New Bike Suggestions (yet another thread)

ROK ON

Hi folks.
I am hoping to get a new bike soon on the BTW scheme.
Budget up to 1500€.

Looking for a road bike, minimum of compact groupset.

Unsure whether to go for carbon +average groupset or alu + better group.

It is envisaged that the new bike will be used for midweek spins (and probably winter spins).

Anway, if anyone has suggestions then I would be very happy for you to share them (and thus do my research for me).

Now I do like Tonto's Wilier, and have a tendency to buy stuff that is slightly niche. So would prefer to stay away from Giants and Treks etc in that regard.
There have been many Focus and Planet X bikes recommended here, so I already am aware of them and am considering them.

What I am looking for is a bike suggestion that I probably have not thought of/likely to think of.

I commute on a spesh tricross, and would as an alternative consider a complete upgrade of groupset and wheels (if indeed a group upgrade is possible on a crossbike configuration).

Raam

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Cinelli_Xperience_Module_Frameset_2009/5360040477/

Get a nice gruppo and finishing kit with the spare change.

Raam

Raam wrote: »

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Cinelli_Xperience_Module_Frameset_2009/5360040477/

Get a nice gruppo and finishing kit with the spare change.

bummer. None in stock.
You could also try this and build yourself: http://www.probikekit.com/display.php?code=J1076

Lumen

Wilier Mortirolo, with some colour, or not:



But not that crankset.

TinyExplosions

Look 566, or Pinarello FP2.

Failing that, an Orbea would also be tasty, or even something classic an steel would be nice... these Guerciotti's are tasty!

Lumen

Bianchi bling.

Lumen

Bargain Merlin, Ti + Carbon

Lumen

This frame (which I had) would do for commuting, wintery spins - it has eyelets for muduards and rack.

ROK ON

Hi folks, thanks for the enthusiastic response.

However, I cant consider frames (1) I cannot change a lightbulb, so I would not be confident of building a bike from frame up.
(2) getting it on Bike to work scheme - my form will deal with one supplier only, so I cannot get a bike here and a groupset there and wheels elsewhere.


But I like where the thread is going regarding suggestions.
@Tiny - Orbea: who stocks them?

TinyExplosions

Epic have Orbea -something like the Onyx would be nice

Lumen

AFAIK you can provide a shop with a spec and they will order the frame/parts and build it up for you, and charge for the lot.

It helps if you start with a shop which stocks the frame you want (I did this with Epic Cycles).

lukester

Lumen wrote: »

AFAIK you can provide a shop with a spec and they will order the frame/parts and build it up for you, and charge for the lot.

It helps if you start with a shop which stocks the frame you want (I did this with Epic Cycles).

+1

Friend of mine got a very tasty Colnago built up from scratch, think it may have been Slane cycles, somewhere up north anyway. He picked out all the parts, they assembled it for no extra cost.

Lumen

lukester wrote: »

Friend of mine got a very tasty Colnago built up from scratch, think it may have been Slane cycles, somewhere up north anyway. He picked out all the parts, they assembled it for no extra cost.

Slane quoted me over £100 (it might even have been £150) to do a build like this.

Stagg Cycles quoted me €70 to do a frame swap on a complete bike.

interested

ROK ON wrote: »

Hi folks, thanks for the enthusiastic response.

However, I cant consider frames (1) I cannot change a lightbulb, so I would not be confident of building a bike from frame up.
(2) getting it on Bike to work scheme - my form will deal with one supplier only, so I cannot get a bike here and a groupset there and wheels elsewhere.


But I like where the thread is going regarding suggestions.
@Tiny - Orbea: who stocks them?

Orbea stocked in Stagg Cycles, Lucan - no connection - great place to deal with.

If its for mid-week spins and potentially spins during the winter Id be more inclined to Alu with high end finish

lukester

Lumen wrote: »

Slane quoted me over £100 (it might even have been £150) to do a build like this.

Stagg Cycles quoted me €70 to do a frame swap on a complete bike.

I guess it wasn't Slane so :pac:

I'll find out who it was, but they definitely charged nothing for assembly.

ROK ON

Hi.

Checked out the Orbea's with Stagg.

My choices are
(1) Onix Full Carbon with 105 group and FSA Carbon Chainset.
(2) Mortirolo Alu frame with carbon forks, full ultegra (not SL).

There is a €325 price diff between the Onix and the Mortirolo, with the Onix being more expensive.
Prices for both are about €100 more expensive than UK counterpart, but that may not bother me.

I wantto use the bike as a 2nd bike for weeknight spins and as a winter bike.

