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sergius wrote:bikeboy76
Clubs like to ride around at 8am on a Sunday when I like to be sleeping. Much warmer at 3pm too.8am is too late for me 🙂
The deal with the wife is back by 12, I have to be out the door by 7 to get a 75 miler in!
Same here! I rarely sleep after 6 anyway, and the roads at that time on a Sunday are beautifully quiet.
I’ve never ridden with a club, and have a bad impression of some from how they behave on sportives. Not to say I haven’t thought about joining one, but I can’t commit to the same ride time every week either.
I am quite happy riding on own, and have a bunch of mates too.
sergius wrote:bikeboy76
Clubs like to ride around at 8am on a Sunday when I like to be sleeping. Much warmer at 3pm too.8am is too late for me 🙂
The deal with the wife is back by 12, I have to be out the door by 7 to get a 75 miler in!
Same here! I rarely sleep after 6 anyway, and the roads at that time on a Sunday are beautifully quiet.
I’ve never ridden with a club, and have a bad impression of some from how they behave on sportives. Not to say I haven’t thought about joining one, but I can’t commit to the same ride time every week either.
I am quite happy riding on own, and have a bunch of mates too.
One other to consider, the
One other to consider, the Trek Domane. A friend of mine bought the £2000 one, uses it for sportives etc. Has stuck mudguards and other strange things on it and can now do 400 km audaxes on the thing!No problem giving you my advice, I quite enjoyed going back through my thought processes! Was in a similar position to you 6 months ago, although from what you have said I have more experience than yourself. My last new bike was a steel Specialised Cirrus racer with Shimano Biopace chainrings (that’s what Specialised started out with as a “hybrid”) 25 years ago. 3 years ago I went up the ladder, to a 90’s Italian ally frame with all new Campag kit, was a huge improvement for £500. I wanted a carbon frame this time, 11 speed with a 52/36 chainset. I would have liked something “boutique” or rare or different from everybody else’s, and Giant were at the bottom of the list to start with. The online companies were strong favourites initially, just because of value for money. Canyon/Rose/Dolan/Planet X/Ribble, the usual lot. Rose were number 1 for me, the specs are very customisable, their bikes look great and are very light.
Work came up with a CTW scheme which ruled out any of the above, and made a retail bike competitive . My shortlist was still in double figures, all fairly normal “race” type bikes. I found if I tried to use logic and facts, I couldn’t split them, they are all specced very similarly to within about £100 of each other. I didn’t want to do it on colour or looks, but when I put a slideshow together of pictures of them, they merged into one.
At that point, I heard I may be able to get a deal on last year’s Giant Defy, so went to look at it in the shop. It had gone but I saw the Propel range, and started to think on those lines. Comfort was a concern at first, but looking at the rides I did the year before, only 7 were 7-8 hours, 50 odd were around 3-4 hours, and 250 were about an hour, the average ride I did was about 2 hours. So comfort moved down the priority list, especially when reviews confirmed the Propel was pretty comfy, for a bike of its type. The demo ride on the 2.5k one clinched it. On top of that, the red and white paint scheme is to my eyes very attractive, a lot more interesting than all the blacker than black bikes you see everywhere.If you are going to keep it long term, max your budget on the frame and then the wheels. This makes the biggest difference to how it rides, and these are the most expensive and difficult parts to replace. The drive train components will wear out much before the frame or the wheels, so you can upgrade the cassette chain etc as you go along for a more reasonable outlay.
Bought a Giant Propel
Bought a Giant Propel recently, fantastic bit of kit. Did 120 miles in 8 hours on it on Sunday, that’s all the comfort/endurance I want.Wouldn’t worry too much about resale value if you are planning on keeping it 2-3 years and rack up a lot of miles; there won’t be a lot of difference in any of the big names after that much usage. You probably will find a big brand easier to sell though than something more unknown. I bought my son a used Specialised Allez over a year ago in case he didn’t use it much, figuring it would be easier to sell. When I rode it, I was surprised how good it was and started to question if I really wanted to spend 1.6k.
Giant stores (like a lot of shops) don’t have a huge demo fleet to try. I wanted to try a Propel, but a 2.5k one rather than the 1.6k I bought. It was a good ride though, over an hour on roads I know, and I could have been out longer. Enough to get me seriously considering it, but common sense won in the end.
Evans are the other good store for demos. They will get in anything you want pretty much in a couple of days; you have to book it in advance, pay a (refundable) deposit and not ride it into a brick wall, but can have as long as you like on it. The email they send you looks like you have bought it, but don’t panic! I tried a Fuji Transonic (similar to the Propel, but harsher and slightly more expensive) and also a Cannondale Supersix (more traditional race bike, very nice, but a little “conventional” once I had set my heart on the Propel).
Cannondale’s Synapse is a more direct comparison to the Defy than the Supersix.
