My First Road Bike - Good Buy?

will_85

So i used to ride BMX as a youngster, and have also rode Mountain bikes - nothing too serious, but since moving to london i thought id have a look at Road bike ownership. After some research as to what budget bike would be a good place to start i looked at the Btwin Triban 3 with Carbon fork, but have been unable to source one. I heard mixed reviews about Carrera's from Halfords, but this popped up on Gumtree and i bagged it for £170. Its the Virtuoso 2012, Large (54) First impressions are pretty good, i know its nothing special, but the brakes & gears are set up pretty well, no buckles, and just a few scuffs here and there.... Seems like a good starting point for the money, i will of course be looking at upgrades in the near future if this doesnt prove to just be an early mid-life crisis lol. What do you think?

housemunkey

You've got yourself a good steed there, anything that gets you out and enjoying a ride is spot on. I'm sure it'll give you miles of smiles.

I think it looks well. Some new bar tape and new/cleaned up saddle would do it wonders though. Welcome to the roadie club.

vespario

Saddle needs to be levelled.

Paul 8v

Looks great for the money, lots of cheap road bikes turning up on Gumtree that are real bargains.

will_85

Just ordered myself some colour coded Time clipless pedals as well as a carbon fibre seat post & clamp from CRC. £75 for the lot, the pedals were originally £70, so another bargain I think lol.... Need to rack up a few miles now. Had a quick blast around my local London park & it feels like I got a good buy so all in all, happy!

will_85

So I've made a few changes since buying this, brake pads were completely worn at the time of purchase & the tyres were well on the way out........ few cosmetics too. Here's what's been done, im happy with how its coming along.

Time clip-less pedals
Token CF seat post
PZ racing CF seat clamp
PZ racing CF stem
PZ racing CF headset spacers
Vittoria Zaffiro tyres
Shimano ultegra brake pads
Deda black bar tape



Next up will be some carbon bottle cages & some nice water bottles, new seat & either a computer or iPhone mount........

Paul 8v

Computer would probably be a better bet, iPhones on the bars are usually a recipie for disaster! I use an edge 200 which is the basic Garmin one, you can pick them up pretty cheap.

elderone

Nice looking bike and like the upgrades..

TKF

All due respect but don't bother put carbon bottle cages on that bike.

Save your money, get a Garmin 200.

will_85

Cheers Elderone.

I don't see why not on the cages:

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/BOP ... loss_black

Won't break the bank & I like them! If I eventually upgrade the bike / frame set, the carbon bits will most likely be transferred to the new set up & the Virtuoso returned to pretty much stock as a Winter bike....

Garmin 200 looks like a pretty safe bet tho

Paul 8v

I would go for some elite custom race cages, there's a reason why a lot of the pros use them :-)

Yossie

Planet X cages are fine - strong, light, cheap. I have a pair on N2 bike. Go for it.

Bars and stem look like they are pointing a bit high in that there piccie or is it just the angle?

will_85

Couple of new additions:

Ridley Yana carbon fibre fork - happened to be on sale and the right colour!
Shimano R500 Wheel set
Ness CF bottle cages



Fork & wheels were definitely worth while upgrades - most noticeably the wheels, will roll much further than the original wheel set, they're quieter and smoother too, so a steal at £65 from Ribble. Fork definitely seems to take a bit of vibration out the roads, and they look nice, so a good buy again at £70.

Pretty happy with the build, its basically done, ill probably change the saddle & call it a day.... Maybe the shifters too lol - total build cost is under £500, all the work has been carried out by myself, so learnt a good few things on the way which is never a bad thing. Opinions welcome.... Want to get a few more miles under my belt, loose some weight & then look at treating myself to a new ride all together :P

Paul 8v

Result on the fork matching!

RideOnTime

Not to bad on VFM I would have thought.

white91

Its your bike and your money, but upgrading parts can become expensive, I would just ride it and save for a new bike

Remarkable

Lovely bike. Well done.

adowling92

My first bike was a Virtuoso, but mine was the older model. Very good first bikes!!

not-another-hillǃ

Nice bike mate.....rule 7 says that it needs white bar tape though....

MountainMonster

I've got the same bike! It's great, I have often considered buying a more expensive bike just to have some flash, but to be honest, this bike is more than adequate. I will probably go down the carbon fibre forks route, do you have a link to the model you bought?

russyh

Great build well done. Now enjoy it!