Am I Being cynical?

J555

I was in my local bike shop at the weekend picking up some lights for my bike. I'm on a specialized allez at the moment as I've just completed my first season tri racing. I'm looking to step it up a level next year an a new bike is my focus (aside training).

I've had my eye on a boardman 9.8 air for months as months now and enquirer in the shop about the one hanging up and if prices would drop or are negotiable.. He said no but pulled my attention to a trek modena(sp) 9.5. Explaining it has electronic gears etc and for less££. My view was the wheels alone would make up the difference in price and having SRAM red also is more than enough for me.

I'm just after your thoughts really. He is unable to let me take either out for a test ride which would have helped.

lc1981

I'm not sure if your title was intentional, but it's a great pun!

Raffles

doesnt strike me as the most accomodating dealer, if i asked for a demo and was refused id tell him to shove it and look elsewhere

J555

lc1981 wrote:

I'm not sure if your title was intentional, but it's a great pun!

Haha 1st post and I typo.. Good start eh.

ShutUpLegs

J555 wrote:

He said no but pulled my attention to a trek modena(sp) 9.5.

He is unable to let me take either out for a test ride which would have helped.

Find a better shop

lc1981

J555 wrote:

lc1981 wrote:

I'm not sure if your title was intentional, but it's a great pun!

Haha 1st post and I typo.. Good start eh.

For posterity, and for anyone reading this now it's been corrected, the original title was "Am I Beijing cynical?".

smidsy

ShutUpLegs wrote:

J555 wrote:

He said no but pulled my attention to a trek modena(sp) 9.5.

He is unable to let me take either out for a test ride which would have helped.

Find a better shop

+1. Spending that sort of money they can not really expect folk to just part with the cash without knowing what they are like.

For me I am not convinced with electronic shifting (just another thing to break) and I am also not entirely convinced that Boardman has fixed the BB30 issue on their frames (in fact I remain unconvinced with BB30 at all).

There are plenty of other options out there and plenty of other shops that will let you ride stuff first.

Keep looking.

lc1981

smidsy wrote:

For me I am not convinced with electronic shifting (just another thing to break) and I am also not entirely convinced that Boardman has fixed the BB30 issue on their frames (in fact I remain unconvinced with BB30 at all).

Doesn't your CAAD have BB30? The SuperSix certainly does.

on-yer-bike

Give Tribecca Sport a call in Kent if you're close. They'll let you try a Boardman.

cougie

if you're serious about triathlons - why spend 5k on a road bike ?

pkripper

cougie wrote:

if you're serious about triathlons - why spend 5k on a road bike ?

+1

Allez to £5k? If you've got the money, fair enough, but it's a hell of a jump. Maybe a felt AR4 or similar is a better bet?

cougie

If you've got that much money to spend - split it. Get a nice TT bike for racing on and a nice road bike to do most of the training on. That will get you faster race times than just the one road bike. No need to go OTT on either bike.

I

smidsy

lc1981 wrote:

smidsy wrote:

For me I am not convinced with electronic shifting (just another thing to break) and I am also not entirely convinced that Boardman has fixed the BB30 issue on their frames (in fact I remain unconvinced with BB30 at all).

Doesn't your CAAD have BB30? The SuperSix certainly does.

No the first BB30 frame was the CAAD6, which is basically the CAAD5 with a BB30. Th CAAD5 is normal english thread BB.

My Basso is also English thread BB although it is in an oversized BB shell for added stiffness. Just can't reconcile the BB30 thing, far too many stories of failures and noisy BB's for my liking.

If I was to go BB30 it would only be on a Cannondale as they invented it and I trust their frame build more than say Boardman for example.

J555

Guys, thanks for all your help and advice so far. I understand it's a massive jump but I'm serious about the sport and I'm putting a hell of a lot of effort into training.

I'm in a position where money isn't a barrier (I don't want to come accross the wrong way here) and I identified the boardman through tons of magazine reviews and scouring forums.

I've not thought about splitting the money between a TT and an upgraded road bike but that is sound advice indeed. The reason I was looking at the boardman is I want a light aero road bike because alongside my triathlon races I have entered a couple of sportives and wanted something I can use for both.

I'm not one for spending money for the sake of it but I am after a top end bike really that I can enjoy both racing tri and other sportives etc the electronic gears aren't really a pull for me and in my bike shop he was using that as the pull from the boardman.

The two bike thing has got me thinking. It would take me another 6 months to pick them though haha

J555

cougie wrote:

If you've got that much money to spend - split it. Get a nice TT bike for racing on and a nice road bike to do most of the training on. That will get you faster race times than just the one road bike. No need to go OTT on either bike.

I

Any pointers on what you would look at for both?

mallott

Shopping local is essential when you're spending a lot. What shops do you have locally? and what do they stock?

J555

mallott wrote:

Shopping local is essential when you're spending a lot. What shops do you have locally? and what do they stock?

I'm in the Chester area. Which has a specialized concept store, bike factory store and a couple of other small shops. On what I've seen I'm limited to specialized, trek, boardman really.

smidsy

Get down to Paul Hewitt in Leyland a positive Alladins cave of good stuff.

J555

smidsy wrote:

Get down to Paul Hewitt in Leyland a positive Alladins cave of good stuff.

I'll check that out mate,thanks

lc1981

smidsy wrote:

No the first BB30 frame was the CAAD6, which is basically the CAAD5 with a BB30. Th CAAD5 is normal english thread BB.

My Basso is also English thread BB although it is in an oversized BB shell for added stiffness. Just can't reconcile the BB30 thing, far too many stories of failures and noisy BB's for my liking.

If I was to go BB30 it would only be on a Cannondale as they invented it and I trust their frame build more than say Boardman for example.

Oh right, I see. Well, if you do buy a SuperSix and don't get on with the BB30, I'd happily give it a home!

Sorry for hijacking the thread, by the way.

passout

smidsy wrote:

Get down to Paul Hewitt in Leyland a positive Alladins cave of good stuff.

I second that one. The fitting service alone is worth it.

cougie

There's also Royles in Wilmslow - they have some nice kit too.

TBH - get whatever you like and what fits you. There's really not a lot to choose performance wise. I reckon a 1000 TT bike would whoop a 5k road bike over a triathlon though.