A little worried about even asking

tony_willis

Hi guys, (+gals) Very new here and was after some advice about erm "a Whistle bike" now before you all tear me apart and tell me it's crap i already own a whistle miwok 1161D mtb that i got for £300 - and for £300 it's done me very well - gave up smoking, lost 3.4st, and now average 16 mph over 30 miles in the space of 3 months. 3 months ago i couldn't cycle 4 miles never mind 30 and i have just clocked 60 miles in a little over 4 hrs obviously no MTB is made for this so now i need a road bike and yep because my whistle hasn't done me any harm I am considering a whistle road bike.

Here's the thing I get the impression they are not liked - they don't get particularly good reviews on here but the question is - are they crap bikes? or are they decent bikes but way over priced? For instance I have been offered one of these for £500 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Whistle-Crow-Speed-Carbon-Race/dp/B007L4GZ2A but i am going to be doing a silly amount of miles soon probably around 1200 - 1500 a month so i need an ok bike (I only have £500 btw max) so if it isn't any good am i better buying something else retail - or building my own based on a ridley frame? and some 2nd hand components.

thx in advance and sorry for the essay

arran77

For £500 that doesn't look too shabby, reckon you could do a lot worse

pastey_boy

£500 is an utter bargain for the bike, all it needs are some better wheels but they can be purchased when money permits. £500 for a carbon frame and the best part of a 105 group is an amazing deal. Whistle mostly get slated for their inflated retail prices.

tony_willis

I just hope it's still around when i get my cash next week lol. Looking forward to attempting 100 miles when i get it - although not sure if i can jump from 60 to 100 but will find out soon enough. If the lad has sold it before i get paid i will be building my own out of 2nd hand parts .

JayKosta

It looks, and is spec'ed like a decent bike.
My only concern would be the 24 spoke wheels - depending on your weight.
Also, the frame 'appears' to be built for stiffness (judging/guessing by the size of the seat stays), so I'd expect it to be more of a 'performance bike' than a 'comfort bike'.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

tony_willis

JayKosta wrote:

It looks, and is spec'ed like a decent bike.
My only concern would be the 24 spoke wheels - depending on your weight.
Also, the frame 'appears' to be built for stiffness (judging/guessing by the size of the seat stays), so I'd expect it to be more of a 'performance bike' than a 'comfort bike'.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

3 months and 1700 miles later on a mountain bike i am 12st 5lbs (about 76kg) - I know very little about road bikes and how things are affected by weight, the only thing i do know is its going to be lighter than my mtb by around 4kg and have a much lower rolling resistance through the wheels (as would any road bike i assume). So on virtually any road bike i should have a marked improvement on average speed and endurance.

southdownswolf

Got to ask, why are you going to be doing 1200-1500 miles a month soon? Or are you expecting to be biten by the bug?

tony_willis

southdownswolf wrote:

Got to ask, why are you going to be doing 1200-1500 miles a month soon? Or are you expecting to be biten by the bug?

I made a promise to my kids in december that i would get healthy and stop smoking. So december 27th i gave up and bought my whistle mtb. I didn't do anything cycling wise for a while and then in late march decided to start. (I am 37 but when i was younger i cycled everywhere before i started smoking racking up a stupid number of miles). Anyhoo when i started going out on the bike i forgot how much i actually enjoyed it and have slowly been racking up more and more miles a day going from 4-5 miles a day - to 30, 40, 50 and even 60 miles a day. I know once i get a road bike i will get faster and as a result i will cycle further in the time frame that i am usually out in namely 3-4 hours. If i can average 18 - 20 mph on a road bike with some more effort then 50 - 60 miles will become the normal daily ride taking only 3 - 31/2 hours for 50 - 60 miles. my average speed 3 months ago when i started (don't laugh) was 6.4 mph - my average speed on my mtb over 30 - 50 miles is now between 14.7 and 16.4 (dependant on wind and distance) hence why expect the average on my new road bike t be even more and subsequently get further in the same time frame. This is all i preperation for my ultimate challenge in 2 years to go and cycle to europe to visit friends over a 2 week time frame in amsterdam and germany needing to average 20 mph at least to make it viable. ... ooops another essay sry peeps

cookeeemonster

Wow that's some serious s**t milage!!! Well done that man!!! You'll be flying on that road bike

JayKosta

You will do fine increasing your mileage beyond 60 - just make SURE you have decent food with you, and start eating a little at a time after the first hour or so. And of course water too.

