Advice for newbie please
Discussion
Greetings all,
Been on PH for over 10 years but never ventured into pedal forums before.
I want to buy a road bike mostly for excersize and fun. I don't know much about bikes apart from having had a Nishiki Competition with full Dura Ace groupset back in the 1980s as a school boy
Was looking at this and wondered what you guys could advise:
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/4070279.htm
Any suggestions for other forums that might list second hand road bikes?
Budget £800-1000ish
Cheers all
Been on PH for over 10 years but never ventured into pedal forums before.
I want to buy a road bike mostly for excersize and fun. I don't know much about bikes apart from having had a Nishiki Competition with full Dura Ace groupset back in the 1980s as a school boy
Was looking at this and wondered what you guys could advise:
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/4070279.htm
Any suggestions for other forums that might list second hand road bikes?
Budget £800-1000ish
Cheers all
looks like a great bike for the money, the higher end raleigh stuff is very good and easily comparable to the more fashionable brands in terms of comfort and performance.
if you can, take someone who knows what they are looking for as its a carbon frame and you will need to check it very carefully for signs of damage, usual spots to check are anything near a bolt which could have been over tightened.
if you are looking at a new bike, the Boardman team is pretty hard to beat but things like the Cannondale CAAD8 are very good bikes for the money.
other good classified forums to try are bikeradar and road.cc
if you can, take someone who knows what they are looking for as its a carbon frame and you will need to check it very carefully for signs of damage, usual spots to check are anything near a bolt which could have been over tightened.
if you are looking at a new bike, the Boardman team is pretty hard to beat but things like the Cannondale CAAD8 are very good bikes for the money.
other good classified forums to try are bikeradar and road.cc
Personally I would not buy a second hand carbon bike unless I knew the owner.
Damage to carbon is not always visible or obvious, a small mark on the outside could be nothing, on the other hand it could indicate several layers of delaminated carbon beneath the skin. I am no aficionado on carbon bikes, but am contemplating a carbon bike vs a titanium bike later this year, so have been doing a lot of reading over the past few days, and have read a number of horror stories relating to second hand carbon.
Sheldon Brown has a good write up on frame materials on his web site, the overriding point he makes is that the frame material is secondary to a well fitting bike.
If you can hold off a month or so you will start to see the 2012 bikes hitting the sales (usually around Sept) as the 2013 bikes are launched. My suggestion would be to get along to a LBS and have a chat about the sort of riding you want to do etc, buying from the web could save £££££’s on the high street, but if you are in agony every time you sit in the saddle its probably not VFM!
The geometry of a road bike changes so much from one model to another depending on its purpose, if you enjoy long days in the saddle then a sportive type bike could be what you need, on the other hand if you are planning on short, hard rides with your hair on fire then an aggressive out and out racer could be the way forward!
I think it is easy to part with cash if you think you are getting a bargain, but if it does not fit or is not comfortable then it is just a waste of money!
Damage to carbon is not always visible or obvious, a small mark on the outside could be nothing, on the other hand it could indicate several layers of delaminated carbon beneath the skin. I am no aficionado on carbon bikes, but am contemplating a carbon bike vs a titanium bike later this year, so have been doing a lot of reading over the past few days, and have read a number of horror stories relating to second hand carbon.
Sheldon Brown has a good write up on frame materials on his web site, the overriding point he makes is that the frame material is secondary to a well fitting bike.
If you can hold off a month or so you will start to see the 2012 bikes hitting the sales (usually around Sept) as the 2013 bikes are launched. My suggestion would be to get along to a LBS and have a chat about the sort of riding you want to do etc, buying from the web could save £££££’s on the high street, but if you are in agony every time you sit in the saddle its probably not VFM!
The geometry of a road bike changes so much from one model to another depending on its purpose, if you enjoy long days in the saddle then a sportive type bike could be what you need, on the other hand if you are planning on short, hard rides with your hair on fire then an aggressive out and out racer could be the way forward!
I think it is easy to part with cash if you think you are getting a bargain, but if it does not fit or is not comfortable then it is just a waste of money!
MadDad said:
I think it is easy to part with cash if you think you are getting a bargain, but if it does not fit or is not comfortable then it is just a waste of money!
This. Buy new, buy from a LBS who'll let you ride the bike and support you properly if you have problems. Yes it'll cost you a little more but a badly fitted bike will put you off riding all together.
Oh and budget for: pedals, shoes, a lid, bottles, bottle cages, glasses, spares, tools, waterproofs, bib shorts, jerseys, arm warmers, leg warmers, a micro pump, a track pump and a gilet. all things that I've 'had' to buy since getting my first road bike in march.
And most importantly have fun.
As long as the OP isn't very oddly built, with massive long legs for his height etc, then it can be made comfortable. I can comfortably ride 54, 56, 58 cm bikes with different set ups, always get the "buy ther best fit" thing, but actually unless you are an odd shape, its not such a big deal as it gets made out to be.
Comfortably Dumb said:
Fair enough. Personally I didn't know enough to take the risk when spending nearly a grand on a bike.
Its always best to make use of your local shop. But people do get a bit OTT about it all. Sizing is very changeable, so if you see a bargain, are 6ft with 32 inseem, then you can probably assume that a 56 will be fine. As could a 54 with a longer stem and a spacer etc. All about the geometry 
Comfortably Dumb said:
Oh and budget for: pedals, shoes, a lid, bottles, bottle cages, glasses, spares, tools, waterproofs, bib shorts, jerseys, arm warmers, leg warmers, a micro pump, a track pump and a gilet. all things that I've 'had' to buy since getting my first road bike in march.
As it turns out the vendor of this Raleigh bike is exactly the same height as me so really size should not be too much of a problem I think.
I suppose I could go and buy this Cube new instead, but although I understand Cube's are rated highly, I suspect the Raleigh Carbon bike w. carbon wheels is in a different class?
http://www.cube.eu/en/road/performance/peloton-rac...
Pretty bike though the Cube
I suppose I could go and buy this Cube new instead, but although I understand Cube's are rated highly, I suspect the Raleigh Carbon bike w. carbon wheels is in a different class?
http://www.cube.eu/en/road/performance/peloton-rac...
Pretty bike though the Cube
I had to cut one of my credit cards in half before I decided I needed a new wheel set.
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