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New to Road cycling…

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  • March 22, 2014 at 2:35 pm #21003
    HamishB

    Hi All,

    Just signed up to the forum as looking for bit more info, guidance and help on road cycling.

    I’ve never owned a road bike, up until now its been mountain bike, but still not a huge amount of experience on that either.

    I’m looking to start road cycling, mainly for fitness, but dont know much about it.

    Ideally looking at a decent but not hugely expensive bike which would suit a beginner and also suit me as I begin to improve get used to it.

    I’ve got a Giant Trance mountain bike, which has been really good so was looking at the Giant road bikes, but someone also suggested Merida. My friends just got into road cycling and he got a good deal on a second hand specialized tarmac.

    Does anyone have any tips, thoughts or opinions as to what I should be looking for and also anything to watch out or consider?

    I’m 5ft8, so not even sure what size of bike I’d be looking at.

    Other than the obvious helmet and padded shorts is there much else I’d need to factor in on starting out costs?

    Thanks in advance,

    Hamish

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Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 32 total)
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  • March 26, 2014 at 6:09 pm #782293
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    ajmarshal1

    HamishB wrote:I’m now swaying

    HamishB wrote:
    I’m now swaying into thinking Alu frame/Carbon forks, and looking at something like Shimano Tiagra groupset.

    Hopefully I could grab a bargain on such a bike and perhaps keep it under £1000?

    Does anyone know if the Giant Defy is a more relaxed geometry or more race orientated?

    Felt F85 on Wiggle for £540 (RRP £799) and also pick up some Fulcrum Racing 5s or 3s. I’ve just bought the Felt as a commuter / poor weather hack and it’s blown me away how good it is. It’s aggressive but spacered up has plenty of scope to be more relaxed. As you get more used to it, away come the spacers. Unbelievable value. I’m so impressed with it I wrote a forum post about the thing: http://road.cc/content/forum/114989-budget-bike-revelation

    The more relaxed Felt, the Z85 is available for around £700, also a serious value for money bike.

    March 26, 2014 at 4:43 pm #782291
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    gbscot1975

    A 1k bike ,get looking at
    A 1k bike ,get looking at last years stock tons of great deals never know.were in the Borders are you ?? Hawick has a lbs that has Merida if close enough Carlisle has Scotby Cycles which has tons of brands specialized,Canondale,Trek and the customer service is usually really good.
    Of course the Borders are gods country :)) And good luck looking have fun and pick what your eyes tell you to.

    March 26, 2014 at 4:09 pm #782289
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    MartyMcCann

    HamishB wrote:hey all,

    HamishB wrote:
    hey all, seriously, thank you all so so much… really overwhelmed by the amount of advise and help coming in for me.

    Think I need to get to an LBS and get sized up for next stage.

    Random question… has anyone seen the road bikes coming in with disc brakes now? Any thoughts on these? Seen there was a nice specialized secteur with disc brakes etc on it… only ever known road bikes to have block type brakes?

    Do you think disc brakes will take over eventually and should I even consider looking at disc brakes?

    Cheers,

    H

    Careful there Hamish- disc brakes are just behind helmets and Rapha (the company not the tennis player!) for kickstarting rows on these pages…!

    March 25, 2014 at 10:19 pm #782287
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    jacknorell

    Buggers85 wrote:I wouldn’t

    Buggers85 wrote:
    I wouldn’t want disc braked on my bike

    Don’t think anyone’s forcing you. There are still both v-brakes and canti’s available for MTBs… if you really go looking.

    Hard to find because they’re simply the worse choice.

    March 25, 2014 at 10:17 pm #782285
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    Buggers85

    I wouldn’t want disc braked
    I wouldn’t want disc braked on my bike

    March 25, 2014 at 10:16 pm #782283
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    Buggers85

    I wouldn’t want disc braked
    I wouldn’t want disc braked on my bike X(

    March 25, 2014 at 10:15 pm #782281
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    Buggers85

    I wouldn’t want disc braked
    I wouldn’t want disc braked on my bike X(

    March 25, 2014 at 9:01 pm #782279
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    arfa

    Disc brakes are the future,
    Disc brakes are the future, end of story. However the technology is nascent in road biking and I’d wait a couple of years before they get the technology sorted and bedded in.

    March 25, 2014 at 7:56 pm #782277
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    HamishB

    hey all, seriously, thank you
    hey all, seriously, thank you all so so much… really overwhelmed by the amount of advise and help coming in for me.

    Think I need to get to an LBS and get sized up for next stage.

    Random question… has anyone seen the road bikes coming in with disc brakes now? Any thoughts on these? Seen there was a nice specialized secteur with disc brakes etc on it… only ever known road bikes to have block type brakes?

    Do you think disc brakes will take over eventually and should I even consider looking at disc brakes?

    Cheers,

    H

    March 24, 2014 at 11:02 pm #782275
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    notfastenough

    And wazam! As of by magic,
    And wazam! As of by magic, this is posted:

    http://road.cc/content/news/114718-just-trek-domane-20

    Giants website lists the Defy as one of their endurance bikes, so a touch more relaxed. If your local shop sells Giant, I don’t think you’ll go wrong with a defy.

