New winter toy first impressions
pilot_pete
Posts: 2,120
Well, just splashed out on one of these http://m.feltbicycles.com/productcatalo ... ct/2/34539 for winter as I have used my road bike for the last two winters and it needs more love and cuddles than that, plus of course the old n+1 rule simply must be obeyed!
Purchased from Wiggle on Friday evening, delivered built up in the biggest bike box I have ever seen on Tuesday morning. Can't complain there then. With BC discount of 12% I paid £1188. Can't complain there either! What a great looking machine it is in the flesh. All I had to do was fit the bars, adjust saddle height, put my pedals on and it was ready to go.
First trip to the bike shop to get a saddle bag and some suitable spare tubes, just in case. Gears needed a little tweaking and the Avid BB5s a little adjustment to stop the disks binding when stomping on the peddles and all was good. First proper ride out this morning with a bunch of mates, who were all impressed at the look of the machine. We covered 60 miles, on roads, but some of these Cheshire Lanes proved it to be the perfect tool for this winter!
It rides very smoothly on those wider tyres (32s) and just soaks up potholes, very comfy! It is on its original knobblies and the extra drag was noticeable over my 23mm shod road bike, but no surprises there. I shall play with the pressures to get the best of both worlds and probably get a set of road specific winter tyres as the majority of my riding will be on roads, and I will keep the knobblies for 'excursions into the dirt'.
The bike is solid and completely rattle free. Not weighed it yet, but it is certainly heavier than my Pinarello, but again, no surprises there either. I can feel the difference when climbing, although today's route was merely undulating, not hilly. Should get me nice and strong for when I jump back on the Piñarello and go skyward! My mates commented before the ride that it should slow me down a bit, but their comments changed by the end as it seemed not to have!
I pulled everyone along for quite a long turn into wind and it felt (no pun intended!) good. The ride really is just so much more comfortable than an out and out race bred carbon frame with 23mm tyres, I am very impressed. The carbon fork mated to alloy frame seems to work well. A couple of fast descents confirmed it was just as capable at speed, even on those tyres...
Problems/ niggles?
Saddle doesn't suit my bum, but it is rare to buy off the peg and get one that does, so I have already put payment down on a Fizik Aliante which matches my road bike saddle, so that will be sorted in due course.
The front brake cable is too long. As it comes from the right lever, passes along the bar, emerges from under the bar tape, it then has a big loop as it sweeps down to the left front fork leg guide and into the brake. This big loop sits up against the left hand side of the bars just where you would grip the flats and is thus in the way. I will take a look and feel sure that I will be ale to shorten both inner and outer and keep sufficient arc to not disrupt the brake action.
Only other slight niggle is that it has mount bosses for panniers on either seat stay, with no bolt in, so the threads are just open to the elements. A couple of dome headed black bolts screwed in with copper slip will save corrosion to these. The front forks don't have mudguard mounts, presumably due to the disk brake? I want to fit guards for the winter, so will have to research a solution to get round this. The rear end does have guard mounts...
Future upgrades?
Shedding a bit of weight maybe desirable so saddle change is one step in that direction already. I think the seatpost and bars are reputed to be a little on the porky side, so may swap them with suitable second hand upgrades in carbon. A second set of wheels would be handy, shod with road tyres, so I may get my mate to build me something lighter. Same spoke counts for strength, but using nicer hubs and maybe even carbon rims as they won't suffer from rim braking and I do like the strength of Sapim CX Rays...
I am going to get some mountain bike pedals and suitable shoes for hitting the trails, any recommendations here would be welcome as I have never been an off roader...
And that's it really, very happy overall with my purchase and am looking forward to the bad weather now! If anyone has any comments, especially regarding upgrades they would consider they would be more than welcome.
Cheers
PP
Purchased from Wiggle on Friday evening, delivered built up in the biggest bike box I have ever seen on Tuesday morning. Can't complain there then. With BC discount of 12% I paid £1188. Can't complain there either! What a great looking machine it is in the flesh. All I had to do was fit the bars, adjust saddle height, put my pedals on and it was ready to go.
First trip to the bike shop to get a saddle bag and some suitable spare tubes, just in case. Gears needed a little tweaking and the Avid BB5s a little adjustment to stop the disks binding when stomping on the peddles and all was good. First proper ride out this morning with a bunch of mates, who were all impressed at the look of the machine. We covered 60 miles, on roads, but some of these Cheshire Lanes proved it to be the perfect tool for this winter!
It rides very smoothly on those wider tyres (32s) and just soaks up potholes, very comfy! It is on its original knobblies and the extra drag was noticeable over my 23mm shod road bike, but no surprises there. I shall play with the pressures to get the best of both worlds and probably get a set of road specific winter tyres as the majority of my riding will be on roads, and I will keep the knobblies for 'excursions into the dirt'.
The bike is solid and completely rattle free. Not weighed it yet, but it is certainly heavier than my Pinarello, but again, no surprises there either. I can feel the difference when climbing, although today's route was merely undulating, not hilly. Should get me nice and strong for when I jump back on the Piñarello and go skyward! My mates commented before the ride that it should slow me down a bit, but their comments changed by the end as it seemed not to have!
I pulled everyone along for quite a long turn into wind and it felt (no pun intended!) good. The ride really is just so much more comfortable than an out and out race bred carbon frame with 23mm tyres, I am very impressed. The carbon fork mated to alloy frame seems to work well. A couple of fast descents confirmed it was just as capable at speed, even on those tyres...
Problems/ niggles?
Saddle doesn't suit my bum, but it is rare to buy off the peg and get one that does, so I have already put payment down on a Fizik Aliante which matches my road bike saddle, so that will be sorted in due course.
