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Van Nicholas Titanium

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  • February 21, 2013 at 3:47 pm #18034
    Noelieboy

    Hi

    Does anybody own one of these or had any experience of the Van Nicholas Mistral Apex or the Van Nicholas Ventus Apex Titanium Bikes?

    The 0% finance offer from Edinburgh cycles seems too
    good to be true.
    http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/products/van-nicholas-mistral-apex-12

    £1,500 = £125 per month

    Cheers in advance
    Noel

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  • February 22, 2013 at 7:40 pm #717999
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    Noelieboy

    Hi guys
    Thanks very much for
    Hi guys

    Thanks very much for your comments. Very helpful.
    I’m going to see if I can try before I buy with Edinburgh cycles as they’re fairly local to me.
    All in all very encouraging tho 🙂

    Cheers

    February 21, 2013 at 9:27 pm #717997
    0
    oddbydefault

    I bought a Mistral in
    I bought a Mistral in October. Done about 900 miles on it, and it’s a beautiful ride. Brilliant ‘all round’ frame geometry. It’s pretty nippy, responsive, and light (my 52cm comes in at just under 18lbs with reasonably heavy pedals and saddle), yet cruises smoothly over some of the more rough road surfaces we have around here. Performance has been perfect (for me) on speedy jaunts, and still extremely comfortable on long rides. Did I mention it’s gorgeous? The ‘understated style’ of naked titanium is what sold me (and also means you don’t have to worry about scratching any paint).

    All in all, a great bike that I’m hugely happy I bought – although it’s not the best value by any means. I picked mine up – as specced – for £1350… probably wouldn’t have paid more than that.

    Only minor issue I’ve had is tyre clearances. I’ve put 25 Conti GP4Ss on and it’s a bit of a squeeze, especially for the fork, and getting the rear wheel out isn’t fun.

    As for what’s between the two bikes – go for the Ventus (especially if from Edinburgh – same price?!).

    The Venus is basically a compromise between two models VN used to make; the Mistral and the next step up – Euros.
    Supposedly:
    Back end – Mistral
    Front end – Euros (engraved head tube!)

    Re: Apex – Not sure what you’re used to, but I love SRAM. Yeah, I’d love to have Rival shifters, just for the warmer-to-touch carbon brake levers, but thus far the rest of the kit’s been brilliant in all senses. Bear in mind, unlike the basic Shimano stuff, you’re going in at a reasonably high level – even with SRAM’s cheapest groupsets.

    February 21, 2013 at 7:27 pm #717995
    0
    Gkam84

    Not to good, Just a little
    Not to good, Just a little cheaper here

    http://www.fatbirds.co.uk/570046/products/van-nicholas-ventus-se-apex-2013-titanium-road-bike.aspx

    OR, if you already have the kit you like, you could pick up the Ventus frameset here

    http://www.fatbirds.co.uk/614766/products/van-nicholas-ventus-titanium-road-frame-2013-with-free-fork-and-headset.aspx

    But I agree with London player, if I was going to get a Ti bike, I’d want a higher level groupset

    February 21, 2013 at 6:30 pm #717993
    0
    londonplayer

    Go for it.
    Try to upgrade
    Go for it.

    Try to upgrade from Apex though. Not a problem if you don’t though.

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