Riding positions of the so called budget bikes.

Kelloggs

As I creep closer to buying my first proper road bike, I am now concerned about the fact there seems to be a variety of riding position for each make. ie Focus - racing, Giant - relaxed/upright.
I am looking to spend roughly £1,000, and it will be purely long weekend rides and sportives, no racing. I am 6ft 1in and I would prefer the more upright riding position.
I was going to go for the Focus Cayo, however, from what I have read it is a very racy position.

Any thoughts on make or model?

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

If I were you I would do as much test riding as possible and go with the one you like the feel of best. At this price point, pretty much any bike you buy is going to be competent and fairly decently specced. The thing that will make one stand out over the other (unless you have a special yearning for full carbon/Campag or whatever) is how they ride... and that's always a personal thing. For me, it's also the one thing that would put me off the Focus... you can't hack it up a couple of big hills to see what it feels like to you before part with your wonger...

PS. Having said that, you can always mess around with a 'racy' position by fitting a shorter or angled stem... Again though if you buy from a shop they will probably let you do this before you buy the thing. With Wiggle it would have to be a 'reconnaissance by fire'.

meagain

IF "large" is right size (you can check full geometry on Giant site), then a carbon SCR C3 marked down to 1029 quids (albeit 2007 model) looks a good deal!

http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/products.p ... 1b4s6p1252

But then I like Giants and always good VFM.

Red Rock

Kelloggs wrote:

As I creep closer to buying my first proper road bike, I am now concerned about the fact there seems to be a variety of riding position for each make. ie Focus - racing, Giant - relaxed/upright.
I am looking to spend roughly £1,000, and it will be purely long weekend rides and sportives, no racing. I am 6ft 1in and I would prefer the more upright riding position.
I was going to go for the Focus Cayo, however, from what I have read it is a very racy position.

Any thoughts on make or model?

I'd consider looking for a bike that takes fully fitted mudguards and a rack. It's the only thing I wish I'd thought of before I got my first road bike late last year.

Red Rock

meagain

"fully fitted mudguards and a rack. It's the only thing I wish I'd thought of before I got my first road bike"

There are many around here who would deny that such a bike IS a road bike, reserving the term for a race bike (which does not of course accept 'grds never mind a rack!). Hasten to add that I am not of their thinking.

Mettan

Kelloggs wrote:

As I creep closer to buying my first proper road bike, I am now concerned about the fact there seems to be a variety of riding position for each make. ie Focus - racing, Giant - relaxed/upright.
I am looking to spend roughly £1,000, and it will be purely long weekend rides and sportives, no racing. I am 6ft 1in and I would prefer the more upright riding position.
I was going to go for the Focus Cayo, however, from what I have read it is a very racy position.

Any thoughts on make or model?

You'll probably find that when you get the bike you'll enjoy altering the saddle height/for/aft, bar height via flipped stem/and or spacer reposition and stem length - so, given the above, to a certain extent, you'll be neutralising any inherent geometry on the bike. Obviously look into it more and get recomendations etc, but there's usually plenty you can do to get your bike set up to your own liking.

Shadowduck

meagain wrote:

"fully fitted mudguards and a rack. It's the only thing I wish I'd thought of before I got my first road bike"

There are many around here who would deny that such a bike IS a road bike, reserving the term for a race bike (which does not of course accept 'grds never mind a rack!). Hasten to add that I am not of their thinking.

Race bikes are a subset of road bikes, surely? :?

redddraggon

meagain wrote:

"fully fitted mudguards and a rack. It's the only thing I wish I'd thought of before I got my first road bike"

There are many around here who would deny that such a bike IS a road bike, reserving the term for a race bike (which does not of course accept 'grds never mind a rack!). Hasten to add that I am not of their thinking.

Nah, plenty of road bikes that can take mudguards. Audax, touring, winter bikes.

meagain

"Race bikes are a subset of road bikes, surely?"

My point!

Shadowduck

meagain wrote:

"Race bikes are a subset of road bikes, surely?"

My point!

Ah, you did mention you disagreed. Kindly ignore me. :oops:

Out of curiosity, what would those "many around here who would deny that such a bike IS a road bike" call such a machine, if not a road bike?

Gerry Attrick

Is not a "road bike" any bike primarily designed to ride on the road? Where have I been going wrong all these years? What day is it? Am I happy? Is this a computer I see before me? :?

PHcp

Kelloggs wrote:

As I creep closer to buying my first proper road bike, I am now concerned about the fact there seems to be a variety of riding position for each make. ie Focus - racing, Giant - relaxed/upright.

I don't think you're comparing like with like. Both makes offer both styles, the Giant equivalent of the Cayo would be the TCR range and the Focus equivalent to the Giant you're thinking about would be the Ergoride. Most other makes also offer the two styles, I'm presently considering the Cannondale Synapse (the cheaper version) which is another sportive bike. The carbon Specialized Roubaix Elite might just come within your budget, it’s had plenty of good reviews.
The differences between road and sportive bikes are subtle, a slight exchange of speed for comfort. I'd suggest that for all day rides it'd be worth it. As it's your first decent road bike I'd recommend a professional fitting session, it will take a lump out of your budget but not as much as buying the wrong bike will. I'd put more trust in such a session than any amount of test rides.

meagain

"The differences between road and sportive bikes are subtle,"

Now, if substitute "race" for "road" at word 4, I agree!

PHcp

meagain wrote:

"The differences between road and sportive bikes are subtle,"

Now, if substitute "race" for "road" at word 4, I agree!

You're probably right, race bike would have been a better choice of words.

doobie919

This is probably the dumbest ? anyone has ever asked.

But will flipping road bars upside down so the curved ends are on top make it more of a comfy ride since you won't be leaning down as far, or will it throw off the geometry to the point where it's hard to ride?

meagain

Used to be a reasonably common sight as I recall, when it was a cheap (as in free) way of obtaining an upright stance. Probably would make front end feel strange - and certainly lead to "interesting" braking!

Can't see any point to it given today's choice of stems/bars/frames!

marky2484

Actually yes. It probably is the dumbest question anyone has ever asked....

Seriously tho' there are a lot of much better ways of gaining a more comfortable position.

Flat bars with bar ends. Riser bars. Different stem. Different fork with a foot of spacers ( see Thorn bikes.....).

What sort of position do you want to achieve?