On that basis, I am leaning toward the alu frame? Is the price differential acceptable between alu and carbon, or is it offset by the better groupset?

Or should I just go out and get a 2nd full carbon bike, and pay a higher amount for a bike that I will not use very often?

Lumen

What were the prices?

Confusing that both Orbea and Wilier do a Mortirolo.

TinyExplosions

I'd go the Onix -you may as well have 2 Carbon bikes, and the difference between 105 and Ultegra ain't all that great -plus it comes in Orange and Black...



(ignore the tri bars)

TinyExplosions

Lumen wrote: »

What were the prices?

Confusing that both Orbea and Wilier do a Mortirolo.

I suspect Orbea -ain't the Wilier Mortirolo full carbon? El Tonto's is

Lumen

TinyExplosions wrote: »

I'd go the Onix...plus it comes in Orange and Black...

That pink bike has changed you.

ROK ON

@Tiny - The stick that LA gets for a nice yellow and black bike, and you are recommending an absolute monstrousity of a colour combo. Orange just dont work - would make me look fat (oh wait I am fat).

TinyExplosions

Lumen wrote: »

That pink bike has changed you.

just a little, though the Orange is Euskaltel colours, which fit nicely on a Basque bike!

ROK ON wrote: »

@Tiny - The stick that LA gets for a nice yellow and black bike, and you are recommending an absolute monstrousity of a colour combo. Orange just dont work - would make me look fat (oh wait I am fat).

No, orange is a slimming colour, and we need more bright hues out there, everyone is on boring black or white or muted bikes -be proud!

omri

ROK ON wrote: »

Hi folks.
I am hoping to get a new bike soon on the BTW scheme.
Budget up to 1500€.

Do you know exactly how this scheme works ? How much will the bike cost you under BTW scheme ?

ROK ON

omri wrote: »

Do you know exactly how this scheme works ? How much will the bike cost you under BTW scheme ?

Yep.
I will get tax relief at the marginal rate up to 1000.
Any amount greater than that will cost € for € the same.

So a 1500 bike will have a net cost to me of something like (1000*(1-t))+500. With t being the marginal rate of tax. So many tax hikes recently that I am not entirely sure as to what t is other than it is 40%+.

BTW, given that the income levy will just become part of the tax schedule (ie treated as tax not a levy) at the December budget, then bikes under the BTW scheme will become even cheaper on a net basis next year.

ROK ON

Thanks to all how commented on this thread. I have chosen the bike and will be going for the Orbea Aqua Mortirolo. It comes with Ultegra group.

Now I have the option of going with a standard double, compact or triple.
For me, the double is out. I currently have a triple, but despite poor climbing ability, I would fancy getting a compact on the new bike.
T
wo reasons - (1) Wean me off the triple and (2) is there that much of a difference between the gear combos 30/27 and 34/27?
That is it looks to me (using Sheldon Brown gear inch calc) that having a 12/27 on the back and 50/34 on the front, is equivalent to having triple with a 12/25. As I very rarely use the gear combo 30/27, I am thinking that I wont miss it?

I have noted on some other thread that some folks have said that a compact does thake a bit of getting used to as it is a bigger drop from 50 to 34 compared with the shift down to 30, and then 30 rings.

For people who have made the move from trile to compact, what advice wold you give, or any comments to make.

Thanks.

DirkVoodoo

I made the move from triple to compact and have yet to find a climb where I think "man I need a triple!"

I was worried at first, but when you reach the last gear you just manage to keep going. Shifting is also much nicer, although as Blorg pointed out before, shifting from 50 to 34 can leave your legs spinning as you fumble through the gears.

Lumen

FYI, SRAM do 11-28T cassettes. I'm considering it for when I switch back to a compact. Bit gappy, but nice range.

TinyExplosions

I'm most definately not a climber, but for Wicklow I have an 11-25, and it's fine, and for the Marmotte I'll drop down to a 12-27.

You should be fine with a compact and 11-25 mate

Chips Lovell

Compact and you probably wouldn't need a 27 sprocket. I got up anything in Wicklow just grand with a 34/25 low combo when I was desperately unfit and doing way less riding than you are at the moment.

ROK ON

Thanks for that folks. The thing about having the triple is that I use it, but then sometimes find (say halw way up a climb, when the gradient hasn't really chg'd that much) that I could be pushing a tougher gear. Ok it will lead to increase in HR, but I figure, that will end up being good for me.

Sometimes I just need the triple (@cause I'm fat or on last 0.75km on Kippure), but a lot of times I reckon that it must be a mental thing.
Time to let go of the security blanket.

