New 'Fast' bike

a_shed · 10-06-2021 2:02pm #1

I currently have a 4 year old £1000 bike (aluminium frame, carbon forks, ultegra groupset), which I like. Every now and then I think of upgrading.

I have a gift voucher for £1000 and so went along to my local bike shop on Saturday to see what was on offer. I was immediately steered towards a 4.5k thing of beauty, with the promise of being easily able to maintain speeds of 27+ mph with little effort (direct quote was 'you wonder why the pros are so fast? It's their bikes, once you hit 27/28mph it so easy to maintain'!).

When I said my budget was nowhere near 4.5k, I was shown a Giant TCR 3 Disc - 2.1k, full carbon, I must say it was a beautiful looking machine.

Anyway, my question is to those who have gone from a 1k bike to a 2k carbon, do you find a significant difference in average speed between the two?
(Please, no posts about losing weight and you'll go faster, or get fitter and you'll go faster..).

Is it worth the spend?

I tend to go on more leisurely spins of 100+k (have never raced and never will) but every so often I challenge myself to a 10 mile TT to boost the ego and try and beat my personal best, and going fast is fun, so a lighter and better equipped bike might be worth it.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Dcully · 10-06-2021 2:14pm

I didn't find much of a difference in speed to be honest but the carbon did mitigate humps and bumps a bit better but only really noticeable on long spins.

At the end of the day you still have to pedal it but a new bike is nice.
Lots to keep in mind geometry, components etc.

dahat · 10-06-2021 2:23pm

Giant TCR 3 Disc - 2.1k, full carbon - showing as Tiagra groupset for that price, christ above.

As Dcully said no matter what the bike your legs will be the same. Buy the best bike you can afford is the advice i'll give you.

fat bloke · 10-06-2021 2:24pm

In my experience, a good aero bike definitely increases your speed over an appropriate course. I mean aerodynamics is definitely a thing, its not a pseudo-science. But I'm talking about 0.5 or 1kph increases, not "instant pro, just add water".

. But neither can you ride roughshod over the importance of light weight and light weight and aero is an expensive combination. The one thing that's absolutely sure is that disc brakes will absolutely not make you any faster.

Anyway, it's always nice to go shopping. If it was me I'd buy an absolute superbike second hand and use my 1000 euro voucher for a fup-off set of wheels.

BailMeOut · 10-06-2021 2:26pm

for speed, it's never the bike and always the engine!

I'd spend the money on new wheels, tyres and a professional fitting!

Weepsie · 10-06-2021 2:28pm

I'd be finding a new bike shop if that's their advice. They're just trying to sell rather that rather than give real advice.

ednwireland · 10-06-2021 2:30pm

I like the whooshing sound my 50mm carbon wheels make.
am I faster err no age and weight are putting paid to that.
although my di2 synapse is a lot more comfortable then my 2010 focus cayo was (both carbon)

magicbastarder · 10-06-2021 2:40pm

what Weepsie said.

but this quote:

a_shed wrote: »

with the promise of being easily able to maintain speeds of 27+ mph with little effort (direct quote was 'you wonder why the pros are so fast? It's their bikes, once you hit 27/28mph it so easy to maintain'!).

did they say kph or mph?
either way, it's curious; it's easy enough with a modicum of fitness to maintain 27km/h, and is well below what pros would manage; but maintaining 27mph is a *whole* different ballgame. it's over 43km/h, and maintaining that on any bike is not easy.

a_shed · 10-06-2021 2:44pm

yip - miles per hour !!

Dexif · 10-06-2021 2:45pm

Probably depends also on whether you're spending alot of time in the hills. I ride a Ti bike which is fantastic but alot heavier than carbon. I recently had a loan of a carbon bike which was about 2kg lighter and was knocking about 5 - 10% off times on hill segments. Not much difference on the flat though as it wasn't aero...

a_shed · 10-06-2021 2:46pm

ednwireland wrote: »

I like the whooshing sound my 50mm carbon wheels make.
am I faster err no age and weight are putting paid to that.
although my di2 synapse is a lot more comfortable then my 2010 focus cayo was (both carbon)

Can I ask what wheels you have?

nicksnikita · 10-06-2021 3:30pm

BailMeOut wrote: »

for speed, it's never the bike and always the engine!

I'd spend the money on new wheels, tyres and a professional fitting!

100% agree.
Aluminium frame, Ultegra group, good wheels and tyres >>> carbon frame, basic wheels, Tiagra group.

fat bloke · 10-06-2021 3:46pm

a_shed wrote: »

I currently have a 4 year old £1000 bike (aluminium frame, carbon forks, ultegra groupset), which I like.

