577 replies to this topic

[THE ANORAK]

still going out... one long ride at the weekends and a couple short ones in the week if i can, although haven't done any since last Sunday as i now have the other bug that's doing the rounds, sore throat etc.

seem to be going well but at least half of every ride is against the wind at the moment its like riding with the brakes on

[AndrewJ530]

Okay guys i need some help. I'm thinking of getting a road bike next year for going to work on and then uni the year after. I think i'll have about £250 - £300 to spend on a bike. I'd like to get something fairly decent and reliable for my money but don't even know where to start.

I've never ridden road bikes before only mountain bikes about 3 years ago. Anybody have any good suggestions where to start looking for a decent road bike thats not too expensive?

Thanks in advance for the help,

Andrew

[nurseholliday]

long time no posts, nothing really happening.
erm, new long johns haha

I entered an alleycat a few weeks back, came 4th out of 15, which I was pretty pleased with!

[THE ANORAK]

Okay guys i need some help. I'm thinking of getting a road bike next year for going to work on and then uni the year after. I think i'll have about £250 - £300 to spend on a bike. I'd like to get something fairly decent and reliable for my money but don't even know where to start.

I've never ridden road bikes before only mountain bikes about 3 years ago. Anybody have any good suggestions where to start looking for a decent road bike thats not too expensive?

Thanks in advance for the help,

Andrew

i would say that in that price range you may be better off going for a second hand bike. try going to your local bike shop (not hellfrauds) and have a good chat with one of the sales guys. get an idea for what you can get for your money, but be warned, the parts may look OK but may not work !00% on the road.

my bike was around £400 and even at that price the rear derailleur can be a bit temperamental (actually i think the problem is with the cheap shifters), it will be the first area to upgrade


EDIT: actually just found this deal..... click seems like a good bike for the money, there's a few more on that site as well

Edited by THE ANORAK, 07 December 2008 - 03:16 PM.

[Brawlyrox]

Im still riding, done 140 miles this weekend. Legs sore now though. Ps dont ride with hangovers.

[AndrewJ530]

Okay guys i need some help. I'm thinking of getting a road bike next year for going to work on and then uni the year after. I think i'll have about £250 - £300 to spend on a bike. I'd like to get something fairly decent and reliable for my money but don't even know where to start.

I've never ridden road bikes before only mountain bikes about 3 years ago. Anybody have any good suggestions where to start looking for a decent road bike thats not too expensive?

Thanks in advance for the help,

Andrew

i would say that in that price range you may be better off going for a second hand bike. try going to your local bike shop (not hellfrauds) and have a good chat with one of the sales guys. get an idea for what you can get for your money, but be warned, the parts may look OK but may not work !00% on the road.

my bike was around £400 and even at that price the rear derailleur can be a bit temperamental (actually i think the problem is with the cheap shifters), it will be the first area to upgrade


EDIT: actually just found this deal..... click seems like a good bike for the money, there's a few more on that site as well

Cheers for the advice anorak. I'll pop down to bobby cycles after new year and see what they have to say. Might even be something in the january sales.

Thanks again,

Andrew

[Mark@IR]

Everyone still riding over christmas period? Hope they are!

Anyways, i had a little opertunity to ride another bike so i done a little write up for it. Yes my write up are pants but meh, thought i'd post it up anyway!

(Taken from the bike forum i started up, covering all styles of riding. www.mrange.co.uk)


Firstly, a little piccy;



I guess it’s time for another write up? These past few days have seen me riding the Cannondale Synapse Carbon compact. Sporting a full Shimano group set 105 throughout and a Shimano wheel set.

For its RRP of £1399 it’s not the lightest bike you can buy, however due to the carbon frame it’s defiantly a sound investment. As time goes on you can upgrade parts and make this little beast a bit lighter. Don’t shy away though, even though it’s slightly heavier it’s no heavyweight!
Also its worth mentioning that how you see it in that picture isn’t how I rode it. I did adjust the bar/stem and seat angle to make her a little more user friendly! This particular one was a 53cm.

Due to time restraints I only managed about 100ish miles on it, but those were a comfortable few miles. The feedback from the frame and fork is good; flex’s when you want it and its stiff where it needs to be. Obviously Cannondale aren’t the new guys on the block so they half have a clue what’s going on. The computer was showing 800 miles before I even got on it. Wheels were still smooth and no signs of fatigue anywhere.

Being the compact version it’s defiantly an ideal bike as a winter trainer or someone who is just getting into the road bike scene. Allowing you to make those hill climbs just that little more negotiable! The down side is I found I was often changing back and forth at the front. This might be something you’d upgrade first as your fitness got better.

Overall this bike is a little beauty! It’s not got an in your face paintjob, no crazy nothing anywhere just purely that ‘get on and ride’ attitude about it.
In the short of it all if I had £1400 sat in the bank I would find myself buying one, however I’d get the version without the compact crank set. This is purely my preference though due to the guy I ride with is running a normal gear ratio so keeping up with him will be much easier.
I’ve recently ridden a Orbea Onix which I will do some sort of review on in the near future, but to side by side these two bikes, the Cannondale feels just as planted on the roads, just suffers weight wise due to the fact that the Orbea comes in at £1200 just for the frame alone. Good ‘ole saying for that though “you get what you pay for”

That’ll do for now folks, you’ll hear from me soon as I still have a few left to test!


Cheers ta, Me!

(don't kill me for my bad write ups, i'm trying to improve my discriptive writing so practise makes perfect!)

[THE ANORAK]

been sitting here all day waiting for the rain to stop so i could go out for a quick ride. so it finaly stopped and out i went.

now my usual "quick" route is all up and down through the villages, nice little villages with streams and bridges etc, well three of these villages were suffering from flooding

well the first one is at the bottom of a fast left hand bend and took me by suprise. after muttering the word "shi..." the resulting splash must have looked something like this



managed to spot the next one in time (stanford of stanford hall fame) and slowly rode through, much better

got to a third one (little place called clay cotton), slowed down, started to make my way through but the water was so deep that every time my feet got to the bottom of the pedal stroke my toes were under water

so, 15 miles in the cold with dripping wet feet and legs. if it wasnt so funny i would have cried

Edited by THE ANORAK, 13 December 2008 - 03:13 PM.

[THE ANORAK]

another 30 miles done today

[THE ANORAK]

still cycling everyone ????

well Ive been using the Xmas holiday to get a few good miles in, despite the cold. I'm noticing a good improvement in my ability to keep pushing over a couple of hours and my hill climbing is getting better.

starting to push myself now by including some really steep (but thankfully quite short) hills in my rides. i think im well on track to being quite good by the time the summer comes

also hit 39.4mph on a down hill section today

Edited by THE ANORAK, 29 December 2008 - 07:54 PM.

[nurseholliday]

Indeed, the cold is not hindering me at all. Covering some long distances now on my fixed, and surprising some cars when pulling away from the lights. Overtook a moped the other day too.

[THE ANORAK]

well it had to happen.... i came off the bike today 26 miles of riding and i came off about a mile from home. there is a little village called newton with 90 degree corner and i took it just a bit too fast for the cold weather and the front wheel slid out and dumped me on the road. luckily my body managed to save the bike with only some minor skuffs on its extrematies (handle bar tape, pedal, rear mech and sadle). my beautifull metalic red paint was untouched.

i skuffed my tights up a bit and got covered in muck, but apart from a bruise on my hip and a graze on my knee, im OK

well thats the first time ive ever come off when out on the bike (fell off loads of bikes when i was a kid, but never the proper bikes) and i think i came off quite lightly (pun intended).

and you know me, i had to take photos









PS: spelling may be naff as the spell checks not working

Edited by THE ANORAK, 01 January 2009 - 03:28 PM.

[nurseholliday]

Ah I know exactly how you feel. I did the same thing in an un-gritted car park on my way to a 9am lecture. Hurt myself more than the bike, it was just really annoying.

Glad to hear you're OK

[alicetheauto]

This is my current ride, a chris boardman road team. Full Ultegra, with ritchey pro sealed hubs and Truvativ rouleur carbon chainset. Put some profile aerobars on it recently too, with dura ace barend levers. Its really quick now, had it upto 41mph. I average 20mh round town in traffic (average 16 in the mini....). I do 22mph average on open roads!

[nurseholliday]

I don't have a cycle computer so I don't know for sure, but while drafting behind a Laguna the other day, looking through the rear windscreen I reckon I've had mine up to 38ish mph. I need to sort out my souplesse though because I was getting a bit bouncy on the seat.