after a top frame

canoas

Want to buy a top frame for a reasonable price and swap my mixture of chorus & record 11 over to the new frame.

So far I'm looking at:

BMC Pro Machine 2009 (Evans for £1,000 from £2,200 including seat port)
Pinarello Prince 2010 (from Slanecycles £2,650)
Colango C-59 (Mike Perry the Masetro! £2,800 including seat post)

I haven't ridden any of them! These all seem to have good reviews. Any suggestions, the Prod Machine is really cheap deal even for 2009 model saw that today.

C-59 looks incredible & reviews excellent

We all know about the Pinarello Prince, more of a race bike maybe?

Want to use as alrounder, races, sportives & Sunday rides etc.

Guglielmo

Wilier carbons are lovely - super comfy and perfect geometry for comfort/performance balance.

Top tubes are quite short for a given size, and headtubes are quite long without looking like gates. Perfect forthe useage you mention.

Oh and they are beautiful!

Chip \'oyler

£2,700 will get you the Viner Mitus 0.4. You can get the frame made-to-measure so will obviously fit you perfectly. This is the updated 2011 Mitus frame, so has oversized headtube, can be built with BB30, made with Toray T900 carbon and has the same rear triangle as the top of the range Maxima RS.

http://www.viner.it/index.php?option=co ... 72&lang=it

http://www.lebeauvelo.co.uk/index.php?o ... &Itemid=67

Down the Road

For £2800 you can get the Trek Madone 6 series painted to your own colours.

One of the best riding bikes out there.

marlin151

Also consider the Cervelo R3 - a great all rounder - light, stiff, a great climber and all day comfortable. You should be able to pick up a 2010 frame for @£1500 mark. Perfect for hilly sportives. 2011 model has new proprietary BB, so I doubt your existing crankset will fit ( although adaptors are becoming available).

If you want to go the aero route, the S2 / S3 frames get great reviews.

All these frames used "out of the box" at Pro Tour level. R3 won Paris Roubaix a couple of times.

If you have a Cervelo dealer locally, check wether they have test bikes. The larger stores tend to run them.

Personally, I would not buy a frameset at this level without trying it out first....

springtide9

PX Guru Team Nanolight?

Frame
http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/FRP ... n-frameset

Matching Carbon wheelset
http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/WPP ... ace-wheels

And it would get you something that looks like:
http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CBP ... -team-bike

Maybe no to everyones taste

58585

What frame are you riding just now? Are you happy with it? If not, why not?
You need to decide what you want based on the geometry you have just now
If you don't understand the geometry charts for these then I agree that you're taking a risk by not riding first, but it will be difficult finding test rides of them all I would imagine. I would also be careful going for a custom made frame if you don't know exactly the geometry you want.

If you are not particularly picky then things are a lot easier, but at this price I would go for something that you can see yourself keeping for many years, i.e. classic shape and paint scheme (rules out prince and bmc). Colnago is the obvious choice if you have your heart set on it already.

canoas

58585

Other guys reeling off other frames didn't even mention the 3 I posted!

I think i agree with you, Colnago C-59 will still be a classic look in 10 years time and still age with the new. Pinarello's age quickly, remember the old ones from 5 years ago they look odd now.

I know my geometry, I always feel the TTcm is the most crucial so I generally go by that, The Pinarello's and Colango's come in so many different sizes. I may just go to someone like Cyclefit or Sigma Sport who are Colango dealers and get measured. Usually that means no discount though. Maybe just have to live with it.

You really can't go wrong with a top of line Colnago as my mates keep telling me.

Evil Laugh

I wouldn't rule out an EPS if you're thinking Colnago. I rode both the EPS and C59 at cyclefit and both were awesome. The EPS felt more all day, just velvety smooth, the C59 stiff and ridiculously exciting. I'm sure both could be set up and built up with different wheels etc to feel either way but that was my experience.

A few points about Cyclefit..