The reason and need for the food is that you can get by without food for a while - e.g. those first 60 miles, but after that you run out of fuel / bonk / 'hit the wall' - and by then it's difficult to refuel in enough quantity. So... by starting to eat fairly early in the ride, you maintain your fuel supply and can continue riding for greater distance.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

nochekmate

I don't understand why you need to average 20mph to make a long bike ride a viable option. There are plenty of people who undertake long touring rides audaxes etc who would NEVER ride at a 20mph average. You are in danger of disappointing yourself.

smidsy

Perhaps he means down hill!

tony_willis

nochekmate wrote:

I don't understand why you need to average 20mph to make a long bike ride a viable option. There are plenty of people who undertake long touring rides audaxes etc who would NEVER ride at a 20mph average. You are in danger of disappointing yourself.

I set new targets every day for myself and yes if i don't hit them i get annoyed and disappointed. It just makes me try harder next time out. As for the long trip I would be cycling in stints of 5 hours maximum of 2 a day with breaks in between, meaning a maximum of 200 miles in one day. given the total distance i am going to need to travel this is the target i have set and would mean i get to see everyone i want to go and see and spend an ok amount of time with them in the time i have available. I don't expect you to understand why i need to do this or want to for that matter, the fact remains it is something i want to do and have set a target to do it. And absolutely cannot do it on a mountain bike.

I will hit 20 mph over 100 miles that i do know. the difficult part is doing it twice in a day and then repeating it for 4 days.

t4tomo

You can take bike on train if you want to for a long shuttle between friends to leave more time for seeing people. 2 100 mile / 5 hr stints in one day is a bit of a mad target. Cycle some - train some get some good exercise and see lots of your friends.

tony_willis

I know it's a bit of an insane target and i know i am no where near as fit as i was - but I also know that i have 2 years to train for it. I have to do 1000 miles in 5 days - and i am going to try my absolute best to succeed in my own personal challenge.

Yes if i cannot do it with 2 years of training i will be angry at myself but i will go anyway and do it with cycle and train. 5 days cycling if successfull gives me 3 days at each location with friends which is what i had planned so it's game on and see how i can do (and it will also cost me just the ferry across and food, not so cheap if i have to get the train over 1000 miles).

The first challenge as soon as i have my road bike is to ride my first 100 miles and see how i do (expecting about 6 - 7 hours on my first attempt, 60 miles doesn't tire me out that much now so fairly optimistic, I even thought to try 100 miles on my mtb to see if i can do it on a heavier bike, but that prospect isn't too thrilling lol).

slowbike

tony_willis wrote:

I will hit 20 mph over 100 miles that i do know. the difficult part is doing it twice in a day and then repeating it for 4 days.

TBH that sounds like a very high target for a solo rider - even 20mph for 100 miles seems a lot, then to repeat it ... are you really going to be able to ride for 5hrs non-stop? or are you going to have a break or two? If you're breaking then you need to avg over 20mph to make up the time.

I assume you're going to have some luggage with you?

The distance - 1000 miles in 5 days - is doable ... I just wonder about the speed target as well ... unless you're planning a downhill route of course!

tony_willis

TBH that sounds like a very high target for a solo rider - even 20mph for 100 miles seems a lot, then to repeat it ... are you really going to be able to ride for 5hrs non-stop? or are you going to have a break or two? If you're breaking then you need to avg over 20mph to make up the time.

I assume you're going to have some luggage with you?

The distance - 1000 miles in 5 days - is doable ... I just wonder about the speed target as well ... unless you're planning a downhill route of course!

I can ride for 5 hours now on a mtb non stop and i don't feel that bad albeit at 14 - 18 mph average (30 miles 18 average - 60 miles 14.7) so i honestly believe that the 100 is more than doable - the issue i have is having the endurance to do it twice lol. My average speed has more than doubled in 3 months and i can now cycle for 5x longer than i could - as my lungs get better from giving up smoking (yep wish i had never started) and their capacity increases i expect to be able to longer and with a much higher average speed than i do now.

As for luggage - i am contemplating sending some clothing via parcel to my friends to save weight lol.

