First Road Bike - Thoughts on Choice

ddrums

Hello Folks, new to the forum, new to road bikes too, after some advice/thoughts on the next bike purchase. I've commuted 3/4 pw, 14 miles, all weathers in central London for 10 years. Last week was sadly 'relieved' of my 2009 Cannondale bad-boy 7 hybrid. A good, solid work horse for all weathers. For my next bike, I'm aiming for a more refined experience, a proper road option not only for commuting but for some proper road riding. I think i've found the beast for the job, Canyon's AL 9.0 http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3237 - my one concern is how it will cope in the winter months with all the filth and hideousness London's roads offer up. Would anyone regard this as a 'fair weather' bike and would it cruel to expose this pretty thing the elements on a daily basis?

danlikesbikes

Welcome to the forum.

2 sides to the winter bike argument, basically you either believe that you need one or why would you not ride a good bike all year round. Basically as long as you keep it clean and in good running order with a good set of all round tyres you should be fine.

As for your choice how did you narrow it down to this one model? Only reason I ask is unless you have tried the bike for size/fit/geometry you will never know how it feels. Would strongly suggest you go to a few shops and try different makes and models to help you narrow your choice down. Plus you should find pretty soon shops putting 2014 bikes on sale to make room for the new models coming in.

ddrums

Hi D, many thanks for the reply, I came to this choice because of the spec which is really very good for this price. Canyon have a fit calculator on the website which seems to be pretty good plus i'm going to try this one ofr comparison - http://www.competitivecyclist.com/Store ... orBike.jsp. so sizing should be cpvered although some more research needed to be sure I think. Have tried a few bikes in stores, but think you really need week(s) to get the real feel of something.

KnightOfTheLongTights

ddrums wrote:

Have tried a few bikes in stores, but think you really need week(s) to get the real feel of something.

this is true - I think test-riding a bike for 10 mins doesn't tell you much - by adjusting the seat you can probably get three different frame sizes to 'feel OK'.

dinyull

Might want to think about how long your willing to wait. Canyon have a brilliant rep for bikes so much so the demand beats out the supply - you might have to wait weeks/months.

ai_1

I'd agree with most of the comments above.
No reason you can't use it in winter unless you want mudguards (I would) and if the Canyon has problems accomodating them - I don't know if it's good bad or somewhere in the middle in that respect. I think that bike has decent tyre clearance similar to the CF SL and CF SLX frames which is good for bad roads and/or winter riding where bigger tyres can be a big advantage. Some road bikes will only take up to 23mm, many will manage 25mm and some will manage bigger. I think most of the Canyons will take 27mm but do check that if it's important to you.
Like you I felt comfortable buying my Canyon (CF SL 9.0) without a test ride. I think test rides are effected more by how the shop has set up the bike (position, tyre pressure, etc) and how you're feeling on the day than the quality or fit of the bike. I came to this conclusion after doinf a test ride on a bike I expected to be super, hating it, and then going for my usual weekend ride later the same day to find my own bike felt horrible too. It was just a bad day. We're too subjective to make useful assessments this way. Mostly we're just imagining what we expect to find or otherwise.
I took lots of measurements from other bikes I'd tried and my existing bike, I used a few fit calculators including Canyon's and I studied the geometry chart for the Canyon CF SL frame and compared it to my requirements. It worked out just about perfect. However, if you make a mistake, you can test the bike in the dry and still return it within 4 weeks.

Delivery times on Canyons were a huge issue last year and don't seem to be fully resolved this year. Many people waited months for the CF SLX bikes in 2013 and while I've seen fewer complaints this year, it does seem some people were left waiting again (definitely some CF SL customers). Mine arrived exactly as scheduled on the order but you can't be completely confident that will be the case. I don't think I'd let that put me off, they're great bikes at excellent prices, but I'd be aware of the possibility of a delay.