Help needed

garymw

Hi guys any advice,seen a few bikes for my upgrade as im only on an entry level Specialized Secteur.
The new bikes 2 have a 53/39 chainset and the others have 50/34 .
I live in a fairly flat place with some hill climbs around but not lots,so got a bit of both terrain which one would be better as a happy medium for me as i wanna make the right choice.
I suppose coming from 2300 sti gears any will feel like a Rolls Royce or Ferrari to me i guess. :?

macroadie

You sound exactly like me 5 months ago.
Bought my first entry road bike, a specialized Secteur with 2300 shimano 9 speed. Shimano's broke down every other day and thanks to a nice LBS they fixed them free but it was frustrating. After 2 I upgraded to a 13' Felt F5 ( 50/34T crankset, 10-speed) SRAM Apex and love it. I live in a flat but I every Friday evening we climb our 20 storey parking garage at work and the bike flattens that easily.

Jauncarlos67

When I bought my Tarmac Comp I was advised by the bike shop to swap out the 53/39 for a 50/34. I live in Essex which is fairly flat but there are area's with reasonable climb's, I'm so glad I did.
I'm now looking for a new bike to and will be getting another 50/34.

garymw

macroadie wrote:

You sound exactly like me 5 months ago.
Bought my first entry road bike, a specialized Secteur with 2300 shimano 9 speed. Shimano's broke down every other day and thanks to a nice LBS they fixed them free but it was frustrating. After 2 I upgraded to a 13' Felt F5 ( 50/34T crankset, 10-speed) SRAM Apex and love it. I live in a flat but I every Friday evening we climb our 20 storey parking garage at work and the bike flattens that easily.

Hi thanks yes the 2300 are very frustrating quite poor performance really, but you get what you pay for I suppose,a good chance to ask you how you find the SRAM gears, it's one the bikes I'm looking at that have SRAM force 22 ,that is on a 53/39..I've heard once you get used to them SRAM are good ???

garymw

Jauncarlos67 wrote:

When I bought my Tarmac Comp I was advised by the bike shop to swap out the 53/39 for a 50/34. I live in Essex which is fairly flat but there are area's with reasonable climb's, I'm so glad I did.
I'm now looking for a new bike to and will be getting another 50/34.

Thanks, 50/34 seems standard on a few makes of bikes, 53/39 still unsure what its best for,can't change the spec that's on that bike so it comes with it...so it's a Campagnolo Athena 50/34, Shimano Ultegra 50/34 or SRAM force 22 53/39 ,that's the options.... :?

macroadie

garymw wrote:

macroadie wrote:

You sound exactly like me 5 months ago.
Bought my first entry road bike, a specialized Secteur with 2300 shimano 9 speed. Shimano's broke down every other day and thanks to a nice LBS they fixed them free but it was frustrating. After 2 I upgraded to a 13' Felt F5 ( 50/34T crankset, 10-speed) SRAM Apex and love it. I live in a flat but I every Friday evening we climb our 20 storey parking garage at work and the bike flattens that easily.

Hi thanks yes the 2300 are very frustrating quite poor performance really, but you get what you pay for I suppose,a good chance to ask you how you find the SRAM gears, it's one the bikes I'm looking at that have SRAM force 22 ,that is on a 53/39..I've heard once you get used to them SRAM are good ???

yes shimano 2300 are hell poor gears.
LOVE Sram gears especially the fact that you only use one lever & never bother with your brake levers to change gears! I have SRAM Apex and they are flawless. I had my friends steel bike with shimano ultegra but I would take sram any day.

garymw

yes hearing good reviews about SRAM,like the sound of them now,believe they snap in gear straight away when shifting,need to go in a shop and have a look.

simonhead

Recently swapped my bog standard secteur to a px with Sram and love it. Vast improvement and can't fault the changing.

garymw

simonhead wrote:

Recently swapped my bog standard secteur to a px with Sram and love it. Vast improvement and can't fault the changing.

Thanks I'm liking the reviews on SRAM