Discussion
went on saturday and had a really good day. ok, there was no big spec, trek or giant stand but who cares? do you go to a car show to see Ford and Renaults or Lamborghini and Ferrari?
ok, they might have had some interesting stuff at the top end of the range but spare me the low end unit shifters all lined up in order of price and spec. I'm not being a snob but the big manufacturers have an enormous range of road, mountain, touring, hybrid, cross etc etc....who cares about the seeing the fundamental differences of a trek 1.1 and a trek 1.2 up close, thats what the web and shops are for... anyway, the last few weeks have seen interbike in the US and eurobike in Germany, its not that the UK market isnt valuable, but the buyers and journos at one or both of those shows and thats where the money swops hands.
anyway, it was great for the smaller brands, i got to chat to Look, Enigma, Dolan and Condor which was really good as they were favourites for my next bike so to get a chance to compare them back to back was nice. had my first proper play on sram kit too which was interesting given it was the lower end Apex kit. good, precise shifting, double tap is really cool and only takes a few minutes to get used to. definately looking at rival or force for the build. Another good thing about these shows is the chance to see upgraded finishing kit up close too, the ITM and Deda stuff is quite nice and worth a look.
ok, they might have had some interesting stuff at the top end of the range but spare me the low end unit shifters all lined up in order of price and spec. I'm not being a snob but the big manufacturers have an enormous range of road, mountain, touring, hybrid, cross etc etc....who cares about the seeing the fundamental differences of a trek 1.1 and a trek 1.2 up close, thats what the web and shops are for... anyway, the last few weeks have seen interbike in the US and eurobike in Germany, its not that the UK market isnt valuable, but the buyers and journos at one or both of those shows and thats where the money swops hands.
anyway, it was great for the smaller brands, i got to chat to Look, Enigma, Dolan and Condor which was really good as they were favourites for my next bike so to get a chance to compare them back to back was nice. had my first proper play on sram kit too which was interesting given it was the lower end Apex kit. good, precise shifting, double tap is really cool and only takes a few minutes to get used to. definately looking at rival or force for the build. Another good thing about these shows is the chance to see upgraded finishing kit up close too, the ITM and Deda stuff is quite nice and worth a look.
pablo said:
went on saturday and had a really good day. ok, there was no big spec, trek or giant stand but who cares? do you go to a car show to see Ford and Renaults or Lamborghini and Ferrari?
ok, they might have had some interesting stuff at the top end of the range but spare me the low end unit shifters all lined up in order of price and spec. I'm not being a snob but the big manufacturers have an enormous range of road, mountain, touring, hybrid, cross etc etc....who cares about the seeing the fundamental differences of a trek 1.1 and a trek 1.2 up close, thats what the web and shops are for... anyway, the last few weeks have seen interbike in the US and eurobike in Germany, its not that the UK market isnt valuable, but the buyers and journos at one or both of those shows and thats where the money swops hands.
anyway, it was great for the smaller brands, i got to chat to Look, Enigma, Dolan and Condor which was really good as they were favourites for my next bike so to get a chance to compare them back to back was nice. had my first proper play on sram kit too which was interesting given it was the lower end Apex kit. good, precise shifting, double tap is really cool and only takes a few minutes to get used to. definately looking at rival or force for the build. Another good thing about these shows is the chance to see upgraded finishing kit up close too, the ITM and Deda stuff is quite nice and worth a look.
I've got a mixture of Force and Red on the Cervelo and flipping in to a lower gear up a steep hill with a single tap left and double tap right feels pretty good once you've dialled yourself in to how it works... not as "swiss-watch" compared to my MTB Shim XTR setup though... Shimano feels more engineered and "snicks" in to gear whereas the SRAM is positive but more mechanical - if that makes sense? ok, they might have had some interesting stuff at the top end of the range but spare me the low end unit shifters all lined up in order of price and spec. I'm not being a snob but the big manufacturers have an enormous range of road, mountain, touring, hybrid, cross etc etc....who cares about the seeing the fundamental differences of a trek 1.1 and a trek 1.2 up close, thats what the web and shops are for... anyway, the last few weeks have seen interbike in the US and eurobike in Germany, its not that the UK market isnt valuable, but the buyers and journos at one or both of those shows and thats where the money swops hands.
anyway, it was great for the smaller brands, i got to chat to Look, Enigma, Dolan and Condor which was really good as they were favourites for my next bike so to get a chance to compare them back to back was nice. had my first proper play on sram kit too which was interesting given it was the lower end Apex kit. good, precise shifting, double tap is really cool and only takes a few minutes to get used to. definately looking at rival or force for the build. Another good thing about these shows is the chance to see upgraded finishing kit up close too, the ITM and Deda stuff is quite nice and worth a look.
Would love to try a decent Campag setup to compared as have never ridden one - I think ultimately a Di2 would be the way forward on the road bike... when I can afford to drop that sort of money on just the chainset!
Ui2. Dolan were offering Ui2 on some nice frames with average finihsing kit for well under £3K. i reallly liked the auto self-trimming feature on the front mech.
I was playing on Sram Apex and its really hard to describe, it was clunky but in a good way, clunky but "i know thats shifted" kind of thing, just click and forget. i imagine that force, rival and red are slightly more refined. force is seriously light too and is far better looking compared to ultegra. I still cant get comfy on campag hoods.
I was playing on Sram Apex and its really hard to describe, it was clunky but in a good way, clunky but "i know thats shifted" kind of thing, just click and forget. i imagine that force, rival and red are slightly more refined. force is seriously light too and is far better looking compared to ultegra. I still cant get comfy on campag hoods.
I was there on Friday with a mate. We had a try on a few bikes in the demo areas, some were impressive and other not so.
In the MTB area I had a go on the Felt FS and a 29er HT but can't remember what make it was. It was my first time on an FS bike and I thought it was awful, felt like riding a bike with a puncture. Very strange.
The 29er wasn't bad, seemed to roll really well compared to my current 26" HT.
In the Road demo area there was a lovely carbon framed Rose with full Dura-Ace on it. It was my first time riding a high end road bike and my first time riding with Shimano and it was great, despite the short 'track' I'm amazed at how stiff the bike felt compared to my current Boardman which now feels like it's made of rubber by comparison.
I also had a crack on a Campag equipped bike which I really didn't get on with. The hoods were incredibly uncomfortable.
Overall the show was nothing spectacular, some nice top end kit to drool over but not much within my price range.
In the MTB area I had a go on the Felt FS and a 29er HT but can't remember what make it was. It was my first time on an FS bike and I thought it was awful, felt like riding a bike with a puncture. Very strange.
The 29er wasn't bad, seemed to roll really well compared to my current 26" HT.
In the Road demo area there was a lovely carbon framed Rose with full Dura-Ace on it. It was my first time riding a high end road bike and my first time riding with Shimano and it was great, despite the short 'track' I'm amazed at how stiff the bike felt compared to my current Boardman which now feels like it's made of rubber by comparison.
I also had a crack on a Campag equipped bike which I really didn't get on with. The hoods were incredibly uncomfortable.
Overall the show was nothing spectacular, some nice top end kit to drool over but not much within my price range.
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