Will a £1000 bike make me go faster?

[thewhangie]

I have been riding a £300 claud butler criterium for about 2 years,have done a lot of 80-90 km rides and a few sportives. My wife says as a birthday treat a new bike is on the cards.

I am quite happy with what I am on, am I being too narrow minded, will spending the money get me quicker?

[richardxjr]

Climbing, yes. Would be a helluva lot more lighter and comfortable and feel a lot nicer too. There are gazillions of £1k bikes, try a few, see if you think it's worth it.

If so still keep the CB with mudguards for the winter, commuting etc.

My Giant started as a sub £300 secondhand buy but upgrading over the last couple years to lighter wheels & tyres, a carbon fork and from 2300 3x8 to 105 compact it all works better & yes, faster up the hills.

[anonymous-user]

The bike itself is unlikely to make you that much faster on its own but it will encourage you to ride more, you will get fitter and stronger as a result and ultimately go faster. It will be lighter though, have better components etc as the price befits.

Look for a good alu frame like the Canyon Roadlite, Cannondale CAAD10, or the Boardman. The Genesis Volare 00 (yes its steel but its a good quality reynolds tubeset) is worth a look too. Merlin Cycles do some good value bikes, I think they are BeOne, and Forme are also worth considering as they are slightly less well known but still good qulaity.

Personally I'd get the Boardman, having had one a few years ago I thought it was an excellent frame and held its own against far more expensive bikes.

[scubadude]

thewhangie said:

I am quite happy with what I am on, am I being too narrow minded, will spending the money get me quicker?

The weight difference between £500 and £5000 is a haircut, a week off the beers and a big sh*t, if you're light enough that a kilo will make you faster up hill congratulations :-)

Joking aside a new bike should be more comfortable/fit better and encourage you to use it, all of which will make you faster eventually, simple swapping bikes shouldn't make you faster directly unless your current steed is a real turd.

A new bike is always faster- especially if its red.

[Steve vRS]

For a grand, you can't go far wrong with a Giant Defy 1. An excellent Al frame with 105 components.

And yes, as per all PH bike recommendations, that's what I ride and have done for 2 years now!

I'm now asking he question, will la £2000 bike make me much quicker?

Steve

[richardxjr]

I'd just upgrade the wheelset on that Steve (assuming you've still got the std PR2's on). Ksyrium Elites or something. Then next year bung THEM on a 2k carbon jobbie as that'll still come with bobbins wheels.

[shalmaneser]

richardxjr said:

I'd just upgrade the wheelset on that Steve (assuming you've still got the std PR2's on). Ksyrium Elites or something. Then next year bung THEM on a 2k carbon jobbie as that'll still come with bobbins wheels.

The CB will most likely have a screw on freewheel, Ksyrium's have a freehub, it's a lot of pain for little gain. Plus you'll look silly.

A Cannondale CAAD10 or something nice with 105 will be much faster than a £300 CB, go for it!

Then buy some spangly wheels.

[Rocksteadyeddie]

"Ride up grades, don't buy upgrades"*

Eddy Merckx

*That said a £1000 bike will likely make a difference you can feel for sensible money

[Steve vRS]

richardxjr said:

I'd just upgrade the wheelset on that Steve (assuming you've still got the std PR2's on). Ksyrium Elites or something. Then next year bung THEM on a 2k carbon jobbie as that'll still come with bobbins wheels.

Already have - Ultegra wheel set on it with Conti 4000S GP tyres

Steve

[otolith]

All other things being equal, almost certainly. Whether all other things are ever equal, and whether by such a margin that you would ever notice - somewhat less certain.

[Batfink]

I dont know whether my frame makes me significantly faster uphill, but its much lighter which makes it so easy to cart around, get it in the car and so on. I have to say I have not suffered any punctures since using the lighter frame (same tyres and tubes) and trimming down myself by about a stone.

[richardxjr]

shalmaneser said:

richardxjr said:

I'd just upgrade the wheelset on that Steve (assuming you've still got the std PR2's on). Ksyrium Elites or something. Then next year bung THEM on a 2k carbon jobbie as that'll still come with bobbins wheels.

The CB will most likely have a screw on freewheel, Ksyrium's have a freehub, it's a lot of pain for little gain. Plus you'll look silly.

A Cannondale CAAD10 or something nice with 105 will be much faster than a £300 CB, go for it!

Then buy some spangly wheels.

I was replying to Steve

[richardxjr]

I'm just going to go through the numbers on the £350 RRP of the OPs (or any) bike.

RRP £350 inc vat

= £290 exc vat.

Retailer margin on that is around 35% = £100

so £190

I think CB imports and sells it's own stuff, so no wholesaler.

£190 less shipping and any import duty, handling... let's now say £175

What is CB's gross margin? Must be at least 33% to make it worthwhile? so less £58

Leaves £117 for all the 100s of components in and assembly of a whole bike.

Mad isn't it.

[Engineer1]

I'd love to see how much the component cost goes up on a £1K bike I bet the margins are much larger.

[bbc]

Someone has to say it. Keep the CB for winter and buy one of these.
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXSLPULT6800/planet...

Absolute bargain.

[shalmaneser]

richardxjr said:

I'm just going to go through the numbers on the £350 RRP of the OPs (or any) bike.

RRP £350 inc vat

= £290 exc vat.

Retailer margin on that is around 35% = £100

so £190

I think CB imports and sells it's own stuff, so no wholesaler.

£190 less shipping and any import duty, handling... let's now say £175

What is CB's gross margin? Must be at least 33% to make it worthwhile? so less £58

Leaves £117 for all the 100s of components in and assembly of a whole bike.

Mad isn't it.

This is true of any mass manufactured object though?

[crikey]

bbc said:

Someone has to say it. Keep the CB for winter and buy one of these.
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXSLPULT6800/planet...

Absolute bargain.

I was just looking at that yesterday with the intention of treating myself when I've finished my radiotherapy, they put the bloody price up £200 today !

[Mr Will]

Will a £1000 bike make me go faster? Likely no, but why does it matter?

Unless you are actively racing; you ride your bike for fun, not speed.

Will a £1000 bike be more fun? A resounding "Yes".

[matt-ITR]

£1000 is a price that you get quite a lot of your money. It is when you start to go above that you get diminishing levels of returns.

[bbc]

crikey said:

bbc said:

Someone has to say it. Keep the CB for winter and buy one of these.
http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXSLPULT6800/planet...

Absolute bargain.

I was just looking at that yesterday with the intention of treating myself when I've finished my radiotherapy, they put the bloody price up £200 today !

Worse than that, it was £999 when I posted at 13:55!