The Cycling Thread

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Originally Posted by Jackie_Black

In my experience edinburgh cycles don't offer much of a bike fitting service. They will happily sell you pretty much anything. I have a friend who owns a bike shop and I use them as my LBS and they can do fittings but they only sell Giants and modas which are a funny size. I could get a decent deal on a carbon Giant but I know nothing about them and wanted a something a little more bespoke than a specialised or a giant.

Tricky one, as your friend owns a shop, can't he order you the Van Nich?

Not sure how far Saltburn is from you?

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/view...php?p=16796194

Wheelbase also in the North, they also do a fitting service.

As do http://www.breezebikes.co.uk/fit.php who are in Northumberland

The one in saltburn sounds awesome, I'd have to get a bike first by the look of things then get the fitting done though, from what I have read a 3d fitting can make an incredible difference in performance. Just had a look at my friends site and he could probably do me a giant Defy 2 for around £1650-£1700 quid. Thats not bad for a bike with ultegra on it. SO that's another bike for the posh summer bike list!!

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Breezebike website says they'll do a bike fit if you're buying a new bike and don't know what size you want

A phone call to each would be cheaper than buying the wrong sized bike before going for a fitting.

Obviously each will try and sell you one of their bikes

You could take your current bike

Certainly plenty to think about now like. Nothing I like more than making a very slow and well informed choice . Need a few months of serious research and bike shop visits now! I'll try those shops too, never visited either of them.

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by Jackie_Black

Certainly plenty to think about now like. Nothing I like more than making a very slow and well informed choice . Need a few months of serious research and bike shop visits now!

I'd been looking at my LOOK for a good 14 months before I bought it... I think you have the right approach, take your time and do your homework thoroughly before purchasing.

I had a bike fit when I bought my LOOK, it cost me £150 to get it done and I had to have it as it has an integrated seat post which means the cut the frame to set the seat height, my LBS did it for me and they took the £150 for the bike fit off the price of the bike when I placed my order. So thats something to see if you can negotiate on as well.

In your shoes, I'd be looking at the VN over the Giant, nothing wrong with the Giant, they are fantastic bikes, Its just there's so many of them and I like to stand out a little from the crowd.

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Yep, bit like the old builders mantra

Measure twice, cut once

My old steel Colnago was a 57cm which I now know was far to big for me in the top tube, and all my other bikes were a similar size when I first started.

All my fleet are 54cm size, with 11cm stem and I can tell if I've put a different sized stem on.

After 120km ride in the Alpes on my Wilier I was still comfortable enough to carry on for more miles, a combination of the carbon frame & a good fit.

Its taken a lot of years to get to this stage

Well I know after 45 miles on my Allez tomorrow I will have mild back pain, numb balls of the feet and a sore A*** even with decent bib longs and cut away saddle. Still it's miles better than it was with the longer stem that was flipped down.

Extended my ride a bit. Managed 54 miles in 3hrs 49mins.
I found the last 5 miles awful but i've set myself a new distance record, never ridden that far in one go. Great first ride of the year!!

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Well done, next time it won't be so hard mentally.

Even if I had been free today and not shackled with child care, what started out as a lovely sunny morning, quickly changed to a foggy pea souper of a day

It was a pea souper at 8am when I went out, then the sun came out for a bit and it was lovely so I extended my ride, but the coast was freezing and miserable and that made the final miles killer, think i needed a bit more nutrition too as i was pretty much broken when i got home, felt sick and dizzy until I ate.