New Bike - what do I need?
tangled_metal
Posts: 4,021
Hi there,
I'm new here so forgive me if I ask a newbie question that had been asked a thousand times before. I've cycled on and off for many years but over the last year I have been getting into doing it more regularly and even managed to do 2 or so months of regular commuting to work last summer (before the rains kicked in and I lost the will to live cycling to work). Then one of the bosses started throwing around cyclescheme leaflets that had come in the post. We can take advantage of these apparently.
Anyway that got me thinking I could upgrade my 20 year old 501 tubed steel road bike. The headset and gears and cranks and brakes are pretty much shot anyway. I got that because I had no intention of doing anything other than ride the roads as fast as I could back then (young and daft). Now I am looking at a range of possible uses in this one and only bike. These include in no particular order: -
Commuting 8 mile each way on country roads some of which are pretty ropey surfaces.
Leisure riding in the evening and weekends on own or in groups (mostly local free cycle scene)
Touring with lightweight camping gear (can get backpacking gear down to about 9kg so perhaps only a little more for bike gear).
Also I'd like to be able to get offroad if possible but expect this is not with a fast road bike
Did I say I want to be able to go fast? Possibly doing the odd 10 TT
The C2W scheme is up to £1000 and that is my top price.
What should I get??
I'm new here so forgive me if I ask a newbie question that had been asked a thousand times before. I've cycled on and off for many years but over the last year I have been getting into doing it more regularly and even managed to do 2 or so months of regular commuting to work last summer (before the rains kicked in and I lost the will to live cycling to work). Then one of the bosses started throwing around cyclescheme leaflets that had come in the post. We can take advantage of these apparently.
Anyway that got me thinking I could upgrade my 20 year old 501 tubed steel road bike. The headset and gears and cranks and brakes are pretty much shot anyway. I got that because I had no intention of doing anything other than ride the roads as fast as I could back then (young and daft). Now I am looking at a range of possible uses in this one and only bike. These include in no particular order: -
Commuting 8 mile each way on country roads some of which are pretty ropey surfaces.
Leisure riding in the evening and weekends on own or in groups (mostly local free cycle scene)
Touring with lightweight camping gear (can get backpacking gear down to about 9kg so perhaps only a little more for bike gear).
Also I'd like to be able to get offroad if possible but expect this is not with a fast road bike
Did I say I want to be able to go fast? Possibly doing the odd 10 TT
The C2W scheme is up to £1000 and that is my top price.
What should I get??
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Comments
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Welcome to the forum.
Not sure if I can help with something that fits everything you want but similar questions have been asked about cycle to work.
Have a go at the search function for either C2W or £1000 and you should get some answers.
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Tangled Metal wrote:What should I get??
Four different jobs0 -
Four bikes or four jobs to pay for a bike to do each of these things?
Being lazy, should use search function but if bikeradar is like any other forum I've been on I never seem to find something relevant. Anyway will try.
BTW was looking at a Ribble audax bike with 105 groupset. Think I'd get mavic askium wheelset too. What do you think? Are they any good as they seem cheap for a 105 specced bike.
Thought about a cyclocross bike with changed tyres for commuting or road use then change tyres back to CX tyres if I have any off road jaunts. The off road thing has come about because my mates all ride hybrids or MTBs (one has more road type of tyres on his plus full front and rear racks). When we go for a ride we started off only on the road but the guy who seems to lead most of the rides has a full suspension mountain bike and that is the main riding he does. Result he has started sneaking in off road sections. Started with about 1.5 miles on a track that my road bike could do but ended up with more rocky stuff the road bike couldn't. Really don't like carrying my bike for a couple of miles or having to race round a road diversion that is 3 times longer and never seeing the group again that day.
Anyway I guarantee mostly to be on th road so am thiking of forgetting about those offroad sections.0 -
Although the Orbea CXer looked good when I looked at it. Genesis seems to do some good bikes too. Also Kinesis. I've drooled over one made up in two of my local bike shops but they were only specials (probably for someone who cancelled it too late) and not my size.0
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You can't go wrong with a 105 Ribble. There are a lot of Ribble owners on here from winter bikes to their newer sportive bikes.
105 groupset would do you fine.0 -
For 1k you can get a carbon Ribble - I'm commuting on a Gran Fondo I got on C2W.
As for the old bike - don't give up on it. A headset costs £20 or less. The brakes probably just need a clean and new pads. A bottom bracket is £15 and chainrings less than £20. Bikes like that are cheap to renovate and it is better to learn the techniques on an old bike than a new one (and you'll need to otherwise your new bike will end up the same way!). Mostly it probably just needs a clean and regrease.
I have a 20 year old 501 frame bike and love it - I renovated it a couple of years ago and have put a good 6000 miles on it since. Still looks smart.
PS the bloke who leads your rides sounds like a plank.Faster than a tent.......0 -
He's alright just doesn't think of roadies as real cyclists. Yes, he is a bit of a plank but he is only trying to wind me up. The routes he does do is really good as he is really just an offroader so the fact he mostly does on road for our group is good for him. Most of the people are on MTB or hybrids so their bikes can actually cope ok. Even though some prefer to walk next to their bikes on the offroad sections if it gets a little rocky. It is the Lakes afterall so can get rocky. i took my previous road bike offroad but it was sold as a fast tourer even though it had no means to put on a rack other than p clips. It was a bloody heavybike though. When I got my current steelie 20 years ago I set off from the bike shop (first time with toeclips) like I would with my old heavy bike. This used to mean a big stomp on the pedal to gt momentum as it was heavy and was uphill too. Did this on my new, lighter bike and sent the bike out from under me.
Took some time to get used to a lighter bike. I found it so much more responsive and lively. Had to watch out as I could almost manhandle it out from under me when pulling on the bars to get up all the 1 in 4s near me. Was hard to get going as the gearing was a lot closer than my old bike. Not good when you live on a hill and there is one 1 in 5 hill and all the others are 1 in4!!. Still I find it free wheels nicely now. Going at the same speed as others over the top of a hill I tend to freewheel away from them. Lower friction in the bearings I guess. Means I can freewheel up a little at the end of the hill too. Good on easy rides out with the group.
I really should not write off the old 501 bike. It is only 10,5kg which is not too bad really. The bet CXer I was going to go for was still only 9.5 to 10kg anyway. Although the RIbble 105 audax should be lighter and any road I got for £1k would probably be 8kg or so I reckon.0