The ol bike inflation is pretty scary.

4 years later here's how much ultegra aluminium costs... :eek:

https://www.clarkesofcavan.ie/shop/cycling/cannondale-caad13-disc-ultegra-road-bike-2020/

ednwireland · 10-06-2021 4:21pm

a_shed wrote: »

Can I ask what wheels you have?

i broke a spoke on the fulcrum 6 db's that came with the bike but i had decided to do a summer upgrade for my birthday anyway, i was balking at the prices of a full carbon wheelset until i found a scratched set of bontrager aeolus 5 tlr for 750 euro on mantel.com (i couldnt find mark on them).

i just got some spokes for the fulcrum wheels (from italy) so will repair and hopefully use those in the winter

fat bloke wrote: »

The ol bike inflation is pretty scary.

4 years later here's how much ultegra aluminium costs... :eek:

i hear that my 2019 cannondale synapse di2 cost 2.8k at the start of 2020

Macy0161 · 10-06-2021 4:44pm

fat bloke wrote: »

The ol bike inflation is pretty scary.

4 years later here's how much ultegra aluminium costs... :eek:

CAAD's were always expensive for AL though? iirc from when I brought my TCR (early 2018) that they were ball park the same price as similar spec'd carbon. You can get carbon ultegra from the likes of Cube for less than that CAAD.

Anyway OP, i'd shop around a bit first before making any decision.

CantGetNoSleep · 10-06-2021 4:58pm

fat bloke wrote: »

The ol bike inflation is pretty scary.

4 years later here's how much ultegra aluminium costs... :eek:

https://www.clarkesofcavan.ie/shop/cycling/cannondale-caad13-disc-ultegra-road-bike-2020/

Crazy, I bought a 105 Synapse (carbon + hydraulic disk) for 1199 in 2018.

OP - I wouldn't spend that much without really considering what you want out of the upgrade. I have a bike with an rrp of 4899, and there is little difference to the much cheaper bike above

Dow99 · 10-06-2021 5:02pm

a_shed wrote: »

yip - miles per hour !!

Forget the bike,, You will need a peloton and an 7 man lead out train.
25mph = 40km/p. The pros dont even ride at those speeds on their own

Daroxtar · 10-06-2021 11:13pm

fat bloke wrote: »

The ol bike inflation is pretty scary.

4 years later here's how much ultegra aluminium costs... :eek:

https://www.clarkesofcavan.ie/shop/cycling/cannondale-caad13-disc-ultegra-road-bike-2020/

I bought my Wilier Cento 1SR (at the time only the Zero7 ranked higher in the Wilier hierarchy) full Ultegra for €2700.
Equivalent bike now is over €5k

dahat · 11-06-2021 6:40am

Bought a disc braked Merida Reacto (new model) this year for a shade over 3k. In these days I thought it was priced well for the spec plus the stock wheel set is way better than I espected.

The new Merida models are worth looking if you are buying.

this.lad · 11-06-2021 7:31am

Last August I went from a €650 Defy 5, to a 3.5k TCR Advanced.

Am I faster? Yes

Is it the bike? I don't know.

The defy is 8 speed, gearing is gappy, and maybe the components etc weren't high quality.

I find the new bike fits me better, even though I thought I was okay on the old one, when I get back on it now I feel really awkward.

I think part of the improvement is the fact that I trained indoors over the winter as the bike has a power meter. But I was already doing better last autumn.

Another part is definitely that I love the bike, and can't stay if it and really want to push it out. I rode it into work and home yesterday. I picked up 4 prs and a KOM, I have never had a KOM before.

I want to go out now where I was getting fed up on the other one.

So in summary, I don't think a bike, alone, will necessarily make you faster but if it gets you out more - go for it.

strmin · 11-06-2021 8:08am

fat bloke wrote: »

The ol bike inflation is pretty scary.

4 years later here's how much ultegra aluminium costs... :eek:

https://www.clarkesofcavan.ie/shop/cycling/cannondale-caad13-disc-ultegra-road-bike-2020/

It has disc brakes, so it's worth it. That's the best marketing trick bike industry has come up with in the very long time.
Few years ago everybody talked about light weight, now it's only disk brakes that matters.

byrnem31 · 11-06-2021 8:31am

I went from a €1k bike, alliminium cube nuroad with tiagra to a €2.25k giant-defy-advanced 2 2020 with 105. The difference is night and day.

The defy is better in every way. I would splash out a little bit more and aim for 105. The tiagra I had was 10 speed and didn't like the spread on the gears. With 11 on the 105, I find it much better to cycle with. Plus 105 is bombproof and is more than enough for anyone not racing.

The tcr is a more an aggressive riding position. Look at endurance bikes too, ie, defy, cube attain gtc sl etc.

Because I have a carbon bike which now has a set of hunt carbons wheels that looks the business, I love going out on it. I'm getting into the cycling big time now and I'm doing a 100klm ride tomorrow and next week.

So go for it, buy something decent now.

ciara1052 · 11-06-2021 11:12am

byrnem31 wrote: »

I went from a €1k bike, alliminium cube nuroad with tiagra to a €2.25k giant-defy-advanced 2 2020 with 105. The difference is night and day.

The defy is better in every way. I would splash out a little bit more and aim for 105. The tiagra I had was 10 speed and didn't like the spread on the gears. With 11 on the 105, I find it much better to cycle with. Plus 105 is bombproof and is more than enough for anyone not racing.

The tcr is a more an aggressive riding position. Look at endurance bikes too, ie, defy, cube attain gtc sl etc.

Because I have a carbon bike which now has a set of hunt carbons wheels that looks the business, I love going out on it. I'm getting into the cycling big time now and I'm doing a 100klm ride tomorrow and next week.

So go for it, buy something decent now.

Not the OP but I'm in the exact same position you were in (... being forced to upgrade due to issues with my old 1k 'entry level' bike). No interest in racing but I like going out for longer rides at the weekends. I've been trying to justify spending a bit more and getting a bike fit this time. Glad to hear it was worth it!

magicbastarder · 11-06-2021 12:03pm

ciara1052 wrote: »

(... being forced to upgrade due to issues with my old 1k 'entry level' bike)

repairs that are not economically justifiable? or sizing?

Plastik · 11-06-2021 12:15pm

Pinkbike did an article recently on 2021 vs 2011 mtb prices, which I thought was interesting and revealing. https://www.pinkbike.com/news/throwback-thursday-how-much-have-mountain-bike-prices-changed-in-the-past-10-years.html

It would be interesting to see a similar one done on road prices at some stage. Road is in a strange place for the past few years though. Standards have been changing so quickly that it's hard to do any sort of true comparison.

magicbastarder · 11-06-2021 12:17pm

GCN had a short bit about bike inflation on the GCN weekly show recently - it's as much a talking point to prompt people to respond though.

byrnem31 · 11-06-2021 12:18pm

ciara1052 wrote: »

Not the OP but I'm in the exact same position you were in (... being forced to upgrade due to issues with my old 1k 'entry level' bike). No interest in racing but I like going out for longer rides at the weekends. I've been trying to justify spending a bit more and getting a bike fit this time. Glad to hear it was worth it!

You will cycle more the better bike you have. That's my experience.

magicbastarder · 11-06-2021 12:25pm

regarding prices - in the january sales during the euro/punt changeover, i bought a bike in cycleways (assembled in house) for IRL£1000 (reduced from IRL£1400 i think).
terry dolan aluminium frame, 9 speed 105, gipiemme tecno 024 wheels.
according to the CSO inflation calculator, inflation in ireland has risen 30% since then, which would place that bike at just shy of €1700 now.
which still seems ballpark for a decent alu bike with 105?
just checked - a giant contend SL is €1,429.

G1032 · 11-06-2021 12:26pm

fat bloke wrote: »

The ol bike inflation is pretty scary.

4 years later here's how much ultegra aluminium costs... :eek:

https://www.clarkesofcavan.ie/shop/cycling/cannondale-caad13-disc-ultegra-road-bike-2020/

This is incredible

I bought a CAAD12 in Feb 2019. 105 was €1580. Ultegra would have been an extra €600

So a 2019 CAAD12 Ultegra was €2180 v €3542.40 for the CAAD13 today.
That's a 62% price increase in 2 years.
Insane

Don't know what I'm gonna do when I need a new bike. Looking more and more like I'll be buying a frame and transferring the groupset.

Large bottle small glass · 11-06-2021 12:48pm

G1032 wrote: »

Don't know what I'm gonna do when I need a new bike. Looking more and more like I'll be buying a frame and transferring the groupset.

It'll calm down again, it is not just bikes where price have gone mental.

Try buying machinery, vintage cars, new and used cars, property; prices are insane in many instances. I would assume (but I don't know) art and the likes also.

Shimano groupset shortages (sold at a higher price) and also a lower output for bike manufacturers means they have to more profit per bike to survive.

Macy0161 · 11-06-2021 2:35pm

There has to be an element of supply and demand, too? Also, BTW increase...

New 'Fast' bike

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