I have no idea if i can do it - the only thing i do know is i will try - if i pull it off then fantastic - if not then i gave it a shot and the train will be a welcome relief between friends

slowbike

30 miles at 18mph or 60 at 14.7mph ... so right now I'd guess 100 would be at 13mph?

There's a significant difference in power required to average 20mph over 100 miles vs say 20mph over 30 miles. Whilst it's an admirable target to aim for, you're going to have to do some real training to get to that level quickly.

tony_willis

Slowbike wrote:

30 miles at 18mph or 60 at 14.7mph ... so right now I'd guess 100 would be at 13mph?

There's a significant difference in power required to average 20mph over 100 miles vs say 20mph over 30 miles. Whilst it's an admirable target to aim for, you're going to have to do some real training to get to that level quickly.

Yep - no pain no gain and all that - the real push begins as soon as i get a road bike (hopefully next week) I also wonder how much of a difference there will be with the road bike i want being 5kg lighter than my mtb

SoSimple

tony_willis wrote:

I know it's a bit of an insane target and i know i am no where near as fit as i was - but I also know that i have 2 years to train for it. I have to do 1000 miles in 5 days - and i am going to try my absolute best to succeed in my own personal challenge.

Yes if i cannot do it with 2 years of training i will be angry at myself but i will go anyway and do it with cycle and train. 5 days cycling if successfull gives me 3 days at each location with friends which is what i had planned so it's game on and see how i can do (and it will also cost me just the ferry across and food, not so cheap if i have to get the train over 1000 miles).

The first challenge as soon as i have my road bike is to ride my first 100 miles and see how i do (expecting about 6 - 7 hours on my first attempt, 60 miles doesn't tire me out that much now so fairly optimistic, I even thought to try 100 miles on my mtb to see if i can do it on a heavier bike, but that prospect isn't too thrilling lol).

Please don't feel anyone is trying to put you off but I've just come back from a charity bike ride through France and covered 470 miles in 4 days - and trust me on this, you will have your work cut out to average that speed and distance day after day. Holland may be flat but there will be plenty of hills to slow you down elsewhere and even finding your directions has a massive impact on timings.

We averaged around 15mph on a daily basis and as has been said, once you go beyond 50-60 miles, you really need to stop and eat/drink to keep your strength up. Even things like stopping to fill up water bottles eats not your averages and we had a support vehicle nearby!

Having said all that, it's great to have a challenge and take yourself outside our comfort zone so good luck but make sure you plan everything down to the last detail as a simple mechanical issue can potentially ruin your whole day!

pilot_pete

Could I suggest a time trial bike? Much easier to average 20mph on than a road bike....!

PP

desweller

It sounds like a reasonable if fairly ambitious target and a reasonable bike. IME Quando hubs are shocking though, they've made some of the worst budget hubs I've ever encountered; you'll have to keep on top of your maintenance routine, they're going to get a battering with the miles you're planning. Keep a weather eye out for some bargain robust wheels; hand-built would be better for the sort of reliability test you'll be doing.

tony_willis

Well it would seem i just do not have much luck lol - Some other dude offered £650 to take the bike so fair's fair £150 is £150 so the bike has gone - On top of that some unexpected car maintenance has taken a chunk out of my £500 so now i have just £350-£400 to find a bike unless i wait. I suppose powering around on a 14kg mtb for a while will help my strength lol (maybe for now change the tyres to city jets or something similar to help reduce tyre resistance).

So what options do i have for a road bike peeps?

I know nothing about them i have max £400 and want if possible a sub 10kg bike. Am i asking too much? and would you recommend going 2nd hand or new?

simon_masterson

Riding a 14kg bike won't make you stronger unless you live in the lakes, though the less aerodynamic natural position of this one won't be doing you any favours. Most decent modern road bikes (particularly of the 'competitive road' persuasion) come in at less than 10kg anyway. Putting some more suitable tyres on it however is no bad idea.

JayKosta

Yes, ANY bike that fits decently and which 'makes you work' will help increase your strength and endurance.

There are probably many 10Kg, good quality & good condition used, older, 10-speed (or 12-speed) bikes available. An advance of the older technology is that it is much simpler, and on-the-road repair are more possible with just a few simple tools.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA