One bike to do it all?

NorwegianBlue

Hi,

I'm currently running round on an old Peugeot Electra which is actually a good old bike. It is, however, getting a bit long in the tooth the main problem is that I don't think the wheels will outlast the coming winter. So being realistic I reckon it's not worth spending cash on new wheels, bearing in mind that it will probably need new transmission bits at the same time. And given that 126mm OLN rear wheels are getting hard to come by I think it will need pensioning off in the new year.

So I'll hopefully be treating myself to a new bike for christmas. I'm not one for having loads of different bikes, partly for economic reasons, partly due to a lack of storage space and partly because I think that the industry is conning people into believing they need seperate bikes for racing, training, commuting, touring, audax and an extra one for the winter months.

So I'll be wanting a do it all bike. I don't plan to do any racing, but I'd like a bike that can do club runs, audax and a bit of commuting. The fun part is that it shouldn't cost more than about £500. I've been looking around and about the only thing I can see that would seem to fit the bill is the Dawes Audax.

Is there anything else out there that would do a similar job for a similar or better price?

Cheers,

GJ

redddraggon

The Ribble Winter/Audax bike?

NorwegianBlue

I'd look, but the bikebuilder on their website doesn't seem to be working at the moment...

roger_merriman

if it's a old steel frame then you can more than likely take 130mm wheels, as you say you'll likely need to change the gears.

but it can be done, downtube shifters as well. but it's not cheap, good £400 or so

redddraggon

NorwegianBlue wrote:

I'd look, but the bikebuilder on their website doesn't seem to be working at the moment...

Unless you are using Internet Explorer their bike builder won't work.......who ever designed the site needs shooting.

redddraggon

Too add to my first statement.....

I'd only really recommend getting the Ribble Audax bike if you are willing to build a bike up yourself - I did mine for less than £500 with Veloce/Centaur mix, Vento wheels and a saddle that is actually good and doesn't need to be binned.

Smokin Joe

redddraggon wrote:

Too add to my first statement.....

I'd only really recommend getting the Ribble Audax bike if you are willing to build a bike up yourself - I did mine for less than £500 with Veloce/Centaur mix, Vento wheels and a saddle that is actually good and doesn't need to be binned.

Same here, but with a Mirage/Xenon mix. If I was allowed to only have one bike, that would be the one I'd go for.

NorwegianBlue

redddraggon wrote:

Unless you are using Internet Explorer their bike builder won't work.......who ever designed the site needs shooting.

Great. Write your site so it won't work with standards based browsers. Well I'm certainly not going to buy anything from a company that doesn't make an effort.

NorwegianBlue

roger merriman wrote:

if it's a old steel frame then you can more than likely take 130mm wheels, as you say you'll likely need to change the gears.

but it can be done, downtube shifters as well. but it's not cheap, good £400 or so

Exactly my thoughts. Yes I could spend that sort of money, but with all those new parts it's still, at heart, an old bike. And at that point you have to wonder whether it's economically more sensible to spend a bit more on a brand new bike.

fast as fupp

redddraggon wrote:

NorwegianBlue wrote:

I'd look, but the bikebuilder on their website doesn't seem to be working at the moment...

Unless you are using Internet Explorer their bike builder won't work.......who ever designed the site needs shooting.[/quote

works with safari

fast as fupp

redddraggon wrote:

NorwegianBlue wrote:

I'd look, but the bikebuilder on their website doesn't seem to be working at the moment...

Unless you are using Internet Explorer their bike builder won't work.......who ever designed the site needs shooting.[/quote

works with safari

NorwegianBlue

fast as fupp wrote:

works with safari

Oh good. That's alright then, so what I need to do is buy a copy of another operating system or maybe a whole new computer so I can look at their website. That makes lazy coding perfectly acceptable then. With that level of customer service I think I'll rush out and buy one of their bikes tomorrow.

vernonlevy

NorwegianBlue wrote:

fast as fupp wrote:

works with safari

Oh good. That's alright then, so what I need to do is buy a copy of another operating system or maybe a whole new computer so I can look at their website. That makes lazy coding perfectly acceptable then. With that level of customer service I think I'll rush out and buy one of their bikes tomorrow.

You can't put all the blame on Ribble. In all likelihood Ribble engaged the services of a web media company who neglected to cater for Firefox and the like.

Has anyone taken the time to let Ribble know that the bike builder function excludes a lot of potential customers?

NorwegianBlue

vernonlevy wrote:

You can't put all the blame on Ribble. In all likelihood Ribble engaged the services of a web media company who neglected to cater for Firefox and the like.

Has anyone taken the time to let Ribble know that the bike builder function excludes a lot of potential customers?

Of course you can blame Ribble. It's their website after all. If they want to sell bikes then they need to put some effort into it. If they want to sell bikes on the internet then it's up to them to make sure their website works. If a business pays a contractor to do some work and doesn't bother to check the work is done right then they deserve to fail in that endevour. Project management is everything in business.

nick hanson

I'm sorry,but I can't get round your obsession with moaning about their website.
The bikes are top value for money,if you've got £500 spare.
You DON'T need the bike builder,the bikes are available as a standard order,just check out the Ribble advert in Cycling Weekly.
For that price,there doesn't seem anything to touch them

a_n_t

very happy with mine!

NorwegianBlue

nick hanson wrote:

I'm sorry,but I can't get round your obsession with moaning about their website.
The bikes are top value for money,if you've got £500 spare.
You DON'T need the bike builder,the bikes are available as a standard order,just check out the Ribble advert in Cycling Weekly.
For that price,there doesn't seem anything to touch them

Obsession? I'm not obsessed, but I'm planning to spend a month's mortgage payment on a bike. My hard earned and therefore my choice. Therefore I need to make judgements and I've made a judgement on Ribble. It's just a personal opinion, and maybe it's because I used to be a salesman, but I think that when you are selling you should bend over backwards to accomodate the customer (oooerrr, obviously). Imagine advertising in the press and not giving an address or any contact details. Sure a customer could use directory enquiries to find the address, but why should they have to?

I don't buy Cycling Weekly. When it comes to researching a purchase these days the internet is the place to be. I'm not going to go out and buy a, frankly overpriced, rag on the offchance that there might be a useful advertisment in there when I've got the whole wibbly wobbly web to go at for free.

Mettan

I had my Ribble (pic below) built up 4 days ago (lbs):

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/3969 ... setrr5.jpg

Very pleased, (and a perfectly competent frame and forks for the price) - would recommend, esp, if you're on a budget - certainly worth a look.

feel

A little over budget but a condor fratello would seem to tick all the boxes. They are extremely well reviewed and start at £799. You never remember what you pay for something, just whether you are happy with it