First racing bike

worthy

HI all,

I'm looking to get my first racing bike at the tender age of 35, weight 16 stone and not having done any exercise in about 4 years. Good plan I know. I've found a Trek 1.2C and would be grateful to hear any feedback on the bike. I've got an excellent bike shop called Saddle safari near me who have been excellent in providing advise etc but they only stock the Trek racing bikes. Just wondered if there is a better alternative (non Trek).

Many thanks

Simon

duncanw

Halfords have reduced the price of the following Boardman bike from £599 to £499 and the components are a bit better than the Trek 1.2C.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... 65710#dtab

Mark Alexander

Simon, definitely look around. go to other Local bike shop's (LBS) How much do you want to spend? What are you going to use it for (I know... cycling) sportif, commuting etc.

worthy

Thanks for that. I'm going to use it initially to get myself fit so commuting and for fun. Once I've achieved a good level of fitness then I'd like to join a club and do some competitions.

Mettan

If you're new to Road bikes, you might want to consider a bike with a Compact or Triple chainset - Double's are fine if you're well-trained or you predominantly ride in flat areas - however, if you're planning on possibly doing a couple of hilly Sportives this summer, a Compact or Triple might be more suitable.

Mark Alexander

I'd recommend against a tripple. I bought one for the 'incase I need it' aspect and have used it twice in 5 years and that was in the first 2 months when I bonked. it doesn't look good either.

alfablue

The Trek 1.2 is a good bike, my g/f has one, it rides very well, takes mudguards and even coped with loaded touring very well.

I would recommend a triple. Given your weight and lack of exercise I think it could be useful, also whilst you may be able to "muscle" it up hills in big gears, remember your achiles tendons may complain - I have suffered from tendonitis because I will not walk up any hill, regardless of the load I carry on the bike, but that is a bit dumb - and if you get tendonitis, your chances of a complete rupture are much increased (this is pretty awful!). The risks also increase with age, and typically it affects thirty-somethings returning to vigorous sports after they have lost the flexibility.

A triple doesn't look bad (often the inner ring is black so doesn't show anyway, not that it matters one jot), and once you regain your fitness and know what you want or need your next bike can have a compact or double if you want. But for starters, go triple!

worthy

That's some great advice, many thanks to all for that. I need to give some thought to the triple or compact gearing so I'm going to look into that further. Once again thanks a million for taking the time to give me some advice.

cheers

Simon