new bike around 1500, looking at cube, condor and others

zzgavin

Hello

tl;dr need >= 1500 road bike, but tempted by cyclocross too, please help

I bought a brompton about six months ago and fell in love with cycling again. I was riding 50-80 miles a week commuting on my brompton, mainly 50, but I broke my clavicle in a mountain biking fall in epping about a month ago. Sore, but the broken ribs hurt more, more or less fixing itself.

So I've had a few weeks to think about what I want out of a new bike. I was thinking of getting a cyclocross bike last winter, but enjoyed an easy sunny 30 miles via an evans ride-it event in London. I did a 16mile average without pushing it too hard and felt fresh afterwards, which was great. I borrowed at fuji team pro for the ride in a 58, which felt a bit small and a touch harsh. I had a great time on a borrowed fuji cross 2.0 on the same day and I live right near forest which links to Epping forest, so a 'cross bike would get used a lot.

Yet, the road ride and vast number of sportives have led me away from a cyclocross bike like a jake the snake or cube x-race and towards a pure road bike. I've also got a good few friends who ride on roads, so it's a good fit.

I'm 6'4" and pretty light for my height, 11st ish. Getting big 60/62 frames to test ride is a pain I've found, about as hard as finding cyclocross bikes in most stores. My budget is 1000 - 1500 or thereabouts and I'll not be using it for commuting or touring. I can't use cycle to work, as I'm freelance. I expect to do some sportives, maybe some racing, I live in London near Hog Hill. The racing is tempting, though I'm late 30s, so I know I'll not be breaking records, but I used to enjoy 10k running races. The tapes and sense of occasion definitely add something, but TT doesn't appeal.

I'm very taken with the cube agree gtc race at 1500, but I also had a long chat in Condor looking at a 2010 Squada and the custom fitting appeals. Both these are raved about in reviews. I've looked at canyon, ribble, rose etc, but I think for this one I want to test ride, then once I know my fit etc I can look at a future bike via mail order.

My lbs sells specialized, so I've tried a few things there and the sectuer was nice too, but living in London I've a good wide choice of shops. I've been in quite a few of them, but my shift from wannabe 'crosser to roadie happened around the time I fell, so I've ridden very few. BMc, felt colnago, cannondale etc all appeal. Good frame and wheels, plus great fit first, drive train can be upgraded, not so bothered by brand, but prettiness is up there.

So a few questions
- will a custom fit be better than a stock and maybe changing the stem
- should just I buy a nice cyclocross bike (x-terra from condor) and two sets of wheels? (gearing being the issue, I think?)
- is a sram apex double and the 11-32 worth hunting out over a 105 based setup. It's not that hilly near east London / essex, but I'll travel for rides.
- do I really need to spend 1500 on a first road bike (tempting as they get at that price range, I know buy the best...)

any thoughts on my cyclocross vs road decision welcome, plus other bikes I should look at. Long post, but I felt I should cover the bases
thanks Gavin

cal_stewart

think you can test ride canyons in london

zzgavin

Cal_Stewart I can't see that on their website, do you have a link? thanks, canyon do look nice and Gilbert rides one

mroli

ZZGavin - as a Squadra rider, I can only say that the fit and service from Condor was excellent. If you are indeed, a "bigger" rider, then I'm sure that they would fit you well. I have the 2009 Squadra (I assume that it has only got better since then) and have absolutely no issues with it whatsover. I have raced on it, done sportives on it, ridden it from JOG to LE in 9 days and am currently using it to climb hills (see blog in sig). I ride it with SRAM Rival - a compact and a biggest cog of 26 on the back and I'm getting up the steepest hills in the UK.

The only thing I would say about Condor is that you won't get the MOST bang for your buck there. What you will get is a decent bike with a good spec that fits you. If you wanted to max your cash, you could get a full carbon bike with Force/Red bits on it from someone like Ribble/planet x.

In relation to gearing, personally I would stick with a compact and see how you get on. If you need to, an apex rear mech and a 32 cassette could just be swapped in. I think generally you'd miss the nice close ratio of a normal cassette if you got a 32.

Hope that all helps.

Cheers

M

zzgavin

thanks mroli, particularly for the tip about gearing

any thought on the cyclocross vs road bike decision, anyone?
will a cyclocross bike on slicks frustrate me on the road?

nomadicbry

I've just bought a Cannondale CAAD10 105 groupset for £1300. I also upgraded the wheels to Kysrium Equipe which with giving the shop the wheels on it and my 10% of the cost of the bike to spend in the shop meant I got them for a ridiculously good price keeping the bike under the £1400 mark.

I'm just back from a 40 mile run and I have to say i was amazed at the responsiveness and amazing handling of the bike.

Weight wise, with the new wheels it ways the same as my son's £2k carbon Specialized Tarmac Comp.

If you can find a dealer definitely give it a test ride.
Also the roads up here are a disgrace but the bike despite it being aluminium felt smooth and sublime with very little road buzz.

All in I'm grinning like the cheshire cat and would highly recommend it.
I posted a pic of the bike on the CAAD10 post in this thread if you want to check out how it looks

Cheers
Bryan

nomadicbry

BTW if you are a sole trader or limited company you can legally set up a C2W scheme so speak to your accountant. I'm a limited company and purchased the bike as a company asset and the company loans me the bike to go to work on so don't discount a C2W scheme.

nomadicbry

BTW if you are a sole trader or limited company you can legally set up a C2W scheme so speak to your accountant. I'm a limited company and purchased the bike as a company asset and the company loans me the bike to go to work on so don't discount a C2W scheme.

zzgavin

thanks nomadicbry

I'll take a look at the cannondales too, btw was the wheel deal from a chain or lbs?

I know that a limited company can setup a cycle to work scheme, but I thought that for a sole contractor, not on paye, it was only possible to write this down as a company expense and get tax relief that way (hp or zero percent deals are allowed too)

thanks Gavin

nomadicbry

LBS

drkawaszelong

zzgavin wrote:

any thought on the cyclocross vs road bike decision, anyone?
will a cyclocross bike on slicks frustrate me on the road?

i've got a planet x sl pro, and decided to try out my mates genesis vapour (i think it's a vapour) cyclocross bike which had slicks. and it requires a ridiculous amount of effort to keep the speed up compared to my road bike, even on the flats. Although the ride position is more relaxed, i found myself cruising at around 8/9 mph slower than on the road bike

it's also worth checking out planet x and ribble because they're rated quite highly for the money. with planet x you can get a Nanolight with Sram Red for £1500 atm.

apologies for the slight bias towards planet x..

rolf_f

DrKawaszelong wrote:

Although the ride position is more relaxed, i found myself cruising at around 8/9 mph slower than on the road bike

Your mate must have greased the bearings with cement! I'm only about 2 or 3 mph slower on my steel framed mountain bike, with knobblies and draggy brakes than my carbon road bike.

drkawaszelong

Rolf F wrote:

DrKawaszelong wrote:

Although the ride position is more relaxed, i found myself cruising at around 8/9 mph slower than on the road bike

Your mate must have greased the bearings with cement! I'm only about 2 or 3 mph slower on my steel framed mountain bike, with knobblies and draggy brakes than my carbon road bike.

haha, i found the gearing was just slowing me down, cus i think it was 46 or 44 in the big ring, and although he had slicks on, i could still feel alot of resistance

or maybe it's just that the genesis vapour isn't that good a bike? lol

zzgavin

thanks, I figured the upright position, 46 vs 50/53 and geometry would have some effect.

compact narrow range it is, a 'crosser can be my n+1