I've inherited a really good road bike, what now?

berrydan

Hi all,

My father has been riding road bikes for many years. One of his close cycling partners recently passed away and left me his bike. I have been commuting every day for about 10 years on cheap second hand bikes and this one was left to me because he wanted me to get into riding road bikes - something I would love to do!

The problem is that it's a 56 or 57 cm frame and a couple of cm too big for me. I took it out for a 25 mile cycle around regents park on Sunday - willing myself to grow a bit - and it's fabulously fast but very uncomfortable. I am going to have to strip it, sell or exchange it and buy myself a new/second hand one.

My father tells me that it cost around £2500 new but we have no idea how much it is worth second hand or where the best place to sell/exchange it is. Any advice anyone has would be really appreciated! How much should I sell it for and where? Maybe its better stripping this bike and putting all the bits onto a new frame? Its in good condition

Here are the details of the bike. I have a photo too but it doesn't look like I can upload it to the forum.

- Colnago frame CT2 H2, the bike shop told me that it wasn't carbon fibre but an alloy.
- Wheels: mavic elite ksyrium
- Colnago carbon fibre seat post
- Fi'zi:k twin flex, aliante seat
- Handelbars: Forged lite Carbon LTM
- Shimano Altegra breaks, gears. On the gears it says flight deck. 20 speed
- Keo Spirit pedals

Thanks so much for any advice you have in advance!

Dan

Anonymous

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news mate, but you have inherited a freaking donkey, not a thoroughbred. Don't bother posting any more on the forum, private message me and I know someone who'll take this off your hands at a great price of 50 quid, do you a favour, you know?

Edit:

On a serious note, send me a private message...

unixnerd

Nice :-) The groupset is Shimano Ultegra, not Altegra. It's the second highest level and well respected. Colnagos are very highly regarded bike porn and that's a very nice set of wheels too.

If you feel you're reaching a bit far for the handlebars you can fit a shorter stem, it's not hard or expensive.

TMR

Very nice bike - lucky you!

You could go for a bike fit, where they will try to make the bike fit you by adjusting or swapping components. However, if the frame is really too big or too small then it'll never fit as well as one that's the right size.

Were I in your shoes, I'd go for a bike fit. If the frame is too big/too small, I'd sell the frame, strip the components off it and buy a new frame which does fit.

Good luck

schweiz

If NapD hasn't already bagged it, I'd be interested in the frame!

seadog12

Good advice about the bike fit - somewhere like Bike Science - http://www.bike-science.com/home-c-276.html - offer a basic service for £80. If there's only a couple of cm in it you might well be ok.
Failing that, the Biike Radar classifieds would be your next stop if you decided to sell to fund a more suitable bike.
You can't upload photos to the forum only link to already hosted ones - try http://www.flickr.com/ - you'll need to show photos and a price if you list on the classifieds.

Cheers!

Monty Dog

FWIW the CT2 is a classic frame - I'm still racing my CT1 because I like it so much - I have other carbon frames but they don't ride or handle as nicely on the rough road courses I ride. The frame is titanium with carbon forks and rear triangle - effectively the CT2 is a titanium main triangle (equivalent to 6/4 which is the best stuff) with a C50 at either end - the C50 was the best bike of it's time and the CT2 was close behind. The frame sold for about £1500 new about 6 years ago, and depending on condition you should still get a good price - they're not common and people collect Colnagos - so ebay is likely your best bet. The rest of the components / groupset actually doesn't add much value - a new owner is likely to fit something like Record or DuraAce in keeping with the quality of the frame. I have no interest in this frame - it's too big!

Anonymous

Far too small for me, heh heh.

Chris James

berrydan wrote:

Hi all,

The problem is that it's a 56 or 57 cm frame and a couple of cm too big for me.

Nice bike. Just out of interest, what height are you? Less than 5 ft 10 - 6 ft? You say the bike was given to you to get you into road bikes so maybe you aren't used to the position on a road bike?

As other posters have said, it may be worth getting a fitting. Obviously if you are 5ft 6 or something then the bike is never going to fit though!

berrydan

Hi All,

Thanks for the replys, really appreciated.

I'm 5 ft 9 so only a little bit too short for it and yes, definitely not used to the position on top of that.

My next step will be to take it for a bike fitting and see what they say and then a new frame if that doesn't work. I looked a bike science but I'm based in NW london. Any recommendations of good places around here?

Thanks for the advice!

Dan