Focus Variado 2.0. Worth getting?

[Big Worm 1]

So after weeks of trying to decide which road bike to get, i had pretty much decided on the Giant Defy 1 as it has the 105 groupset, and all the reviews i had read showed it to be the top sub-£1000 road bike.

I've been to various retailers who say they, and Giant are out of stock. So i've been to Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op today who showed me the Focus Variado 2.0 2012. It has the same 105 groupset, 105 brakes and is £100 less at £899. From what i understand, Focus are a German company so i assume they will be well made. The guy at the shop told me he has one of these bikes and absolutely loves it. The only downside being that if you turn the wheel and one of the pedals goes forward, they catch against each other so some riding adjustment needs to be made.

This is really my only choice now of the 2012 bikes under £1000 with this level of components.

Any comments?

[Paul Drawmer]

It seems mad to me to supply a bike with a wide gear range (ie for general road use as opposed to racing) that is so close coupled that there's the dangerous foot/front wheel interaction. OK if it's a specialist racing machine, but for non-racing I think it's daft geometry.

Others may disagree.

[Jimbo.]

Paul Drawmer said:

It seems mad to me to supply a bike with a wide gear range (ie for general road use as opposed to racing) that is so close coupled that there's the dangerous foot/front wheel interaction. OK if it's a specialist racing machine, but for non-racing I think it's daft geometry.

Others may disagree.

Toe overlap. Meh. A common thing with bikes these days. It's not dangerous at all: how often do you turn the wheel to that degree when riding? In the few situations where it could happen, you just ride around it.

[Jimbo.]

Big Worm 1 said:

So after weeks of trying to decide which road bike to get, i had pretty much decided on the Giant Defy 1 as it has the 105 groupset, and all the reviews i had read showed it to be the top sub-£1000 road bike.

I've been to various retailers who say they, and Giant are out of stock. So i've been to Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op today who showed me the Focus Variado 2.0 2012. It has the same 105 groupset, 105 brakes and is £100 less at £899. From what i understand, Focus are a German company so i assume they will be well made. The guy at the shop told me he has one of these bikes and absolutely loves it. The only downside being that if you turn the wheel and one of the pedals goes forward, they catch against each other so some riding adjustment needs to be made.

This is really my only choice now of the 2012 bikes under £1000 with this level of components.

Any comments?

Re. Focus. Provided it fits, it'll be fine. Nice bikes.

Oh, and the guy at the shop will tell you anything if it gets a sale

[Gizmoish]

Jimbo. said:

Toe overlap. Meh. A common thing with bikes these days. It's not dangerous at all: how often do you turn the wheel to that degree when riding? In the few situations where it could happen, you just ride around it.

Depends on the size of the rider's feet too.

Outside foot down on tight corners solves the problem.