    March 24, 2014 at 8:17 pm #782273
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    JohnnyRemo

    Worth having a look
    Worth having a look at;

    https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/CBPXRT58ALUTIA/planet-x-rt-58-alloy-shimano-tiagra-road-bike

    http://www.dolan-bikes.com/road/road-bikes/dolan-preffisio-aluminium-road-bike.html

    and

    http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sed/road-track-bike/ribble-7005-audax-winter-training-shimano-equipped?part=SE13RIB7005WINTSHIM&sub=conf_SERW

    March 24, 2014 at 6:52 pm #782271
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    arfa

    £1000 budget will do you
    £1000 budget will do you proud.
    Including the giant bikes, I’d take a look at the cannondale synapse, trek Madone, felt z series and the Roubaix.
    I think you are right to stick with tiagra and if you can push it to 105 you will future proof your bike.
    As for pedals, spd’s all the way for first time road biking – wiggle have been doing them for about 20 quid. Just turn the tension right down at first in the pedal to allow for easy release and you will be fine. I am more of a fan of touring shoes than racing (as I don’t really race and walking around with spd-sl pizzas on the bottom of my shoes is a pain and no good for commuting).
    As for “offs”, it largely comes down to how you ride – my carbon bike was written off in a smidsy on a roundabout when the driver was looking at his phone….
    All I would caution on is never ever try and turn your front wheel if over ironworks in the rain as you will be chewing tarmac before you know it.
    Good luck, I am sure your poor mountain bike will gather dust from now onwards !

    March 24, 2014 at 5:29 pm #782269
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    muddydwarf

    I’m fairly new to road
    I’m fairly new to road riding, coming from a MTB background of over 15yrs. I bought a MEKK Potenza SL.5.0 from Edinburgh Bike Co-op for £1100 in August, loved riding it but unfortunately snapped the chainstay in a freak accident. Contrary to what others have said, Carbon CAN be fixed but its not always a pretty finish.
    I took the opportunity to upgrade & bought a Dolan L’Etape frame in carbon for £399.99.
    You can go onto the Dolan website & ‘build’ a bike to your pricepoint/specification so worth considering. If you are in the English North West they have a showroom/shop in Ormskirk so you could try out different types of frames.
    Ive had my Dolan since Thursday last & already put 87 miles on it, lovely bike to ride & I’m really happy with it – just to throw another manufacturer into the mix!

    March 24, 2014 at 4:25 pm #782267
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    HamishB

    Hi all,
    So if we set a budget
    Hi all,

    So if we set a budget of say £1000 for a bike, I’d say that would be the most I’d probably want to spend initially. Dont mind adding a little bit to that for clothing/gear etc.

    Although if the right bike came along at less than that, happy days… I’m now swaying into thinking Alu frame/Carbon forks, and looking at something like Shimano Tiagra groupset.

    Hopefully I could grab a bargain on such a bike and perhaps keep it under £1000?

    Does anyone know if the Giant Defy is a more relaxed geometry or more race orientated?

    Never had clipless, but I think probably spd sounds best option for ability to walk around with the shoes.

    I wont be using the bike for commuting, just training and weekend stuff and i’m in the borders, so plenty of hills around me haha

    March 24, 2014 at 3:03 pm #782265
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    notfastenough

    Hi Hamish, welcome and as
    Hi Hamish, welcome and as someone said above, prepare to have your wallet raided!

    I wouldn’t worry about brands and groupsets at this stage, to be honest. If you focus on finding a decent shop that doesn’t seem to just want to sell you whatever they can, then most of this stuff will pick itself through a logical process – if your shop stocks Giant, then make no mistake, they are good bikes. In fact, there a very few poor bikes around, provided you go to a proper bike shop. Once your budget and type of riding is known, the staff should be able to recommend a model to suit.

    Other stuff:
    1. Broadly speaking, there tends to be a few different types of road bike – ‘race’ bikes, ‘sportive’ bikes, then infinite shades of grey around Tourers, commuters, cyclocross bikes that all claim to be a ‘do it all’ bike. These ‘types’ refer to things like the geometry (i.e. more racey = flatter and more stretched out body position when riding), allowances for rack and mudguards, tyre width, whether the tyres are slick or knobbly, the sizes and number of gears provided etc. This can go on and on into disc brakes, tubing materials, blah blah…

    Road bikes are most commonly built from aluminium or carbon fibre, so you’ll find that each range has, for example, a racey model and a sportive model in alu, then again with different names, in carbon. So Specialized has the racey range with the alu Allez and the carbon Tarmac, then it has the sportive range, with the alu Secteur and the carbon Roubaix. Each bike is offered in different levels of spec depending on your budget – can you tell us what that is? (Don’t feel funny about owning up to what you think may be too little or too much to spend!)

    Some things I learned:

    More important than any kit or materials used, is the fit. Make sure the shop will fit you to your new bike.

    Fit isn’t a one-time thing, it’s a process. Don’t worry if 6 months down the line, you’re thinking the fit isn’t quite right – your body adapts to the riding and changes as a result.

    If I could go back and start again, I’d buy aluminium first time round – this is because once bitten by the bug, you’ll want a second bike, and your first will get relegated to poor weather or commuting. You may not think this now, but the thing is, position and kit preferences are so subjective, that 12 months down the line you’ll be getting a feel for the kit you really want based on your experience, and it won’t be the same as you’ve already bought. It’s also partly because good alu tends to be better than cheap carbon for around the same price.

    Feel free to use trainers and flat pedals while you get used to the bike. Clipless are brilliant, but they only really come into their own when you want to learn efficient pedalling technique.

    With regard to kit, I’d try and keep it to a sensible set:
    Base layer, fingerless and full finger gloves
    Winter jersey/bibtights
    windproof packable rain jacket
    summer jersey/bibshorts/armwarmers
    helmet should you choose to wear one
    Pedals and shoes – these come in various systems with associated pros and cons – influencing factors would include any history of knee pain, type of riding, whether you want to be able to walk properly in the shoes, ease of use, cost etc

    If you can tell us your area, you may find someone can recommend a local shop. Something like a Specialized Secteur (alu, relaxed geometry) would probably be ideal from what you have said (some nice paint jobs now too!). If I recall correctly, the Merida ‘Ride’ series are aimed at the same type of riding.

    Always fun, buying a new bike!

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