Pinnicale Lithium 5 or Norco XFR1?

CrankyGuy89

I'm just after a bit of advice on a new bike purchase. I'm torn between the Norco XFR 1 2014 and the Pinnicale Lithium 5 2014. The bike will mostly be used for road and tow path trails, with the slight possibility of a trip across Dartmoor on it.

The Pinnicale (£700) comes with a deore chainset on it, which is a good selling point and seems alright. I believe I would need to put some decent tires on straight away to replace kendal kwest, is this right?
http://m.evanscycles.com/products/pinna ... e-ec054765

The Norco (£675) has an Sram X7 rear mech and a Shimano Alivio front mech, and has SR Suntour NRX-D 75mm w/remote lock-out suspension forks. Are these forks decent, or are they dog sh!te? I can't seem to find much info on them.
http://m.evanscycles.com/products/norco ... e-ec055108

I'm leaning towards the Norco, but am unsure. What do you guys think? I've got a budget limit of around £700, so if you know of another model which is worth looking at then please suggest. I'm wanting to get it from Evans, as it's local and the missus is about to get one from there too (Norco VFR1) so I'm hoping to get some freebies chucked in for us, pedals for me and helmet for her. Which is the better buy?

The Rookie

Copying and pasting links from a thread posted elsewhere doesn't work.....

Please stick to one post per topic.

CrankyGuy89

The Rookie wrote:

Copying and pasting links from a thread posted elsewhere doesn't work.....

Please stick to one post per topic.

Yeah, I originally posted in commuting general, then noticed that community chat seems to be a lot more active, so moved it to here. I forgot to delete the tread in general, but I have done it now. Sorry!

I'm still undecided about the bikes, and am wanting to get them tomorrow (Tuesday) after work, so I'm really after some advice, if anyone has opinions on them?

rubertoe

There will be plenty of opinions, mostly being. Get a road bike.

CrankyGuy89

rubertoe wrote:

There will be plenty of opinions, mostly being. Get a road bike.

I've already got a road bike, a Giant OCR2 with 105 upgrades on. I love it and am keeping it, but I want a second bike to use for light trails and minor off roading, but still be quick enough on the road. I want something with good components, so I don't feel the need to swap things.

The Rookie

Correct the links please!

Neither are great value, and forget suspension forks for road use, they add weight and those are rather poor forks anyway.

I'd look at the Voodoo Marasa at Halfords for a Dual Purpose bike, or for commuting the Carrera Gryphon (disc brake) at Halfords or the Fit5 (rim brake only) at decathlon which is amazing value.

dhope

A hardtail rather than a hybrid maybe, if you already have a road bike?
Grand Canyon 29er?
http://www.canyon.com/_en/mountainbikes ... tml?b=3206

CrankyGuy89

The Rookie wrote:

Correct the links please!

Neither are great value, and forget suspension forks for road use, they add weight and those are rather poor forks anyway.

I'd look at the Voodoo Marasa at Halfords for a Dual Purpose bike, or for commuting the Carrera Gryphon (disc brake) at Halfords or the Fit5 (rim brake only) at decathlon which is amazing value.

Thank you. After doing a little research of the marasa it led me to the boardman range. Thing that really struck me was a cyclocross team, which seems to have everything I want, but at a £900 price tag. So I popped on down to have a look. Sales man told me it would be better off road than any hybrid and is also quick on road. I can just about justify it if I get rid of my current bike and have one new shiny one that does everything. What are peoples thoughts on this one? Is Sram Apex decent? I've only used shimano before. Thanks.
http://www.boardmanbikes.com/cx/cx_team.html

rubertoe

Happy reading

Bordman CX owners Thread

dhope

CrankyGuy89 wrote:

The Rookie wrote:

Correct the links please!

Neither are great value, and forget suspension forks for road use, they add weight and those are rather poor forks anyway.

I'd look at the Voodoo Marasa at Halfords for a Dual Purpose bike, or for commuting the Carrera Gryphon (disc brake) at Halfords or the Fit5 (rim brake only) at decathlon which is amazing value.

Thank you. After doing a little research of the marasa it led me to the boardman range. Thing that really struck me was a cyclocross team, which seems to have everything I want, but at a £900 price tag. So I popped on down to have a look. Sales man told me it would be better off road than any hybrid and is also quick on road. I can just about justify it if I get rid of my current bike and have one new shiny one that does everything. What are peoples thoughts on this one? Is Sram Apex decent? I've only used shimano before. Thanks.
http://www.boardmanbikes.com/cx/cx_team.html

Ahh now we're talking. So it's a £900 CX we're looking at now
Have a look at the Cannondale CAADX Tiagra

I have Rival (the group up from Apex) on my Boardman Team Carbon and it's been great, but I don't have anything Shimano to compare it to.

