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Another "What Bike" Thread!

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    #2
    Chips Lovell
    Moderators, Politics Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,269 Mod ✭✭✭✭Chips Lovell


    First off all, so as not to get confused on terminology, all of those bikes are hybrids rather than road bikes.

    Secondly, you don't need mountain bike gearing and/or disc brakes for the road, which means I wouldn't consider the two Cubes.

    That leaves the Giant and the Lapierre, which are very similar in spec. If it were me, I'd probably settle on the FCR and starting looking around the web to see if I can find it cheaper.


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    #3
    kenmc
    Registered Users Posts: 7,276 ✭✭✭kenmc


    el tonto wrote: »
    First off all, so as not to get confused on terminology, all of those bikes are hybrids rather than road bikes.
    Well.... the FCR falls into a grey area - yes it has flat bars etc, but it has road-ratio gearing, and if the email I received from Giant is anything to be believed, it's the same bike as the SCR but with flat bars and the corresponding shifters and brake levers - 105 rear mech, compact cranks - all road components. Ditto the RCR range - all Tiagra, albeit triple cranks. Both of them also have 700x25 tyres too, which are definitely on the road side of the fence. In other words if you throw a dropped bar and brifters onto either of these bikes you'd be hard pushed to know it wasn't an out and out road bike - it really just comes down to the preference for position while cycling.
    el tonto wrote: »
    Secondly, you don't need mountain bike gearing and/or disc brakes for the road, which means I wouldn't consider the two Cubes.
    Or suspension. The second Cube looked nice till I saw the gear range on it was totally mountainbike :(
    That leaves the Giant and the Lapierre, which are very similar in spec. If it were me, I'd probably settle on the FCR and starting looking around the web to see if I can find it cheaper.
    Between the 2 FCRs, to be honest I'd probably take the 09 - the color is a bit nicer I think, and if you go to sell it on it'd be a year 'newer'. For 35 quid it'd be worth it in my mind.
    Between the FCR and the LaPierre, well the FCR has a *slightly* higher top-end gearing (53-12 vs 53-13), whereas the LP has a slightly lower low gear - 30-25 vs 34-25. So in laymans terms it means the LP will be slightly easier to get up a huge mountain but the FCR will possibly be slightly faster on the flats, cos you have one extra gear to spin before you 'spin out'.

    Both fine bikes to be honest - I have an 07 FCR 2 and the GF has an 08 RCR 100, neither has had any problems. Personally I'd probably go for the FCR09, cos it's 50 quid cheaper than the RCR, and the rear mech (the one that does all the work) is one level up from the RCR (105 vs Tiagra).


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    #4
    lafors
    Registered Users Posts: 4,316 ✭✭✭lafors


    Just to add another bike to the mix, whats your impressions on this one?

    http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_502585_langId_-1_categoryId_165534#dtab

    I've read the thread on boardman bikes here, seem pretty good value.


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    #5
    kenmc
    Registered Users Posts: 7,276 ✭✭✭kenmc


    The bike is reasonably specced, but I'd be avoiding Halfords to start with, since they're a car accessory shop, with a sideline in bikes.
    Disk brakes on a road bike are unnecessary, adding weight and complexity to the service.
    Also the bike clearly has no suspension in the picture although the specs say it has front sus, so what else did they get wrong in the specs I wonder.
    The FCR2 in cyclesuperstore is better value for a similarly spec'd bike, and with much better service to back it up.


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