New Bike or Upgrade?
Charlie Grey
Posts: 2
Greetings one and all,
This is my first posting (started some 30 seconds after joining) and the scenario is this;
I know virtually nothing about bikes but 15 years ago I was living and working in Italy and bought a Bianchi Spillo. Not being a full-on cycle-head and having the good luck to work from time to time in other countries it got used but never consistently.
Then, last year I moved to a little village, 12 miles from the nearest town with a dodgy (and expensive) bus service, thus I thought "get the bike out".
Whereupon, life changing decision, but at least two thousand miles later, I am currently some 8 hours away from cycling to Italy with tent and Trangia cooker, etc, etc.
So, the question is; what is the future of my beloved silver aluminium Bianchi Spillo frame?
The touring side of things is important as I will need panniers to put groceries in but the idea of a Sunday ride on a lighter bike is now very appealing.
Should I upgrade or get a new bike?
If I did upgrade I would lgo for something like Sram Rival, or Campy Centaur, or Shimano Tiagra/105. I would also consider a carbon seat post and handlebars, so maybe £700+ of new kit.
You can buy a new bike for that - but in that case would I be better off budgeting £1000 fie a bew machine? And then, if not so much which make, it is more an issue of which sub-styles; carbon fibre frame or alu, etc? All of which are things that I do not pretend to have much knowledge of.
So, in the hope that this keeps some of you amused, I look forward to your opinions and hope you all have safe journeys.
Charlie
This is my first posting (started some 30 seconds after joining) and the scenario is this;
I know virtually nothing about bikes but 15 years ago I was living and working in Italy and bought a Bianchi Spillo. Not being a full-on cycle-head and having the good luck to work from time to time in other countries it got used but never consistently.
Then, last year I moved to a little village, 12 miles from the nearest town with a dodgy (and expensive) bus service, thus I thought "get the bike out".
Whereupon, life changing decision, but at least two thousand miles later, I am currently some 8 hours away from cycling to Italy with tent and Trangia cooker, etc, etc.
So, the question is; what is the future of my beloved silver aluminium Bianchi Spillo frame?
The touring side of things is important as I will need panniers to put groceries in but the idea of a Sunday ride on a lighter bike is now very appealing.
Should I upgrade or get a new bike?
If I did upgrade I would lgo for something like Sram Rival, or Campy Centaur, or Shimano Tiagra/105. I would also consider a carbon seat post and handlebars, so maybe £700+ of new kit.
You can buy a new bike for that - but in that case would I be better off budgeting £1000 fie a bew machine? And then, if not so much which make, it is more an issue of which sub-styles; carbon fibre frame or alu, etc? All of which are things that I do not pretend to have much knowledge of.
So, in the hope that this keeps some of you amused, I look forward to your opinions and hope you all have safe journeys.
Charlie
0
Comments
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More bikes is always better, but you've missed an important option off your list: upgrade your beloved, then buy a another frame to hang all the old bits off!2010 Cannondale CAAD9 Tiagra0
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I'm not sure but think you may run into issues if you look to upgrade your current frame. How many gears do you have currently at the rear? Is your rear wheel a cassette or screw on block?? My betting is an 8 speed screw on block.
If so then you may be looking towards new wheels also to upgrade to a 10spd cassette or at least a rear wheel rebuild with a new hub.
Not trying to be negative at all but hopefully you'll be able to find any potential issues before spending using advice on here.0 -
Unless you have a 130mm OLN rear dropout spacing you're wasting your time even thinking about an upgrade, and at 15 years old I would doubt that you have - but could be wrong! Not wishing to teach Granny etc, take out your rear whell and measure the distance between the inside faces of the rear drop-outs. If it's 126mm, forget it. With a steel frame you can either "spring" (force open) that dropouts to take 130mm (which is the width equired for 9/10/11 speed) or "cold set" (bend it so it is permanently deformed to give 130mm - and even then not on all steels) but with Alu I wouldn't recommend it. Too high a risk of creasing the tubes, as they have a much lower tensile strength / yield point than even gas pipe steels.
So I'd say maintain it as it is as long as you can get bits, and get another modern bike.0
