Help: Isaac ultra sonic bike - worth a punt or not??

Cllr Hodgen
Cllr Hodgen Posts: 495
edited December 2009 in Road buying advice
Thanks all in advance for ANY advice on the frame or the quality of the ride, all i can find is, it's a stiff ride... erh surely that's a good thing, my s works is mega stiff...

Hodgy.

Comments

  • inseine
    inseine Posts: 5,788
    Well I wouldn't, but it's your choice. At the very least you've gotta find the forks first, but your choice is being clouded by the fact that it was a 2k frame. Say you can find forks arnd they're £100, you can get loads better winter frames for £550. It might be flash and stiff but is that really what you need?
    http://cyclinganddesign.blogspot.fr/
  • Cllr Hodgen
    Cllr Hodgen Posts: 495
    edited February 2010
    yeah in theory, you're bob on the money... but i was looking to change from an alloy winter frame to a carbon winter frame, and i was looking around £3/400 mark..., i'll hold tight and wait to see what other options are out there first before rushing into an isaac frenzy!! haha :D
  • redjeepǃ
    redjeepǃ Posts: 531
    Ok, now I have an Isaac, but a lower spec one than the Ultra Sonic and I'm very pleased with it. I also know people with Sonics and Ultra Sonics.

    I also think the comments about them being very stiff and the associated problems of being uncomfortable are a fallacy, I've never felt uncomfortable on mine even after some fairly long rides (9hrs +).

    That said, I wouldn't buy a bike or a frame just because it was cheap, make sure that it's what you want and as inseine say's there's better winter bikes around if that's what you're looking for. I don't think that I'd be too worried about the recent, well documented problems with Isaac, as I feel a lot of that was due to them disclosing something that potentially affected other manufacturers, but they hadn't disclosed. I'm sure the new Dutch backers are prepared to stand by their bikes.

    So, in summary, buy it if it's what you're looking for but don't buy it just because you can get it cheap is my advice (for what it's worth).
  • Cllr Hodgen
    Cllr Hodgen Posts: 495
    very helpful thanks redjeep!... i am seriously tempted anyway,... yeah it's a bit flash... but what the hey...

    have you have any experience of riding them on cobbles? As i intend to do the tour de flanders sportif on it should i get it... my ribble scandium is rather a sturdy old horse, it's a lovely bike and i like it a lot, but i feel the time has come now for us to part...

    I was also looking at either a bmc streetfire thingy, which is lovely in design etc, or moving to a cheap carbon set up... but all the components on my ribble are spot on, campag record o.l.d hubs with open pro rims, campag record groupo, itm carbon sl finishing kit etc... so i thought why not just pull all the bits off and whack them on here as a cheap, but sensible upgrade... just the forks now to solve, if i can't do that, then i'll be looking at sticking with something more sensible...

    Thanks both so far for your input, very sensible level headed advice!

    Cheers, Hodgy.
  • redjeepǃ
    redjeepǃ Posts: 531
    No cobbles, but plenty of experience on poor quality roadsurfaces in Ireland and Wales and no real bother.

    I've clattered it accidently through a few very large potholes, with no bother so far.
  • Cllr Hodgen
    Cllr Hodgen Posts: 495
    haha, sounds like my kind of roads round the lovely lake district... they are all washed out... especially after the floods last week etc!!! Anyway, sounds good, as i'm always one on the road ahead to check for pots, so shouldn't be too much of a worry...

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