Cicla Esperia 5100 Road Bike - HELP NEEDED!

Steve_F

I am posting this for a friend who is seeking advice (it is my Giant he has had a shot of) any help would be appreciated:

"Just purchased an Esperia 5100 Road Bike, but finding it, how can I say, hard work trying to get the pedals going. Unable to get the pedals to turn fast enough to feel as though I am sprinting, feels more like 3 quarter pace, have never topped out going down hill, even on the flats, it just seems alot of hard work getting the bike to move.

Just had a shot on my friends Giant Road Bike, feels much smoother, easier to push the pedals and at top speed finding sprinting oh so much quicker.

Have you any suggestions as to how I can get this effect on my Esperia 5100?

Feels slightly heavier than the Giant Road Bike, but I have an old Raleigh Mountain Bike, which has a stainless steel frame, which I have reached 43mph on, whereas my Esperia 5100 has only reached 40mph, down the same hill, but oh my god did I have to work hard to get it to hit 40.

Please help, love the look of my new Esperia 5100, but I am at my wits end."

Bronzie

Probably a stupid question, but has your mate checked all the bearings are running smoothly - especially rear wheel hub, front wheel hub and bottom bracket bearings?

Steve_F

I asked this and he has been checked all moving parts are moving freely and applied grease anywhere he can. He also thinks the front wheel slows down very quickly compared to his mountain bike when spinning it with no resistance.

The bike has also been back to Halfords who said they could see nothing wrong with it.

I've had a spin on it myself and it does feel a bit sluggish and unresponsive.

Bronzie

Steve_F wrote:

I've had a spin on it myself and it does feel a bit sluggish and unresponsive.

Maybe it's just a bit crap - never heard of the brand - what's the frame material - aluminium or old gas pipe?

Steve_F

Lead

It's not a great bike but I had an old Apollo road bike (as my 1st road bike) that put this thing to shame. Can't believe that a road bike with skinny tyres can be as slow as this is.

Bronzie

Try swapping the wheels off your Giant - if the wheels are really rubbish, they could make the bike feel really slow, but it's a bit of a longshot - seems very odd to me that it should feel so slow unless there is a mechanical problem such as tight bearing or brakes rubbing :?

Steve_F

Okay cheers, much the same as I was thinking, we just need to get the bikes into work on the same day now and give that a bash. Haven't really had a chance to look over it myself but was stuck for ideas from what's described anyway.

meagain

Listed at 480 euros. With Campag Xenon I guess pretty much standard 350-400 quid "racing bike". Sounds like a mechanical glitch somewhere?

ademort

This bike is available for €399,and is obviously at the beginners end of the market.Just wondering did you compare the weight of the two bikes. If the Giant is much lighter than it may also explain why the Esperia is so slow?

Steve_F

Yes the Giant is a fair bit lighter which is expected at over double the price but I still wouldn't expect any road bike to top out at 40 mph.

Steve_F

Mystery solved - we took a look over the bike yesterday and the wheels weigh a ton!

They have a raised rim too which I think is even more of a disadvantage for the weight of these. Thanks for everyone's suggestions, hopefully we can now move to making this a slightly faster bike!

Bronzie

It will feel like a different bike with a pair of light wheels fitted both in terms of acceleration and handling