Help with my Road bike

ADB328

Hi All

I've always been more MBing than Road biking but have just been given an old road bike by my brother. He put on new Mavic krysium? wheels on it last year but he informs me that everything else is pretty shot on it after years of abuse.

So i was wondering is it possible to buy a complete bike minus the wheels, would this save me any money or just buy a whole new bike?

I was looking at doing some triathlons later in the year. What do you think?

peejay78

just buy a whole new bike. if the wheels on the new bike are below par compared to the ksyriums, then sell those and keep the Ks.

you're unlikely to find a part-build without wheels. and the price difference probably won't be anywhere near the kind of value you'd find with a full build.

ADB328

In that case can i get some recomendations on a bike?

Budget of about 800?

Cheers all

peejay78

hmmm.

something by boardman would be probably the best value, and best bike.

cyberknight

The entry level boardman is indeed a cracking bike for the money with 105/tiagra kit i believe.

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

The next level up is £719 and has sram rival

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


Vitus bikes from CRC have had a good review as well

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=49201


I would personally go for the boardman as your local halfords are liable to be able to get one in to try for size, certainly lots of bang for your buck.

I only ride carrera bikes as i am (swmbo tells me to ) cheap

unixnerd

Ksyriums are suyperb wheels, a new set is over 400 quid so you want to keep those.

For 659 this is stunning value and one of the best made frames money can buy:
http://www.leisurelakesbikes.com/produc ... ?&id=11904 Those were selling for around a grand not long ago.

Put your wheels on it and you'll have a stunning bike.

peejay78

boardman is better than crackandfail.

unixnerd

boardman is better than crackandfail.

I must contact Mavic and tell them, the fools were giving folk CAAD9s as the "emergency" bikes on last years Tour de France - if only they'd know the Boardman was better! I'm sure Halfords give better service than you're average Cannondale dealer too.....

peejay78

absolutely; you must tell them now!

mavic service course as well! poor Jens, he never even knew how close he came to death!

thank god for halfrauds.

peejay78

here's the story about Jens....
http://www.bicycling.com/tour-de-france ... -sag-wagon

mikeyboy12345

ADB328 wrote:

Hi All

I've always been more MBing than Road biking but have just been given an old road bike by my brother.

What bike is it? Some frames will be worth keeping (or selling). And what exactly is wrong with? There may not be much - pads and cables are uber-cheap, and bear in mind that even cassette & chain on a brand-new bike will likely need changing after a few months' use. Might be worth fixing up and keeping as a winter hack or indoor trainer for rollers/turbo sessions.

ADB328

mikeyboy12345 wrote:

ADB328 wrote:

Hi All

I've always been more MBing than Road biking but have just been given an old road bike by my brother.

What bike is it? Some frames will be worth keeping (or selling). And what exactly is wrong with? There may not be much - pads and cables are uber-cheap, and bear in mind that even cassette & chain on a brand-new bike will likely need changing after a few months' use. Might be worth fixing up and keeping as a winter hack or indoor trainer for rollers/turbo sessions.

Its a Giant. Now this i cant remeber (decathlon? no probably not ill check tomorrow when im back at work (its stored there) the cassette is apparently spent and the bearings in the pedal are going as well.

i could keep it as a winter bike and just do bits to it when i can afford it.

rickwiggans

Sorry to disagree - but I bought my last bike minus wheels - so it can be done. LBS though, and I knew exactly what I wanted

ADB328

rickwiggans wrote:

Sorry to disagree - but I bought my last bike minus wheels - so it can be done. LBS though, and I knew exactly what I wanted

How did you go about that?

rickwiggans

Just went in and asked! I specced the bike, from the frame up, and said but I don't want any wheels. I took the wheels in so they could complete the build. I do have a long relationship with the shop, but I see no reason why any decent LBS wouldn't do that for you. come to think of it, I've also had a bike built up previous to that but specified no saddle, coz I wanted to use my own. That was a different LBS, so I'd ask around. Admittedly it might be more difficult if you are picking a standard off the shelf bike - then they would be left with the wheels.

Butterd2

Which Ksyriums are they? Equipe and ok put them on an £800 bike, SSC SL's and the wheels will be far better than the bike they are on. If so and they are in good nick, sell them and go shopping for a whole bike with a budget of £1100-1200 instead.