My partner rides off-road a bit, and it would save me having a separate mountain bike to go off-roading together. I guess I could just change the tyres, so I had slicks for my commute and more knobbly ones for our weekend leisure rides?

Again, I'm concerned about the frame sizes. They both look pretty big to me. And also, I forgot to mention in my opening post that I think I'll need a triple chainset. Some of the hills around here are pretty vile and I need all the help I can get from the gearing. I notice the Kinesis says it has clearance for 3 rings, which I assume means I could change it, but I'm not too thrilled at the idea of spening £700 on a bike, and then spending more money to make alterations.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I don't know if you saw it at Wiggle, but there is a steal priced Focus Cayo Triple road bike there in the smallest size, which should be a good fit for you! My original post did tell you about this, but then I re-read your post and thought the better of telling you about a great priced full-on road bike.

You would do very well to find another carbon frame with a 105 groupset for £719!
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.a ... ple%202007

Going back to the Focus Marres cyclo-cross, the compact double chainring should be fine for your gearing, depending on the included cassette. If its a 12-27, this should be fine with the 50-34 chainrings. However, I cannot actually see the spec of the cassette on the page, definitely worth an e-mail to them if you are intrested in the bike! Worst case scenario, a 12-27 cassette would set you back about £30 plus labour for swapping out supplied block.

Oh, the Kenesis bike I linked to comes as a kit to build from the frame up (or get a LBS to assemble for a charge), whereas the Focus would come in a giant box (ready to ride)!

niblue

A cyclocross bike or a light tourer (both of which will have sturdier wheels and wider tyres than a road bike) would be decent options. I'm thinking about a Specialized Tricross for similar reasons to the ones you've given - I'm not sure if Specialized do a female specific version (although they're usually quite god with women specific versions) but they usually do small sizes of their bikes.

aya604

Alibran wrote:

There seem to be loads of threads asking about this recently, but this is the first time I've asked, so I guess I'll just go for it.

I'm currently commuting to work (10 miles each way) on a Halfords Apollo hybrid, which was cheap, and is nearly a year old. It's OK, a lot easier to ride than the mountain bike I had before it, but I'm starting to feel the need for something a bit faster and "aggressively" styled. (I've also noticed that sitting up straight doesn't seem to get you the best results for your pedalling effort.) I'm only cycling 2/3 days a week at the moment, but by summer I'd like to be cycling every day.

My commute takes in a little bit of main road and town (if I choose to go that way), but mostly small roads and lanes. The road surfaces aren't all that great, quite rough in places and with odd potholes and "dips" running right across the road. There's one section of road where I'm careful to avoid the roughest bits even on the hybrid because I don't like the vibration. It's also pretty hilly - I live in the west of Cornwall.

My LBS stocks Trek, Scott and BH, and I've talked to them a lot about the most suitable bike, but I'm still confused. It's a small shop and their stock is very limited, so most of what I've seen is on paper at the moment. I'm seriously considering a female specific bike because I like the idea of the shorter reach, although I believe I am shaped more like a short man with longer torso and shorter legs, so I could well get on fine with a small framed man's bike.

Bikes that fall within my price range are:

Trek 1.2 (1.2 WSD) and 1.5
Trek 2.1 WSD
Only the 1.2 has rack and mudguard eyes, which seems to restrict my choice somewhat, as I want both of these.

Scott Speedster S60, S50, S40
I don't know about rack/mudguard eyes on these, as I haven't seen them "in the flesh", and the pictures on the website aren't big enough.

I don't know anything about BH, since their site jumps to Spanish as soon as you try to use it, and their current catalogue is a long time in being available.

I've been worrying about the wheels and tyres being up to my regular commute, and was told the other day at my LBS that "it doesn't matter how expensive your wheels are - they'll still be damaged if you hit a pothole". Is this true? And what about grippy tyres?

Thanks to the review in the latest Cycling Plus, I've been looking at the Focus Merluza on Wiggle, which seems as though it could be the kind of thing I want. It sounds as though it's a bit tougher than your average road bike, and comes with good tyres, and with the other bits I want included in the price. What do you think?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?Cat=cycle&ProdID=5360032393&N=Focus%20Merluza%202008

I'm hesitating because the smallest frame size is specified for 5'5-5'8, and I'm only 5'3, and it also seems a bit heavier than some other bikes. Would a couple of kg make that much difference to me?

Any advice, or suggestions of other bikes that might fit the bill? I'm aware that I need to try some bikes before I make a decision, but for that I'll need to go further afield.

No its complete rubbish. I have ridden a few thousand miles including commuting in Edinburgh where the roads are full of potholes with Campagnolo Vento wheels (about £100 a pair). I try to be carefull but have still hit loads of holes and have managed to break a spoke also. The wheels are true to one millimetre.

Alibran

aya604 wrote:

No its complete rubbish. I have ridden a few thousand miles including commuting in Edinburgh where the roads are full of potholes with Campagnolo Vento wheels (about £100 a pair). I try to be carefull but have still hit loads of holes and have managed to break a spoke also. The wheels are true to one millimetre.

Thanks. It did seem like a weird thing to say.

Alibran

NitrousOxide wrote:

I don't know if you saw it at Wiggle, but there is a steal priced Focus Cayo Triple road bike there in the smallest size, which should be a good fit for you! My original post did tell you about this, but then I re-read your post and thought the better of telling you about a great priced full-on road bike.

You would do very well to find another carbon frame with a 105 groupset for £719!

The only problem I have with that one is convincing my partner that I need a carbon frame and a 105 groupset to cycle to work. She still can't see what's wrong with my Halfords hybrid!! But it is an amazing price. I'll work on it!

Alibran

niblue wrote:

A cyclocross bike or a light tourer (both of which will have sturdier wheels and wider tyres than a road bike) would be decent options. I'm thinking about a Specialized Tricross for similar reasons to the ones you've given - I'm not sure if Specialized do a female specific version (although they're usually quite god with women specific versions) but they usually do small sizes of their bikes.

I'm still undecided at the moment. I'm leaning more towards a full on road bike after my visit to a different LBS yesterday. I did an impression of what it's like going over the worst bits of road (which must have been quite funny to watch!) and he was totally unfazed and said a road bike would be up to it. (He was also encouraging me towards a £500 road bike despite the fact that I told him I might be able to afford more, so I think he was pretty genuine.)

SPOODZILLA

A £500 road bike will be fine. I use a Giant FCR3, pretty much a road bike with flat bars. Generic aluminium front wheel is only slightly out of true after 6 months carrying a 15st rider on some really poor road surfaces, and a few cobbled streets (my aching wrists).

TheBoyBilly

I ride a single speeder on decent roads on Specialized Mondo tyres. I wouldn't dream of riding a road bike, on this sort of tyre on the roads you suggest Alibran. I think a full-on road bike would be an expensive mistake on the type of roads you are going to ride on. I would definately go for a cross bike with a decent tyre for mixed terrain. You have to remember the worst scenario of the condition of the roads after heavy rain etc.

niblue

One of the bikes I use for commuting is a road bike (OCR3T) and while it's certainly fast and great on smooth roads I do find that I vary my route to avoid the worst roads & tracks - something I don't do when using my 26 x 1.5" tyred mountain bike based commuter. While I haven't had problems with buckling of road wheels I do find I get substantially more punctures on rough roads with the road bike.