New Bike/s

L.E

Hi all,
I am currently planning to buy a new cyclocross bike but having been given the opportunity to ride with two bikes in the past and I am wondering weather to buy two bikes that are half the price of buying one better bike. I would really like to know your opinions and if any of you out there have done this. Also I have raced cross for a few years now.

tgotb

Depends on your budget. 2 x £1000 bikes will be way better than 1 x £2000 bike when conditions are muddy, even if you have no-one to pit for you and only change once. Whether the same applies for a £800 budget I'm not sure (though I suspect 2 x £400 second-hand bikes will be better than 1 x £800 new bike).

I'm racing on 2 bikes that cost roughly £1k each to build (including a set of carbon wheels each, with tubs). They're comfortably under 8kg, and I've never felt I'd benefit from anything flashier.

Remember to budget for multiple sets of tyres and wheels. I'd rather have one bike and a choice of muds/intermediates, than two bikes and only one type of tyre for the whole season.

NB: For others reading this, you absolutely don't need two bikes to do very well indeed at local league level, so don't feel you have to have bikes. However it sounds like the OP has done enough racing to think it could be worthwhile.

L.E

Thankyou very much for the reply I am looking to spend around 1500 (1600 max) and since 200 will be spent on tires would you think that it would still be worth it?

tgotb

L.E wrote:

Thankyou very much for the reply I am looking to spend around 1500 (1600 max) and since 200 will be spent on tires would you think that it would still be worth it?

Now's a good time to be buying second-hand; if you're lucky you might get quite a nice pair of matching bikes for that sort of money.

FransJacques

http://road.cc/content/classified/13984 ... i-v-brakes

If I was 5'8'-5'10" I'd jump at that. I assume it's the updated frame that Powers rides now. Lower BB and higher HT than the outgoing model.

22 speed Force is amazing as well.

Someone please give this a nice new home.

devhads

TGOTB wrote:

Depends on your budget. 2 x £1000 bikes will be way better than 1 x £2000 bike when conditions are muddy, even if you have no-one to pit for you and only change once. Whether the same applies for a £800 budget I'm not sure (though I suspect 2 x £400 second-hand bikes will be better than 1 x £800 new bike).

I'm racing on 2 bikes that cost roughly £1k each to build (including a set of carbon wheels each, with tubs). They're comfortably under 8kg, and I've never felt I'd benefit from anything flashier.

Remember to budget for multiple sets of tyres and wheels. I'd rather have one bike and a choice of muds/intermediates, than two bikes and only one type of tyre for the whole season.

NB: For others reading this, you absolutely don't need two bikes to do very well indeed at local league level, so don't feel you have to have bikes. However it sounds like the OP has done enough racing to think it could be worthwhile.

100% this^

I happen to have two bikes at the moment because I had to build up my old frame from spare parts when I couldn't get hold of a mech hanger for my good bike. When I finally did I thought I'd keep it for a while and run two bikes. The problem is the reason it's my old frame is I don't like riding it.

There's been two races this year that I think two bikes have been an advantage and luckily I've happened to have a pit crew and TBH it's been great to get a new bike each lap (or half laps yesterday) but each time I got on the old bike I couldn't wait to get back round to the pits. I'll more than likely sell it at the end of the season and stick with one bike next year and spare wheels/tyres. It's probably been good for two or three places, with a pit crew, but without there's not much benefit for me. The 20 odd people who finished ahead of me yesterday all had one bike, except for TGOTB, but he didn't have a pit crew and would undoubtedly have finished ahead of me on one bike anyway.

If I was starting again with £1600 I'd definitely get two identical £800 bikes, or £700 and two sets of tyres for each.

tgotb

devhads wrote:

The 20 odd people who finished ahead of me yesterday all had one bike, except for TGOTB, but he didn't have a pit crew and would undoubtedly have finished ahead of me on one bike anyway.

I didn't actually use my second bike (though I probably should have done, I didn't realise there was so much mud on the bike until after the finish). The guy who snuck past me on the last lap was offered a bike, so I suspect he'd been changing. The pit bike did come in very handy at Welwyn, after I broke the main bike in a stupid (avoidable) crash.

The big danger with different pit bikes is that you end up in Devhads' situation, letting the bikes affect your pitting strategy because you prefer one of them. You either want bikes that are as near-identical as possible (which also means you don't have to double up on spares) or regard the second bike purely as an emergency get-you-home spare.

L.E

Thanks again for all your input. Would the Chinese frames be a good option? Just thinking about these because I can get a better groupset and wheels because for me shifting is probably one of the most important things(overall safety being a close second )

tgotb

Don't see why Chinese frames would be a problem, other than the obvious issue of not being able to try before you buy (unless you can find someone who already has the one you're interested in).

There are loads of scare stories floating around about Chinese frames. I'd be inclined to disregard these because:
1. Most carbon frames are made in China anyway
2. Other than 3rd-hand hearsay, I've never seen any real evidence that Chinese-bought equipment is likely to be any more problematic than similar kit bought in the UK
3. If your bike does spontaneously disintegrate during a race, it's very unlikely to hurt anything more than your pride. You're far more likely to hurt yourself riding into a tree or being otherwise incompetent, which you could do on any bike.

I have two very nice sets of Chinese rims I bought from Farsports, on the recommendation of another forumite. Great way to set yourself up with nice wheels at a sensible cost.

kaptanofc

Dear friends, what do you think about Specialized Enduro Elite 29 vs Bianchi Zolder Disc? Do u advice me Specialized or Bianchi? Trek also can be said in comparison..http://bikebest.net/versus/