How old is the Giant OCR? 105 is a little higher spec than Apex, but obviously depends if you're looking at old 105 vs new Apex

rubertoe

FWIW,

The new Tiagra is the same as the old 105 (5600).

CrankyGuy89

My current OCR2 must be nearly 10 years old now, and the 105 stuff I put on is 6 years old, so its a bit tired now. I suppose new apex stuff would be alright and I can upgrade if and when failures occur. I'll have a look at the cannondale tomorrow when we go to evans.

arthur_scrimshaw

I have a CX Team (the first model 2012/3) and never got on with Apex and so swapped over to 105, others love it. Can't comment on the current CX but I use mine pretty much every day for work and recently did a JOGLE on it, it's my do anything bike.

secretsam

The Rookie wrote:

Copying and pasting links from a thread posted elsewhere doesn't work.....

Please stick to one post per topic.

Why? Different groups read different pages - people who inhabit (say) Cake Stop won't necessarily inhabit this forum. So why not canvass a wider opinion?

The Rookie

Against the rules.......

A CX won't necessarily be better off road than any Hybrid, after all at one end of the scale Hybrids are MTB's with slick tyres. That said for the usage it sounds like you'll have it would possibly be a better option, but my Hybrid isn't slow and even as an overweight and nearly 50yo I can average over 20mph on it cross country.

CrankyGuy89

I just sat on the cannondale caadx, which seemed quite nice. However evans only had the base model in, whereas I think I would either go for the tiagra spec (£1000) or the 105 spec (£1100). Looking at the boardman cx team, they seem to be plagued with problems with the bottom bracket, paint cracking and spongey brakes. I prefer the look of tue boardman, but obviously I dont want to be having problems with a new bike!

koontz

The only problem with the boardman cx team was the filler they applied over the frame to create the smooth weld look. Apparently they didnt let this cure quick enough and when they put the paint on, some of these bikes the filler expanded creating a crack in the paint on the finish of the bike, this was always a finish problem and not a structural one, that said it took me 3 bikes to get one that didn't have the crack in the seatpost, the other problems are due to halfords not able to 'build' the bike properly, this you can do yourself if you have the skills. I really like this bike now I have got it sorted but If I was looking for a new bike I wouldnt go anywere near halfords, the boardmans are good bikes but the quality of the builds isnt.

dhope

CrankyGuy89 wrote:

I just sat on the cannondale caadx, which seemed quite nice. However evans only had the base model in, whereas I think I would either go for the tiagra spec (£1000) or the 105 spec (£1100).

CaadX 105 for £730?
http://www.paulscycles.co.uk/m7b0s23p51 ... X-105-2013

It's last year's, but 105 didn't get an upgrade last year so that's no problem.
Great value I reckon, and cheaper than they're doing the same year's Tiagra

CrankyGuy89

Good find! I'd be interested to know if last years came in black, like the current 2014 model, as that looks better. Im going back to evans later today and test riding one.
I'm to easily influenced, Sunday I was looking at a £700 hybrid, now I'm on the verge of getting a £1100 CX! Haha! (Or a £730 CX if I get last years!) Thanks though guys, you've pushed me away from a hybrid, so I can still hold my head high!

oldbazza

If you are prepared to go to a grand(I may be a bit biased about this),more focussed and no guard mounts though;

http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXXLS105 ... cross-bike

dhope

CrankyGuy89 wrote:

Good find! I'd be interested to know if last years came in black, like the current 2014 model, as that looks better. Im going back to evans later today and test riding one.
I'm to easily influenced, Sunday I was looking at a £700 hybrid, now I'm on the verge of getting a £1100 CX! Haha! (Or a £730 CX if I get last years!) Thanks though guys, you've pushed me away from a hybrid, so I can still hold my head high!

Well if you're thinking of spending £1100 then get one of these and tell me what it's like - I'm considering one as my 'do everything' bike in a few months
http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3201



(though I think the 'dale is better value at £730 tbh)

CrankyGuy89

dhope wrote:

Well if you're thinking of spending £1100 then get one of these and tell me what it's like - I'm considering one as my 'do everything' bike in a few months
http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3201



(though I think the 'dale is better value at £730 tbh)[/quote]


That looks like a good option too. I went into evans and test rode the 54 frame cannondale, seems possibly a touch too small, (6 foot, 33 inch inseam). They however were not able to match a deal I saw on pedalon.co.uk where you earn points on bike buys for accessories (£1100 bike = approx £250 accessories).

The Canyon seems better spec than the CAADX, (I think?) But once the free accessories are added in, its also more expensive than the CAADX. The Canyon also doesnt have rack mount points as far as I saw, and I would love to be able to strap a tent to my bike and go away for the weekend.