Jamis Xenith Comp

Jonr

Hi, I have recently started training on my old road bike having had it hung up in the garage for years. It is a British eagle steel frame with shimano 105 of the time, 7 spd. I think it was new in about 1994 or something like that. Anyway I am training for a triathlon (only as a beginner) in september so have been using it regularly since April. I am a very keen mountain biker but have really enjoyed riding on the road bike, partly because the speed and efficiency feels really good on the road.

Yesturday I took a trip down to the LBS to have a look at some bikes and one that caught my eye as being a lot of bike for the money(?) was the Jamis '07 Xenith Comp (£899) http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/bikes/07_ ... ompsl.html . I had a short ride on it and it felt great. So I thought I'd run this past you guys to see what you think of this bike. I have a few questions also:

1. I notice it has a compact chain set of 34/50, just wondered what other people views is on this?
2. If I invest in a new bike at this kind of level what can I expect? I know it is much lighter. Will I really feel the difference? will it actually be faster? In terms of the riding experience what will I get for my money?

Any other general tips re road bikes and or triathlon would be gratefully received also!

I have done the triathlon several times before but without particular training. I intend to continue to do it each year as it is on my door step. Hopefully it will be all the better for the training I'm putting in. This won't be the only use for the bike, I am likely to go for longer rides with friends or just do a regular few hours for fitness all year round

Thanks

Jon

gkerr4

is this at charnock richard by any chance?

He was really pushing them last time I was in - i've never heard of them to be honest and probably wouldn't touch them for that reason - but they are well specced for the money.

Jonr

yes, charnock richard alias buy-a-bike. they were pushing them, they've probably got a good arrangement direct with Jamis in america and the with the exchange rate being what it is........ It does look a very nice bike though.


Anyone else got any opinions or advice

jon

acorn_user

Jamis are very well known in the USA. They have been around for a long time. I have never ridden one, but I know someone with a Xenith team frame who likes it a lot.

Compact chainrings can help you to keep spinning rather than force you to mash. But, they are usually matched with an 11t cog to give you a similar top end. It's Suntour microdrive all over again

gkerr4

Jonr wrote:

yes, charnock richard alias buy-a-bike. they were pushing them, they've probably got a good arrangement direct with Jamis in america and the with the exchange rate being what it is........ It does look a very nice bike though.


Anyone else got any opinions or advice

jon

they tend to pick up a 'batch' lot from the importer / distributor.

I bought my trek pilot 1.2 from them - it had a retail of £699 and I paid £450 for it - they had basically bought all of trek's remaining UK stock for a bargain price and then punting it out for whatever they can get for them.

they aren't a bad outfit - fairly good stock and he does some great prices on shoes and pedals if you ask - but don't get your bike built up from them - try and just take it in the box if you can. ime the build-up attention to detail leave a little to be desired!

Jonr

Would the 11-25 verses 12-25 make a lot of difference? ..........sorry if this is a dumb question.

The 34t chainring on the compact sounds very small to me. My current bike has 52/42 with a 12-27 on the rear, and yes i do find climbing real hard work. Even if I had 52/39 i think it would make things a whole lot easier. With the compact there must be a bit of messing about every time you switch rings on the front.

gkerr4

hmm - the compact concept exists to give you the gear range of a triple but the snob factor of a double.

I have a compact on my new roubaix - built up with campag stuff so double only on the regular groupset ranges. I like it - but I tend to just sit on the 50 ring all the time and use only a handful of the lower cassette cogs (it's a a 12-26 on the back) - in fact someone commented to me that the cogs were different colours - I said no - it's just that the higher half of the cassette hasn't been used yet.

the 11-xx cassettes exist becasue 50/11 is a similar gear (I think) to 52/12 so you get a full double ratio at the top end - but have that nice 34/25 at the other for the hills

in use it doesn't make that much odds - i'd probably prefer to have a 12-25 than the 11 - as there are more useable gears in the middle of the bunch - you hardly ever use top gear anyway spare some alpine descents so you might as well have some useable gears in the middle.

the shimano 12-27 sounds an ideal cassette for me - sadly it isn't available from campag

Jonr

gkerr4 wrote:

the shimano 12-27 sounds an ideal cassette for me - sadly it isn't available from campag

12-27 is ok but since its only 7 speed there's not many gears in between and they're quite far apart.

meagain

Looks pretty good VFM to me and yes Jamis long-established (made some good mtbs as I recall).

DavidBelcher

Saw their CW ad yesterday - the 'cross bike with the Reynolds 631 frame looks like a good 'un.

David

dcab

been in buy a bike this aft and had a quick look at the jamis stuff? they certainly looked the part !

DuncSF

Jamis is a brand from USA that Buy a Bike is pushing, but for a very good reason. They have a good reputation in USA and Pete at Buy a Bike has spotted the benefits in the UK of a very well specified bike at a very good price.
Just because its not shoved down your throat with expensive marketing and advertising does not mean its a poor quality bike. and Pete is seasoned and experienced enough to recognise that fact - the brand will become very popular because it's very good - just that it's new to UK and will take this season to get established.
Buy a Bike would be foolish to buy an end of line stock just to make a quick killing, the shop and Pete have a strong and respected reputation - its been done in my view to add value to a valued customer base.
They have been reviewed on Bike Radar and came out well and they have had good comments on bicycle.com in USA.

i will certainly be looking at them for my next bike and i think it gives us more choice in UK

DavidBelcher

DuncSF wrote:

Jamis is a brand from USA that Buy a Bike is pushing, but for a very good reason. They have a good reputation in USA and Pete at Buy a Bike has spotted the benefits in the UK of a very well specified bike at a very good price.
Just because its not shoved down your throat with expensive marketing and advertising does not mean its a poor quality bike. and Pete is seasoned and experienced enough to recognise that fact - the brand will become very popular because it's very good - just that it's new to UK and will take this season to get established.
Buy a Bike would be foolish to buy an end of line stock just to make a quick killing, the shop and Pete have a strong and respected reputation - its been done in my view to add value to a valued customer base.
They have been reviewed on Bike Radar and came out well and they have had good comments on bicycle.com in USA.

i will certainly be looking at them for my next bike and i think it gives us more choice in UK

I'm sure Jamis tried to get a foothold in the UK a while back with Dawes as the importer - presumably this arrangement fell through?

David

Jonr

Well I just went and bought one today! ':D' Very pleased with it, looks really well built and I had a great ride home! It felt like a rocket compared to my old road bike! They were really helpful at buy a bike, made sure I got a good fit and offered the possibility of coming back to change the stem if I decided it was the wrong fit, but no complaints so far. They gave me a very good deal on some pedals too.

jon

Jonr

Just got back from a ride, this bike is amazing! really responsive, at times effortless, just less than a minute quicker on a 6 mile section of a circuit that I do in training! Was comfy too, now I've got the saddle set up right, athough I think I do need to change to a shorter stem though.

DuncSF

Jonr

Still enjoying the Jamis.
What's your feedback after a couple of weeks, still rate the bike?