New bike or new frame?

dchollo82

I recently bought my first road bike from a friend. A Condor Squadra 07/08. I’m 5”7 and i’m on a 54 frame. I’ve now realised it’s too big as I have short arms and legs and started getting back pain from being too stretched out. I bought a 70mm stem which has helped, but still wasn’t great as i’m loosing a lot of the handling by having such a small stem. Condor advised that the frame is too big and I should consider getting a new bike or selling the frame. They have offered me the Italia frame + £120 inc a fitting to move the parts across to a new frame. Which works out to £619.

This is the Squadra spec;

Campagnolo Vento front wheel (original)
Campagnolo Sirocco (new) back wheel
Continental Gatorskin tyres
Campagnolo Centaur 12-25 cassette
Campagnolo 10 speed Chorus (carbon shifter/hoods)
Campagnolo Veloce crankset, brakes
Deda stem bars
Condor headset, seat post

The bike cost me £500 and I have had budget of £700. So I’m torn between either buying a new frame and moving the components across, or selling the whole bike and buying a brand new one at a lower price and spec.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated?

noiseboyfeetman

If all the parts are in good condition and worth moving over to a new frame in my opinion its a bit if a no brainer if your going to either do that or get a new one with a lesser spec. You could of course look for a secondhand one which would probably be of a better spec but then correct sizing could again possibly be an issue. At least with Condor you should get a frame that fits and all the parts fitted and i'm assuming serviced at the same time.

dchollo82

Thanks for the advice noiseboyfeetman. I would prefer to just replace the frame, although i'm not sure i'm going to get much for the frame alone? It's aluminium with carbon forks. The forks have a few knocks on them but otherwise in good condition.

freebs

+1 for the new frame. Take it down to Condor. They'll sort you out.

CiB

Get the frame but do the work yourself. There's nothing like stripping the old and fitting it to the new to learn everything you'll ever need to know about bike maintenance.

Tools:
BB spanner
Set of Allen Keys
Sharp wire cutters.
Pliers to crimp the ferrules on the cable ends
Grease
Oil
Kitchen roll
Kettle, milk, sugar, coffee, mug + bottle of wine to celebrate completing it before 3 in the morning.
Hammer, just in case.

secretsam

As CiB has laughingly suggested, you could do it yourself, but bear in mind it's Campag so you'd need the right tools, which if I'm correct are usually more expensive than for say Shimano fittings.

The advice from Condor is good, and although I've found their personal one-to-one service / attitude to be a little variable when dealing with noobs, they know their sh17. The kit on your current bike is good stuff, and you should be able to sell your current frame on Flea Bay easily enough - in fact, as I take a 54 I might be interested (PM me with details - especially geometry). If Condor is your LBS, then I'd go with their advice. You don't have to buy one of their frames - although they are very good - you could go somewhere like Ribble and get one of theirs - and get Condor to transfer the bits across, although they might be a little snotty about this, knowing them

Anyway, that's my 2p worth

secretsam

Actually, if they throw in shifting bits across and a fitting, i'd take their hands off - that's not a bad deal (a fitting is c.£120 usually, so it's effectively free)

g00se

Yes, if it's a proper fitting, then go with their deal. If it's just a 'hop on and see if it feels right' then you could consider doing it yourself - but removing a chainset for a Campag Powertorque group (Veloce in this case) needs a bit of patience and some specific tools.

dchollo82

Thanks secretsam. As I already have a second hand frame i’m now thinking about finding another second hand condor frame or whatever respectable brand I can find in my size and then transfer the parts at my local bike shop, which should work out at half the price. I'm going to need to get myself a proper bike fitting first, i’ll ping you the geometry measurements, but need something to ride until then so won’t be looking to sell until i’ve got my new frame.

One other thing, Instead of paying for a proper fitting I’ve tried measuring myself up by taking my inseam which is 76.2cm * by .67 for road bikes measured center to top which = 51.54. I also did it for frames measured center to top by * by .65 which worked out to 49.53. How do I determine how the frame manufacturer is measuring their bikes or is one much more likely than the other?

Thanks

secretsam

LOL as for sizing, good luck with that - one huge benefit of the modern age is you can usually get details of the full geometry of any bike quite easily.

BTW your Condor looks too big for me, I'm gonna get something more compact next time (ahem, whenever that is)

The bike fitting is far more than just 'what size' - a proper fitting should include setting you up on the bike, adjusting saddle, bars, etc so that you fit your bike perfectly. They can do this on a jig as well so worth shelling out for, am considering it myself at the local specialist Spirit bikes in Aylesbury (mostly serious cyclists do this but I'm old, fat, dodgy knees and back and a funny shape so might be worth it for me...)