Cyclefit tried telling me the C59 was a sportive bike, slow handling, relaxed geometry. Didn't feel like that to me at all which I found a bit weird.

Another thing to bear in mind with them is I get the impression they would push you towards their type of fit, ie pretty upright. Two reasons for this.

Firstly they took the measurements of my current bike before setting up the Colnagos. They commented a bit about the fit, the drop to the bars being excessive. I asked them to move things 5-10mm here and there as my current fit was a little out (difficult to adjust quickly with quill stem) and what they gave me back on the Colnagos was absolutely spot on. I felt they still thought it was way out.

Secondly when I said I wanted a traditional horizontal tt they again were a bit disapproving saying that they then always have to build the front end of the bike up too much, suggesting they promote an upright fit.

For a few reasons I'm holding off on the C59 until the end of the year but have done a bit of trial and error Colnago shopping and a traditional frame is going to suit me fine without any front end spacer stacks. I've also since changed the position on my current bike using the alterations I asked for at cyclefit and the only thing that hurts occasionally are my legs.

When I do pull the trigger on the C59, I'll be a bit hesitant to go back to them. Despite the fact they are down the road from me I'll probably go to Maestro. Mike was very affable, interested and sincere when I rang and spoke to him about ordering the frame. I'm gonna pop in Sigma tomorrow and see what they're like too as they are also close.


Another thing to consider if you know your size is ebay europe. For example I picked up a brand new, warrantied Colnago Extreme C for a 3rd of a new C59 recently. There's some good deals about in Italy, France and Germany if you're prepared to be a bit patient and hunt around. Seller was amazing, got the frame in 3 days from Italy. There's some money left over there for a top groupset and wheels.

Whatever you go for, good luck!

You'll probably tell I'm massively biased one way.

giant_man

I tried both the C59 and EPS at Cyclefit also, but they seemed very good ie fitting. They didn't tell me the C59 is a sportive ride, I told them I thought the C59 is a real mountain top finisher whereas the EPS as you say an ideal all day bike.

You can try Sigma but to me they're overpriced compared to others. Maestro is your best best as you say you know your size.

C59 recommended ..... but try one first definitely, but I can guarantee you'll buy one once you have tried it.

StillGoing

I'm more than happy with the Basso Astra frame and forks I bought for £1,500, but with your money, the range of choice is going to be very wide.

canoas

I have heard from a few others that Cyclefit tend to finish with riders in an upright position than they would normally feel....I have heard very positive feedback from customers.

Evil Laugh you are a Mr Colnago indeed. One guy in Italy I know says the C-59 is a really good climbers bike, and generally overall the C-59 is the business. However, he did say decent rides are great with the C-59 but not the greatest bike out there for decent. I did see Procycling mag gave it 8/10 for decent, everything else 9 or 10

What about Pinarello Prince? Haven't heard any comments yet about the Prince!

magliaceleste

From experience I'd recommend a C59 too. Also check out the EPS as advised above. If it wasn't for the fact that they charge full RRP, I'd suggest Sigma Sport.

Check some other reviews. I think if you ask owners, descending on Colnagos is one of their better points (super stable) so they are some strange comments. Also Procycling mag didn't give ratings in their printed "review" and in the C59 review in front of me the descending is being praised by Marcel.

Again, from experience, the Viner Mitus as mentioned above is also well worth considering. I loved mine.

At this price range you've got lots of options...The Cento should also definitely be considered.

gbr236

just a thought
Specialized SWORKS SL3? Good enough for much of the pro peloton
Comfy light but maybe not 'boutique' enough??

Rodrego Hernandez

Given your choice of 3, Colnago every time. Mainly for the reasons stated. Avoid cyclefit - they'l set you up to look like a bell-end. Get Mike Perry to fit you.

canoas

It looks like Colnago C-59 is winning outright, anyone want to comment on the Pinarello Prince my other choice........Dogma is too expensive for me.