Pick me a new pushbike

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

I was recommended to buy a Giant by the bloke in the bike shop, you can get a really good bike for around the £500 - £600 mark, trouble is I'm good at spending money...

TBH though none of the Giants in the £500 had Carbon forks or anything like that and I'm a tart...

There you are now. The man in the bike shop, and me.
Nah, honestly I am a bit vague about the scene in the UK now. Giant are doing well over here though. If I was to buy another off the shelf raod bike, I would probably buy a Giant TCR composite.







Nothing earth shattering, but for 3 thousand US dollars, that's a hell of a bike.
If your man above there is looking to spend roughly a K sterling, I mean, I dunno, whats that in dollars, 3 billion or something at this point, he might be able to get a model or two below this. The TCO Alliance, with the composite / Alum frame. Mavic grouppo on that bike though.
Hmm. Dunno what that;s like.


Actually, you can buy the Alliance with a 105 group bolted onto it.

Yeah, the thing I dont like about Shimano shifters is... the Shifters actually.
Ha ha. I much prefer Campag shifters.
They are just a better action. Thumb and middle finger, rather than a big swingy entire brake lever thing. I never liked that. I always used Campag Ergo shifters.

Edit, the more I look at it, the more I think that TCR 1 Alliance is your man. One and a half thou. You should be able to buy that for a grand in the UK. That seems to be his budget, right?

And they even throw in some clipless pedals.
Score.





EDIT, my skepticism about that Mavic SRAM stuff proved well founded. I have never seen MAvic make good built-into-the-brakes shifters . Ever. Stay away from Mavic SRAM stuff. Stick to their rims.

raleigh grifter-


with cow horns

and playing cards in the spokes held on with pegs to make it sound like a motorbike

How about this?

[mattSV]

Viney/Quiff

My brother had a Grifter XL - bomb proof but bloody hard work to ride quickly - and a piece of margarine tub or fairy liquid bottle is louder and lasts longer than a playing card

Fizz/philipMac - I was hoping you guys would have some advice - cheers.

I will stick SPDs on whatever I get, already got them on my Scott Competition XC and find it really hard without to ride without them.

I rode road bikes for years, and still have my 531c frame hanging in the garage, complete with mavic open4cd rims, and a mix of campag record/shimano 600 running gear. Since getting the Scott about 8 years ago, I much prefer the riding position of a mountain bike, I just want something lighter/quicker for on the road so I can keep the Scott for off road.

I have just got back from the local Giant dealer, had a look at the FCR Alliance which is £995:-



For the same money I could get a Trek 7.7:-




Or a Marin Mill Valley - apparantly this was designed from scratch as a flatbar, hybrid, whereas all the others are basically road frames with flat bars.



To be honest, I think these are all great bikes, I just need to compare the detailed specs to see which one will give the best bang for bucks

I'm personally a mountain bike man. This is what I jump off of buildings with. the hydraulic braking system is superb as well!

[fizzwheel]

Matt they all look good, be down to specs, groupset etc.

I reckon personally that something designed as a hybrid is going to work better than road frame with flat bars on it. Also the marin looks like it has triple whereas the others have doubles, which might give you options if your hill climbing.

One of my mates has a triple and I struggle up the steeper climbs where he can get down into his granny ring and spin away up the climbs.

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

Matt they all look good, be down to specs, groupset etc.

I reckon personally that something designed as a hybrid is going to work better than road frame with flat bars on it. Also the marin looks like it has triple whereas the others have doubles, which might give you options if your hill climbing.

One of my mates has a triple and I struggle up the steeper climbs where he can get down into his granny ring and spin away up the climbs.

Meh.
Straight handle bars == mountain bike, or something is wrong.
I dont get people using them at all at all. Drop bars are just lovely. Hands on top of the brake hoods for normal riding, below if you are tucking in.

What I was going to say was.... yes, Fizz, buy yourself a 39 tooth chain ring (assuming you are riding a 42 now). And maybe a more open cassette (ie wider range).

If you are not happy with your ratios just change them. I had different ratios for training and racing. Its an easy swap out. You should not really need a triple if you give it a bit of thought.
You are probably going to need a new mech, and shifters if you get a triple on the front, you know?

Matt mate, from those three there, I had a bit of a look over.
My recommendation from above stands. TCR Alliance, with the 105 gruppo.

Em. But... like, you have these piccies with straight bars.
Which scares me a little.

So, just the theory here, your hands should be on the bars directly below your shoulders. Ie, your arms should not be angling in or out, just down. Thats how you know you are in the right position.
I bet that those flats are wider than your shoulders.

Have a look at any Pro rider. They measure their shoulder width, and buy bars that width.
This means... that you have THREE options about where to put your hands.
Three. Its amazing.
Wrists straight, and on the hoods. My fav.
Wrists straight, on the drops.
Hands twisted 90 degrees, and on the flats of your drops.

Three riding positions, means if you get tired of sitting one way, you change. This is so much nicer.
But, that's just me i suppose.

[mattSV]

Originally Posted by philipMac

Matt mate, from those three there, I had a bit of a look over.
My recommendation from above stands. TCR Alliance, with the 105 gruppo.

Em. But... like, you have these piccies with straight bars.
Which scares me a little.

So, just the theory here, your hands should be on the bars directly below your shoulders. Ie, your arms should not be angling in or out, just down. Thats how you know you are in the right position.
I bet that those flats are wider than your shoulders.

Have a look at any Pro rider. They measure their shoulder width, and buy bars that width.
This means... that you have THREE options about where to put your hands.
Three. Its amazing.
Wrists straight, and on the hoods. My fav.
Wrists straight, on the drops.
Hands twisted 90 degrees, and on the flats of your drops.

Three riding positions, means if you get tired of sitting one way, you change. This is so much nicer.
But, that's just me i suppose.

You ain't going to convince me on the drops I am afraid Anyway, with bar ends there are still options for different hand positions, including putting them together on the stem with elbows tucked right in

I remember when I built the road bike I matched the bars to my shoulder width - just been to check, and the bars on the road bike are Cinelli C65 38cm. Just for a laugh I got MrsMatt to see what my shoulders measure now (20 years later) - now measure 46cm. The straight bars on my current mountain bike are 54cm.

I do like the Giant FCR, however the Trek has an Ultegra rear mech and sexy laced rims, Marin has carbon crank arms, Kona has 30 gears blah blah blah

Decisions, decisions.

I might hang on for a few weeks as the 2008 models will be out then - that might make the decision easier - or not

[mattSV]

Originally Posted by philipMac

Meh.
Straight handle bars == mountain bike, or something is wrong.
I dont get people using them at all at all. Drop bars are just lovely. Hands on top of the brake hoods for normal riding, below if you are tucking in.

What I was going to say was.... yes, Fizz, buy yourself a 39 tooth chain ring (assuming you are riding a 42 now). And maybe a more open cassette (ie wider range).

If you are not happy with your ratios just change them. I had different ratios for training and racing. Its an easy swap out. You should not really need a triple if you give it a bit of thought.
You are probably going to need a new mech, and shifters if you get a triple on the front, you know?

Fizzwheel

I think I have 39/42/52/53 shimano chain rings for my roadbike, if you want to try any/all of these rings then you can have them mate - might just need to check that they will fit your crankarm though