What frame, gruppo and wheels to buy

jon514

Hi,

I'm looking to buy my first bike. I am a 29 year old male 5'10 and 220 pounds with a 45 size chest. I am told that my torso is longer than my legs. I am looking to ride around 4-5 times a week for exercise with longer rides on the weekends around 2-3 hours. I will not be racing. I have been training 3 times a week on a simulator biketronic and have been loving it. I am very serious about getting a good bike that I wont want to upgrade for a few years.

I am looking for guidance as to what kind of frame to buy whether it be full carbon or aluminum or a combination of both. I also would appreciate any insight on where to invest whether it be in the frame or the groupo.

Some of the frames I looked at were from Guru and Argon 18. I also am looking at SRAM Red and Shimano Ultegra or Dura-Ace. Am I right in thinking to spend the bulk of the money on the frame and groupo? Will i break a carbon frame or carbon wheels if I hit a pot hole? My budget is around 4K $US

Thanks in advance.

Chip \'oyler

jon514 wrote:

Hi,

I'm looking to buy my first bike. I am a 29 year old male 5'10 and 220 pounds with a 45 size chest. I am told that my torso is longer than my legs. I am looking to ride around 4-5 times a week for exercise with longer rides on the weekends around 2-3 hours. I will not be racing. I have been training 3 times a week on a simulator biketronic and have been loving it. I am very serious about getting a good bike that I wont want to upgrade for a few years.

I am looking for guidance as to what kind of frame to buy whether it be full carbon or aluminum or a combination of both. I also would appreciate any insight on where to invest whether it be in the frame or the groupo.

Some of the frames I looked at were from Guru and Argon 18. I also am looking at SRAM Red and Shimano Ultegra or Dura-Ace. Am I right in thinking to spend the bulk of the money on the frame and groupo? Will i break a carbon frame or carbon wheels if I hit a pot hole? My budget is around 4K $US

Thanks in advance.

Once you start cycling, these words will come back to haunt you

jon514

I am really looking to buy the components separately rather than buy an already assembled bike. Any help with components would be appreciated.

huuregeil

jon,

With USD4k to spend, and this being your first bike, you'd be far far better off holding your fire and buying something cheap, maybe secondhand (USD500-1000 gets you a lot of bike on ebay), to start with and working out exactly what you like, what your position is like on the bike, what kind of riding you're doing etc.. It's quite likely you won't get it right first time and 4k is an awful lot to get wrong! Then, after some months, you can go shopping with a much better idea of what you need/want. You secondhand bike won't have been wasted, you could probably sell it for not much a loss or, if you like it, keep it as a winter/bad-weather bike.

Team Banana Spokesman

proper italian is "gruppo", not groupo

jon514

Today I went to a bike shop and was fitted. I'm a 56". They have a second hand 2009 Cervelo SLC-SL with Dura Ace gruppo and basic tires. They want $3500 CAD. Is this worth doing?

redddraggon

jon514 wrote:

Today I went to a bike shop and was fitted. I'm a 56". They have a second hand 2009 Cervelo SLC-SL with Dura Ace gruppo and basic tires. They want $3500 CAD. Is this worth doing?

$3500 CAD ~ £2000

So if the bike is in good condition it might well be worth it, SLC-SL were £2700ish frames. I assume 7800 dura ace? What wheels?

jon514

The bike is in great condition, it was stripped down by the mechanic at the shop and put back together. Its Dura Ace 7800 and I believe they were axium wheels. I was told they were lower end wheels around $800 CAD in order to keep the price down, which is fine with me because I know a lot of guys who have they're crappy wheels for spring and winter and have another set for summer into fall.

I would need to purchase pedals. Is this worth buying? I also like the fact that I wont lose a lot of money on depreciation should I decide to sell the bike in a few years.

giant_man

Good start jon at least you were fitted for sizing. A lot of people don't bother when starting out. The Cervelo sounds great, and yes you will need pedals.

Buying any bike will depreciate of course but Cervelos seem to hold their values better than most. Be sure to post some pics if purchase goes ahead.