To buy or not to buy

molarspark

Hi All. Being fairly new to cycling, i am tempted to upgrade. Considering the Canyon ultimate AL. I would be interested in peoples opinions etc.

dermabrasion

Sound bike. Great value. Prepare to wait.

molarspark

dermabrasion wrote: »

Sound bike. Great value. Prepare to wait.

I am not known for my patience lol. Also looking at cannondale running on 105

diomed

Only one bike? Keep that quiet on this forum. :pac:

oconnpad

is your size available in the Canyon, there is a good few of them sold out for this season now.

dermabrasion

If you are fairly new to the sport (sorry for assumption of your not), there is a good argument to be made with buying from a reputable bike shop (like to one that sells most Cannonadales). They can put you on a decent bike, and they will look after the technical niggles for the first year. As you get to know what type of rider you are going to be, you can chop and change parts and upgrades. Saddles and wheels are a good example of a personal choice.
To answer your question Cannondale supersix 105 is enough bike for 95% of people on this forum.

molarspark

dermabrasion wrote: »

If you are fairly new to the sport (sorry for assumption of your not), there is a good argument to be made with buying from a reputable bike shop (like to one that sells most Cannonadales). They can put you on a decent bike, and they will look after the technical niggles for the first year. As you get to know what type of rider you are going to be, you can chop and change parts and upgrades. Saddles and wheels are a good example of a personal choice.
To answer your question Cannondale supersix 105 is enough bike for 95% of people on this forum.

Good point. I am 52 and touch of COPD. So i not racing anywhere. Cycling since june of last year. Lost 7 stone. Lot fitter now etc. I remember sence of achievement cycling to work or local shop lol. Now i cycle 80 to 100 km regularly. Climbs kill me but have not been beaten by any yet. On climbs my pace is dead slow. Therefore i would not be a serious rider like many. Incidently, i would love to join a club but fear i wouldnt be able to keep up lol

molarspark

molarspark wrote: »

I am not known for my patience lol. Also looking at cannondale running on 105

Cannondale CAAD10 (with 105) is one of the best aluminium bikes you can get. Arguably better than similarly priced carbon.

Edit:
The CAAD10 doesn't come with a compact crank which might not be suitable if you are struggle on the hills.

molarspark

ronoc wrote: »

Cannondale CAAD10 (with 105) is one of the best aluminium bikes you can get. Arguably better than similarly priced carbon.

Edit:
The CAAD10 doesn't come with a compact crank which might not be suitable if you are struggle on the hills.

Cube peloton ??

molarspark

molarspark wrote: »

Cube peloton ??

Ok can someone explain compact please. I also have a hybrid which i got on the cycle to work scheme. That has three rings at the front. Then i bought a 2nd hand trek 1:1 which has 2 rings on the front. I assumed this was compact and the other wasnt ?

Doc07

molarspark wrote: »

Cube peloton ??

Got Cube Peleton Alu/carbon fork compact with 105 last year(my first year cycling) and about 4000k later no problems.

It's good value and you can get ultergra for the same price as I paid but for leisure/endurance no need for anything better than 105. Only problem with the Cube is they are not as cool looking as others and you will be envious of expensive Bianchi/Colnago that rides beside you on a sportive! So apart from bike envy its a great bike and will do you for years.

Also go and join a club, there are slow people(like me) in most clubs. Best decision I made re cycling was to join a club. If you are already doing 80-100 on your own you will slot straight in.

molarspark

molarspark wrote: »

Ok can someone explain compact please. I also have a hybrid which i got on the cycle to work scheme. That has three rings at the front. Then i bought a 2nd hand trek 1:1 which has 2 rings on the front. I assumed this was compact and the other wasnt ?

The Trek has a compact crank at the front. Essentially this means the smaller cog makes it easier to spin up hills. The CAAD10 I mentioned has a slightly bigger one which means that steeper hills might be tougher.

Unknown Soldier

molarspark wrote: »

Hi All. Being fairly new to cycling, i am tempted to upgrade. Considering the Canyon ultimate AL. I would be interested in peoples opinions etc.

As far as I am aware there are no "delays" as such with the Ultimate ALs. Well, what's left of them. There are delays with some of the other Carbon models. You would still be waiting a few weeks for delivery though.

What size are you? Canyon wise? They sometimes have good value in their "outlet"?

If you go by reviews by "experts" it's probably one the best aluminum bikes being made at the moment. Like cars, there are many bikes out there but every now and then there is one that just ticks all the boxes for handling and all that other jazz.
The Ultimate AL is one of those bikes. Just google the reviews for it.

I haven't ridden too many bikes so I can't compare my AL to anything tbh but I do know that mine begs to be ridden. You can't get off the bloody thing when you get started It's just great fun to cycle but that could just be me!

Note though... there are different build specs and leaving aside the Group set, something like the versions with "good" wheels probably helps a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqx4_33Q1B4

Below is from 2012 but some tech info on why some people think it's so good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl69MKyAZHo

molarspark

ronoc wrote: »

The Trek has a compact crank at the front. Essentially this means the smaller cog makes it easier to spin up hills. The CAAD10 I mentioned has a slightly bigger one which means that steeper hills might be tougher.

Thanks for that. The other bike i was thinking about was the canyon al ultimate 9. I notice that has the same teeth in front cogs. So thats not compact either? I note rear cassette has 2 extra cogs. Would this compensate.

hesker

molarspark wrote: »

Thanks for that. The other bike i was thinking about was the canyon al ultimate 9. I notice that has the same teeth in front cogs. So thats not compact either? I note rear cassette has 2 extra cogs. Would this compensate.

You would be in a much more informed position if you understood gear ratios before you buy.

So my advice is to google sheldon brown gear ratio and go from there until you are fully up to speed

You should know the gear ratios on your current bike so you can compare.

G1032

molarspark wrote: »

Thanks for that. The other bike i was thinking about was the canyon al ultimate 9. I notice that has the same teeth in front cogs. So thats not compact either? I note rear cassette has 2 extra cogs. Would this compensate.

Compact would be a 50/36 or a 50/34
Standard would probably be a 52/39 or 53/39

The big difference is in the smaller ring especially between the 39 and 34. It's much much easier to climb the steeper hills with the 34. I just switched to a compact 50/34 a few weeks ago. I'm still not sure which set up I prefer. I spend nearly all my time in the 50 ring now whereas before I spent a good lot of time in the 39.

The two extra teeth in the rear cog will help too. You can work out all the differences in ratios from this site
http://www.bikecalc.com/gear_ratios

molarspark

Thanks everyone for the input. I am going for the canyon endurance 7.0cf sl. Alas they sold out. I probably asking a stupid question but does that mean they have sold out until next week or sold out as in next year

cython

molarspark wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the input. I am going for the canyon endurance 7.0cf sl. Alas they sold out. I probably asking a stupid question but does that mean they have sold out until next week or sold out as in next year

If it says sold out, then it's sold out for the season most likely. If they expect stock back in, then it should have an estimated delivery week in the availability section. You might get lucky, mind, and get one come back into stock (I did with the Endurace CF 8.0 a while ago), but you'd need to keep a very close eye on the availability page to spot it.