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New Bike time, recocommendations please RoadCC Hive Mind
Hi There
Well it's time for my first new bike in 7 years, I'm 50 yo 6'2" and as a rare non driver I ride approx 2500 miles a year, I ride all year round and in all conditions.
I currently ride a ribble stealth and an ancient but well equipped Merlin Malt 2 MTB, what I'm after is a comfortable, quiet, disc equipped road bike, clearance for 32mm tyres, wide ratio gears 34-34 that is still fun and fast to ride.
Well that sounds easy the hive mind roars, right on trend there Skin me old mate, but alas it hasnt proved easy, I have a budget of £3000 and in August took the plunge and bought a Cervelo C3 which in theory ticks all the boxes above and it was a......pig
Horribly harsh ride, noisy as all hell, and for a bike with a longer wheelbase and lowered BB on downhill sections up here in the Mendips with their harsh broken tarmac the bloody thing would begin to oscillate and jump around but by far the biggest problem was the HORRIBLE brake rub from the rear disc the SECOND I hauled my ass out of the saddle, it sounded like a ironmongers convention, ate my watts and just ruined a ride, personally I put this down to the straw thin rear stays which allowed to back to move around resulting in disc rub, so the C3 is going back for a refund and I'm after a better replacement, but once bitten twice shy.
That was my first road bike with discs, is this an inherent problem?, is disc rub something that just has to be endured?, surely not here in the 21st century, my MTB has never suffered from it.
So some recommendations please guys and girls
Budget £3000
Material - Not Fussed
Drop Handlebars, fun to ride, QUIET, ability to run bigger tyres...
I was looking at Mason Definitions but in Ultegra Hydro is just out of my price range.
Thanks all
Skin
P.s first post be nice 
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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15 comments
Hi again,
Just as something different to add into the mix as food for thought how about one of the Shand bikes?
Perhaps their Stooshie or they've got a new bike coming out called the Rizello but I don't know too many details about that and for example don't know if it's rim brake only or available with disc brakes as well.
https://www.shandcycles.com/bikes/stooshie/
https://road.cc/content/tech-news/249290-cycle-show-final-roundup-shand-kinesis-vielo-rose-bottecchia-light-blue-flr
Hi Skin,
When I read your message the first brand that I was going to recommend was Fairlight and then I saw that several people had beaten me to it
Whether you went for either the Strael or the Secna depending upon your riding style and where & how you will use the bike I don't think that you could go far wrong and the Strale review is just as good as the one for the Secan.
https://road.cc/content/review/240016-fairlight-cycles-strael-20
Also watching their film on what they call proportional geometry I really like the fact that they offer a regular and tall version of their frames so that it's easier to get a frame which fits your body shape.
https://fairlightcycles.com/inside-fairlight/films
Good luck getting the right bike for you!
John
Can't advise on a new road bike, but can empathise. I'm also 50yo and 6'2" (and 90kg) and commute by bike year round in all weathers; I had exactly the same problem with brake rub whenever I got out of the saddle on the bike I bought a few months back (a Cube hybrid).
After weeks of arguing with Evans Cycles (who wouldn't admit there was a problem) I went to a different branch; they had the bike for 2 days before offering to exchange it for something else because they couldn't solve the problem.
The manager of Evans reckons it's a problem with some frames that work fine in smaller sizes but just don't scale up well for larger riders. I've often wondered about this but never experienced it - if you design a frame in a particular size and scale it up or down for different sized riders, the properties of that frame must change.
Maybe reviews should tell us what frame size they tested and the size n weight of the reviewr.
I'm picking up a BMC at the end of the week and paying about £300 more than the Cube for slightly lower spec components. Hope it solves my problem. Good luck with yours.
Thanks for that I was beginning to think I was alone in this, absolutely no reviews of the C3 mentioned rub as a problem and I took mine back to BW cycles in Bristol 3 times before asking for a refund, Cervelo specifically state that their frames are proportional sizing but I just don't but that after my experience, it would certainly explain the rollercoaster like ride and unsprung rub.
I'm seriously looking to go somewaht old school with a Fairlight StraelII or Secan, but probably the Strael, hoping that steel will have that rigidy to cope with out of the saddle efforts, I was also considering a BMC or a Canyon but won't have the chance to rest a Canyon and I have a sneaking suspicion it wil have the same problem as the woeful C3, goos luck with yours
Planet X Hurricane Sram Force with Metron 40 hoops?
Hurricane.jpg
I'd get something with rim brakes.
Considering the industry is telling us we all need discs - the Podium in the mens RR were all still on rim brakes.
That'll solve your issue of rubbing discs anyway.
Shh. This is not what the manufacturers or most of the readership want you to say!
I'll take you off the Mendips down new road into Draycott in the cold and pissing rain sometime, and then you can tell me how you don't want disc brakes
Canyon Ulimate Disc - I have the SL, your budget might get you the SLX (better/lighter carbon).
Fantastic bike, comfortable and most importantly, feels/is fast.
Your disc brake problem is not normal tbh. Either it's set up wrong or there's flex somewhere in the frame? Would be suprised if that's the case though..but it could be
Beat me to it Dave, was going to suggest the Secan I've got the Strael and it's glorious.
Trek Domane Disc?
https://www.evanscycles.com/trek-domane-sl-5-disc-2019-road-bike-EV340637
It comes with 32mm rubber and has the gearing set up you wanted. The 2019 model has the new 105 which according to all the reviews is functionally as good as Ultegra but a little bit heavier and seeing as you don't want a race machine it makes sense to save money.
The wheels are nothing special but buying from Evans with BC discount would leave you plenty left over to get a wheel upgrade with.
The Fairlight Secan is probably the darling of the road.cc office right now (two team members have bought one) - https://road.cc/content/review/248008-fairlight-cycles-secan
Thanks Dave
Have just dropped an E-Mail to Fairlight, I'm more likely to gravitate towards to Strael as the Secan is perhaps more off road orientated? and I'm more of a road man with perhaps an 80% 20% split.
What's your opinion on the brake rub issue Dave?, is it something endemic to disced road bikes? Would good old steel eliminate this? and finally why is a Mason almost a grand more than a Fairlight, is it a thousand pounds more bike?, what am I missing?
Cheers
Skin
yeah, depends on what you want to do with it. the Strael is the more road-oriented of the two for sure but it can cope with a bit of shitlaning.
disc brake rub i've generally not found to be much of an issue. thru axle bikes tend to be better than QR bikes and most of them are thru axle now. the benefit of something more off-road capable is that the frame tends to be a bit stiffer and the shock absorption comes more from a bigger tyre. my everything-but-racing bike is a kinesis tripster ATR with 650s and 40mm tyres at about 60psi, and it's a lot more comfortable than a more trad road bike and not really any slower. it's amazing how big you can go before you're really compromised. one of the chaps on our sunday morning rides comes out on a drop-barred fat bike in the winter
Well it's Columbus vs Reynolds 853 tubing but other than that not really any different - same wheels, similar level finishing kit, and mechanical Ultegra. The original Strael is 6800 and the Definition R8000 but that doesn't account for the difference.
I'm a very happy Fairlight owner (Faran tourer), the bike and build quality has been faultless and Dom's customer service also excellent in speccing the bike for me. I'd have a Strael too as a "faster" road bike but wanted rim brakes rather than discs.
The other Dom's bikes (Mason) definitely look the part in the flesh and I'm sure I'd be happy with one of theirs. Both British-designed by industry experts who understand what sort of bike suits riding conditions here.