Lumen

There's nothing wrong with spinning up hills.

Suggest you work out what 34-25 is on your triple and try it out on the next mountain spin.

Personally, I like having the option of as close to 100 RPM everywhere as I can get.

short circuit

Personally .. I am thinking of getting a triple next time I am looking for a bike or if I change the groupset ... simply because I see no downside to it ... If I never use it, so be it.

If I get really really strong, I can always get a 11-23 or a 11-21 cassette and really fine tune my cadence.

Though I manage to get up most climbs in Wicklow ... I am really grinding up nearly all of them ... I would like to be atleast 70rpm or above if at all possible ...

Also, a triple means, if you ever take up racing ... you always have the higher gears ... you don't have to swap ... as I have some people mentioning here of spinning out on compacts ... though that is a far far cry for me.

scottreynolds

ROK ON wrote: »

Thanks for that folks. The thing about having the triple is that I use it, but then sometimes find (say halw way up a climb, when the gradient hasn't really chg'd that much) that I could be pushing a tougher gear. Ok it will lead to increase in HR, but I figure, that will end up being good for me.

Sometimes I just need the triple (@cause I'm fat or on last 0.75km on Kippure), but a lot of times I reckon that it must be a mental thing.
Time to let go of the security blanket.

Yeah compact is all you'll need. I survived the TOI on a compact and even though day 5 through wicklow was tough it wasn't beyond the limits. While getting used to it up some steeper sections you may find that you;ll be grind around 50rpm but this would be very much. The rest of the time climbing you will be between 60-90 rpm. I think compact will make you stronger.

ROK ON

scottreynolds wrote: »

I think compact will make you stronger.

I am hoping that it will. Only problem is that all the advice I am getting from you guys, is from people that are far better climbers than I am.

Now while I know that I could do with losing weight ( to help me climb), I have to factor that I have already lost 2st in 1 year (that is a lot), and that while I enjoy being out on the bike and pushing myself, I dont want to become a monk either. There are just too many things that I like to eat.

I think that having done the maths on Sheldon, that with the compact on a 12/27 back casette, then the only gear that I wouldn't have would be the 30/27. I can live without this (I think).

Raam

short circuit wrote: »

Personally .. I am thinking of getting a triple next time I am looking for a bike or if I change the groupset ... simply because I see no downside to it ... If I never use it, so be it.

Downsides:-
we will all think you are a massive girl
From what I can see, triples are more expensive than a compact or a double
if you never use it is extra weight that you are carrying
the shifting is not as good as a compact or a double

ROK ON

Raam wrote: »

Downsides:-
the shifting is not as good as a compact or a double

All I can say to Short Circuit, is that I have a triple Ultegra SL, and the shifting is very smooth. Now, maybe a compact Ultegra will be soooo smooth that I wont even now I am shifting.

TinyExplosions

ROK ON wrote: »

I am hoping that it will. Only problem is that all the advice I am getting from you guys, is from people that are far better climbers than I am.

I'm not, and am as heavy, if not heavier than you are, and I get by on a compact just fine.

Raam

ROK ON wrote: »

Now, maybe a compact Ultegra will be soooo smooth that I wont even now I am shifting.

It's like eating marshmallows, it's so smooth.

scottreynolds

Raam wrote: »

It's like eating marshmallows, it's so smooth.

I got my gears adjusted last week and they have never ever been go excellent. I mean I change and its in.... smooth doesn't cut it. I can't feel it or hear it its just there..... lovely.

Raam

scottreynolds wrote: »

I got my gears adjusted last week and they have never ever been go excellent. I mean I change and its in.... smooth doesn't cut it. I can't feel it or hear it its just there..... lovely.

In fact, sometimes you can actually change gear just by thinking about it.

Lumen

I wonder whether the new electronic dura ace tweets every time it shifts?

ednwireland

Lumen wrote: »

I wonder whether the new electronic dura ace tweets every time it shifts?

wonder if sportacker could add a shift log to your ride ! imagine that with the live sharing ( does his work not tried it yet - too slow)

niceonetom

Lumen wrote: »

I wonder whether the new electronic dura ace tweets every time it shifts?

Shimano-DI2: Just moved from 14 to 15. Looking forward to a massage and listening to Ryan Adams. Amazing.

Raam

@CampagSuperRecord: are you still using man power to change gear?! Ha! Soooo 2008

scottreynolds

Lumen wrote: »

I wonder whether the new electronic dura ace tweets every time it shifts?

How about heads up display for cycling.... Actually, being really stupid here, but it would be cool to see a riders power stats during the race, their gears etc.