The front brake cable is too long. As it comes from the right lever, passes along the bar, emerges from under the bar tape, it then has a big loop as it sweeps down to the left front fork leg guide and into the brake. This big loop sits up against the left hand side of the bars just where you would grip the flats and is thus in the way. I will take a look and feel sure that I will be ale to shorten both inner and outer and keep sufficient arc to not disrupt the brake action.
Only other slight niggle is that it has mount bosses for panniers on either seat stay, with no bolt in, so the threads are just open to the elements. A couple of dome headed black bolts screwed in with copper slip will save corrosion to these. The front forks don't have mudguard mounts, presumably due to the disk brake? I want to fit guards for the winter, so will have to research a solution to get round this. The rear end does have guard mounts...
Future upgrades?
Shedding a bit of weight maybe desirable so saddle change is one step in that direction already. I think the seatpost and bars are reputed to be a little on the porky side, so may swap them with suitable second hand upgrades in carbon. A second set of wheels would be handy, shod with road tyres, so I may get my mate to build me something lighter. Same spoke counts for strength, but using nicer hubs and maybe even carbon rims as they won't suffer from rim braking and I do like the strength of Sapim CX Rays...
I am going to get some mountain bike pedals and suitable shoes for hitting the trails, any recommendations here would be welcome as I have never been an off roader...
And that's it really, very happy overall with my purchase and am looking forward to the bad weather now! If anyone has any comments, especially regarding upgrades they would consider they would be more than welcome.
Cheers
PP
0
Comments
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Yep Cross bikes make great winter bikes. I have been using an old Cannondale cross bike for winter/bad days for a few years now. Big comfy tyres and plenty of space for mudgards.
You will find the BB5 disks often bind slightly een when backed right off, just live with it rather than left it bother you too much.
Rich...Cannondales
SuperSix Hi Mod Sram Red
Super X Ultegra
Tourine XT / XTR
CX 1000 Disk Ultegra (Winter Hack)
And an Empella SL Bonfire0 -
Pilot Pete wrote:Well, just splashed out on one of these http://m.feltbicycles.com/productcatalo ... ct/2/34539 for winter as I have used my road bike for the last two winters and it needs more love and cuddles than that, plus of course the old n+1 rule simply must be obeyed!
Purchased from Wiggle on Friday evening, delivered built up in the biggest bike box I have ever seen on Tuesday morning. Can't complain there then. With BC discount of 12% I paid £1188. Can't complain there either! What a great looking machine it is in the flesh. All I had to do was fit the bars, adjust saddle height, put my pedals on and it was ready to go.
First trip to the bike shop to get a saddle bag and some suitable spare tubes, just in case. Gears needed a little tweaking and the Avid BB5s a little adjustment to stop the disks binding when stomping on the peddles and all was good. First proper ride out this morning with a bunch of mates, who were all impressed at the look of the machine. We covered 60 miles, on roads, but some of these Cheshire Lanes proved it to be the perfect tool for this winter!
It rides very smoothly on those wider tyres (32s) and just soaks up potholes, very comfy! It is on its original knobblies and the extra drag was noticeable over my 23mm shod road bike, but no surprises there. I shall play with the pressures to get the best of both worlds and probably get a set of road specific winter tyres as the majority of my riding will be on roads, and I will keep the knobblies for 'excursions into the dirt'.
The bike is solid and completely rattle free. Not weighed it yet, but it is certainly heavier than my Pinarello, but again, no surprises there either. I can feel the difference when climbing, although today's route was merely undulating, not hilly. Should get me nice and strong for when I jump back on the Piñarello and go skyward! My mates commented before the ride that it should slow me down a bit, but their comments changed by the end as it seemed not to have!
I pulled everyone along for quite a long turn into wind and it felt (no pun intended!) good. The ride really is just so much more comfortable than an out and out race bred carbon frame with 23mm tyres, I am very impressed. The carbon fork mated to alloy frame seems to work well. A couple of fast descents confirmed it was just as capable at speed, even on those tyres...
Problems/ niggles?
Saddle doesn't suit my bum, but it is rare to buy off the peg and get one that does, so I have already put payment down on a Fizik Aliante which matches my road bike saddle, so that will be sorted in due course.
The front brake cable is too long. As it comes from the right lever, passes along the bar, emerges from under the bar tape, it then has a big loop as it sweeps down to the left front fork leg guide and into the brake. This big loop sits up against the left hand side of the bars just where you would grip the flats and is thus in the way. I will take a look and feel sure that I will be ale to shorten both inner and outer and keep sufficient arc to not disrupt the brake action.
Only other slight niggle is that it has mount bosses for panniers on either seat stay, with no bolt in, so the threads are just open to the elements. A couple of dome headed black bolts screwed in with copper slip will save corrosion to these. The front forks don't have mudguard mounts, presumably due to the disk brake? I want to fit guards for the winter, so will have to research a solution to get round this. The rear end does have guard mounts...
Future upgrades?
Shedding a bit of weight maybe desirable so saddle change is one step in that direction already. I think the seatpost and bars are reputed to be a little on the porky side, so may swap them with suitable second hand upgrades in carbon. A second set of wheels would be handy, shod with road tyres, so I may get my mate to build me something lighter. Same spoke counts for strength, but using nicer hubs and maybe even carbon rims as they won't suffer from rim braking and I do like the strength of Sapim CX Rays...
I am going to get some mountain bike pedals and suitable shoes for hitting the trails, any recommendations here would be welcome as I have never been an off roader...
And that's it really, very happy overall with my purchase and am looking forward to the bad weather now! If anyone has any comments, especially regarding upgrades they would consider they would be more than welcome.
Cheers
PP
Such a good looking bike deserves a picture, good purchase, mate.
I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast, but I'm intercontinental when I eat French toast...0
