all around road bike advice
dorkster90
Posts: 3
Good evening,
I recently got into biking more for commuting to school and moving around town. Lately I have been heading on longer trips to go fishing and sight seeing. So I have a few question I currently ride a diamondback insight which is a fine bike. It is sturdy, works, and has everything I need. The biggest issue with it is I dont like it. To me its ugly, not particularly fast, and not fun to ride. I would like to do one of two things with some advice. One is to buy a frame and switch the components over to a new frame which has eyelets for my panniers. Or two, get a new bike.
I kind of like the frame idea just because I like to tinker and mess around with stuff plus I can always upgrade components later as I learn more about bikes in general and what I want from them. but I would have no idea where to start. Do I need the frame to fit 700 c wheels? does the frame have to fit the cassette? At what frame should I even look at?
Then again I could go with option two
The terrain I ride in is very hilly, and in town the roads can get kinda dicey.
I recently got into biking more for commuting to school and moving around town. Lately I have been heading on longer trips to go fishing and sight seeing. So I have a few question I currently ride a diamondback insight which is a fine bike. It is sturdy, works, and has everything I need. The biggest issue with it is I dont like it. To me its ugly, not particularly fast, and not fun to ride. I would like to do one of two things with some advice. One is to buy a frame and switch the components over to a new frame which has eyelets for my panniers. Or two, get a new bike.
I kind of like the frame idea just because I like to tinker and mess around with stuff plus I can always upgrade components later as I learn more about bikes in general and what I want from them. but I would have no idea where to start. Do I need the frame to fit 700 c wheels? does the frame have to fit the cassette? At what frame should I even look at?
Then again I could go with option two
The terrain I ride in is very hilly, and in town the roads can get kinda dicey.
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Comments
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So your looking for a bike that you can do a bit of touring on?
Have you thought about what material you want the frame to be built from, carbon, titanium, aluminium, steel? How much do you want to spend?
Do you want to move everything over from your current bike? This may or may not limit choice, for example the size of your current wheels may dictate the type of frame
Suggest you do a bit more research, go to a bike store like evans where you can look at a variety of bikes in one hit so you can narrow things down a little. Why not keep the current bike for tootling around with your panniers and going fishing etc. and get another road bike for when you want to go for a bit of a burst?0 -
That looks like a flat barred hybrid. If you are wanting a road bike with drop handlebars then you'd need different shift / brake levers which will push the cost up. Ditto the brake calipers. Also the spacing of your current rear dropouts may be wider than a road frame, so that's something else to consider.
It may be simpler to sell your current bike and put the money towards a new or second hand road bike, ensuring it is the right size for you, and that it will be suitable for the kind of riding you want to do. Or if you fancy doing some spannering, buy a discounted frameset (Planet X, Ribble etc) and hunt for component bargains on Ebay.
Buying a new bike is invariably cheaper than buying a frameset / components at normal retail prices, although you do get exactly the spec you want doing it that way...0 -
To TMG: I have not thought about what I would like the frame made from. It does appear that I need to do my research thanks.
Keef: I will check those sites out. Cost is always an important to me so I appreciate the insight that buy a new bike is cheaper than getting everything separate .0 -
Look in the classified section at something like this:
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=40090&t=13025812
It'll do everything you want it to.
PS. I'm not the seller.0
