New GT GTR series 1

jimmyt-11

Just bought a new GT GTE Series 1 from Wiggle for £560. This is my first road bike and I want to get peoples opinions on it? Is it a good enough bike already or should I look at upgrading anything?

Help help would be much appreciated

Thanks

James

notlongnow

I'd say its a very good spec for the price you dont get ultragra parts on bikes at this price,Two upgrades people tend to make are wheel and tyres but id get some wear out of the one's you have on the bike over the winter and purchase some new in the spring.

declan1

If you don't post pics, well you don't wanna know what'll happen. Make sure you do!

Welcome by the way

Grill

I'm thinking about get one as a winter beater...

Grill

I just pulled the trigger on this bike. Winter beater it is!

negativelycra

I've also just bought one - saw a link on another thread to another bike, impulse bought, worried I made a rash call, et voila - sold out. Also chuffed it reviewed wella t 1400 quid, so reckon we all got a bargain!

jimmyt-11

I haven't been able to find any reviews. Would you have a link at all? I'm glad I ordered when I did.

Grill

Here's a review of the Series 2 which is the model just below. The only differences are the Series 1 has Ultegra instead of 105 and lighter wheels. It certainly convinced me to buy the bike.

http://road.cc/content/review/48496-gt-gtr-series-2

alihisgreat

For £560 its a steal.. GT may not be the most glamourous brand but you won't get anything better for under £600!

Grill

Owned by the same group as Cannondale...

jimmyt-11

Grill wrote:

Here's a review of the Series 2 which is the model just below. The only differences are the Series 1 has Ultegra instead of 105 and lighter wheels. It certainly convinced me to buy the bike.

http://road.cc/content/review/48496-gt-gtr-series-2

Thanks for that, was very useful.

jimmyt-11

Has anyone seen reviews for the actual bike? Cant wait for it to arrive now!

negativelycra

Not seen a review of the actual bike, but it'd be scarily irrelevent considering the discount - I think it's safe to say it's better than anything at 600 quid, hell, I jumped in because I've not seen anything that loaded with Ultegra at 999 (bike to work scheme), most are struggling to even be 105.

As a daft question - does anyone have any idea what mudguards will fit? If in doubt I'll get some crud raceblades, but if there is room / mounting holes having a "proper" set might be better. Not only would it be a shame to muck up my incoming white frame, but I'm still trying to block out the memory of whatever the hell it was in that puddle I went through last night on my MTB. Eugh.

As a second daft question - why is it so easy to get white / red bottle cages, but white / blue seems elusive? Will end up with black / white at this rate...

Grill

The Elite Team Sky ones would match.

As far as guards I think it's gonna be raceblades. The Series 3 and below have eyelits, but it uses a different frame/fork/geometry.

Ollybfc

Moved post to beginners forum

I went for the "XL" frame which according to wiggle's size guide should have been ok for my height/inside leg measurement. I have however found that I need to extend the seatpost beyond the "minimum insertion point" by about 4-5cm. I contacted wiggle about this, expecting the solution being as simple as buying a longer seat post but was told that this means that the frame is too small and that I would need to return it for a refund (wasn't expecting that!).

On checking the sizes of other road bikes, it appears that the XL (frame size 55cm) is equivalent to a M and a "standard" XL would be more like 60cm. Have GT messed up with the sizing or is the frame size correct for the rest of the bikes geometry?

I've looked at alternative bikes and nothing comes close for the price. Was considering the Felt Z6 Tiagra as an alternative which would be £725, however, everything except the carbon frame (?) seems considerably lower specced than the GT GTR, and I'd be paying £165 more for the privilege!

I'm loathed to send the bike back and would really prefer to make the bike work if possible (I realise that roadie purists would probably advise against this). Can anyone offer any suggestions for doing this? As mentioned, I'm a newbie to Road Biking so any suggestions would be welcomed!

Thanks!

Grill

Their sizing is right on, it's just compact geometry. I bought the medium (which they measure as 51cm for the seat tube), but it has an effective TT length of 54.5. My Foil is a medium with a 54cm seat tube and a 55cm top tube and the fit is comparable on both.

If this is your first road bike then chances are you may not have set it up correctly. Did you do it yourself or take it to a shop with a reputable fitter? What is your height and inside leg measurement?

Ollybfc

Thanks for your reply Grill. I've moved my post to it's own thread in the "beginners" section - didn't want to be accused of thread-hikacking

I too thought that there was every chance I hadn't set it up properly as I did nothing other than bolt the bits together that wiggle left when packaging!

I'm 188cm with inside leg of 84cm. I assumed that as there wasn't a size bigger than XL then this must be a "fits all" for people bigger than large................I suspect not! (thats a novice for you! )

k-dog

That seems a lot of seat post even for someone your heigh - I'm about an inch shorter and have never come near the extension marks on my seatpost even on a compact frame.

Top tube length is the more important measurement anyway so if you think that is right the simple thing to do is to get a longer seatpost - and you could probably sell the current one on eBay to get most of the money.

alihisgreat

Ollybfc wrote:

Thanks for your reply Grill. I've moved my post to it's own thread in the "beginners" section - didn't want to be accused of thread-hikacking

I too thought that there was every chance I hadn't set it up properly as I did nothing other than bolt the bits together that wiggle left when packaging!

I'm 188cm with inside leg of 84cm. I assumed that as there wasn't a size bigger than XL then this must be a "fits all" for people bigger than large................I suspect not! (thats a novice for you! )

I'm 183cm with an inseam of 84cm and I'm 4cm from the 0 mark on my M/L Giant defy...

I fail to see how you are using all the seat-post.. unless your in-seam is more than 84cm.

Gazlar

What do you guys think of your GT's Ive been completely an mtb guy until now, but I had my n+1 bike stolen and had 800 quid to replace it with. As the spec of 800 quid mtbs isnt great I thought a bike for the road would be a fun addition, especially after moving to Cardiff I can take advantage of the trail network. With this in mind I went for an s3

Grill

Can't complain. My first ride on it was a 200km audax in terrible weather (climbing devil's elbow in freezing rain is fun and let's not mention the hail!) and it performed like a champ. Felt the difference in weight at first (not really fair as my Foil is around 7kg) but after 20 miles it was no longer noticeable. Rode on Sunday with a guy that bought a Series 3 and he was quite happy as well.

negativelycra

I'm a first time roadie, with an epic 500 miles on my 06 hardtail commuter mtb...
Love the thing. I'm quite confident it's too small, which is frustrating. I have the seatpost at the limit, and when in the drops i'd like more leg extension - i'm a toe pointer though.
First ride out i beat my nemesis hill by a good margin - 7.2 mph turned into 8.3. To me it's all good though, the gtr1 was a far highercspec thn i could get anywhere else, and i'm ure i'll get used to the compact geo. If i don't, i do beleive that stripping it (new) on ebay i'd have got more than the purchase price in parts. All i need now is a large cube agree pro 2012 frameset and i'll hve my dream bike!