When I was looking, I preferred Rose to Canyon; the Rose site lets you customise almost every aspect of the bike, whereas Canyon was much less flexible. I also wanted to test ride though, so ruled both of them out.
From what you have said, I think you may be better off spending less, say £500 on a used Allez/Secteur or Defy, riding it for a year or two, and getting a better idea of what you really want and like, and then maybe spending the big money later.
Another thing to do is have a
Another thing to do is have a good long look behind you to suss out what traffic may be coming and how fast. If you know it is clear behind you can concentrate on your own thing, but if a few vehicles are coming it may even be worth pulling over and letting them go; also let them clear a good distance down the hill if there is a chance you will catch them.
The Boxhill descent is a classic case, although it isn’t that steep, the speed bumps slow (most) cars down a lot more than bikes, it is quite easy to keep up with a car between the speed bumps, never mind through the hairpins.One thing about all this has
One thing about all this has been nagging at me – going downhill fast is one of the joys of cycling.Cycling is possible WITH an
Cycling is possible WITH an extra 150g…Just home from 116 miles on
Just home from 116 miles on the Propel, my derriere doesn’t feel too bad although I’m sure I can find a saddle that suits me betterOne more thing, I got a chunk
One more thing, I got a chunk of mine on the CTW scheme. If it hadn’t been for that, I would have got a Rose. They do some amazing specs for that kind of money although (I think) their aero bike is a bit of an ugly duckling. The other models in the line up are amazing value and if you go for an ally bike you could get something under 7kg for that price.JaseCD – fantastic post,
JaseCD – fantastic post, couldn’t put it better myself. I don’t want to think of myself as good or fast at descending but I tend to be the first of all my mates. Look quite a long way ahead, you’re going faster than usual so you need to be picking your lines and dodging potholes obstacles lumps of rock etc earlier. Watch the white lines and catseyes – at speed they can catch you out, especially if wet.
Remember the front brake is the powerful one, so don’t use it too hard if you’re cornering. The back one can be brilliant at changing your line and if you lock it up let it go and grab it again. I rode down an Italian mountain road on a bike with a dodgy back brake, God the hairpins were hard! Locking the back wheel doesn’t have to end in disaster but locking the front is almost guaranteed to have you gravel rashing.
I got one of the corners badly wrong on Ditchling Beacon not long ago, approaching way too fast and the corner was shaded so the road was damp. I couldn’t slow enough for the corner locked the back wheel and at one point the bike was drifting left with the road going right. Ended up rubbing my left shoulder and side on the muddy bank to slow before hitting the deck at a manageble speed. It goes to show no matter how much you think you know the road, you need to have some room to manoeuvre or make a plan B.Not had any issues with my
Not had any issues with my wheels though I think they are pretty basic. I had a demo ride on the Propel SL with the fancy aero wheels but 105. That was a major jump again but at 2.5k it bloody ought to be. I rode it on a windy day and got caught out a couple of times, wouldn’t want to commute on one in busy traffic.I meant to say, my mate who
I meant to say, my mate who bought a £3.5k disc braked Defy a few months ago gave it a go, and he thought mine had more of that instant jump you get when you stamp down hard on the pedals for a burst of acceleration.I got the “1” about 3 weeks
I got the “1” about 3 weeks ago, love it! I think the only difference is the colour scheme and Ultegra instead of 105. All the experts say Ultegra is not worth paying the extra for over 2015 105, but it is very crisp and combined with the red and white colour scheme I am more than happy with mine.I haven’t done a long ride on it yet, aiming to do 100 miles on Sunday so will post again after that if you are interested? I chose not to make comfort too much of a priority in my decision; of the 300 rides I did last year the average was about 2 hours and I had 200+ of them. The longest was only 7 hours, and I don’t expect to feel as fresh as a daisy after a ride of that length. Hoping to do an Everesting on it in two weeks…
Faster? Very hard to say, partly because I am fitter than I have been for years and am pushing myself harder. I do seem to be setting good times on routes I have travelled a lot though, which would suggest it isn’t just down to my efforts.
It corners and brakes really well, I would say the rear brake is the strongest non-disc brake I have ever used. The Giant tyres seem ok too, but they will be the first upgrade when they wear out.
I’m not sure about the saddle yet; the bike is set up with spacers and is quite upright at the moment, I think the saddle will get better when I lose a couple of the spacers.
My previous bike was a £500 Ebay ally special so as you suggested, anything over £1k will seem a big improvement. I am more than happy with mine!
cjchallis85 wrote:Thanks for
Thanks for the replies, very useful.Hmm, Edvelo that does rather scupper my plans of getting a cube GTC Agree 2014/2015. Would be a risk certainly.
Been doing a lot of research, and can’t really find a similarly spec’d (full 105, Carbon frame) for under £1000ish (have seen GTC Agree 2014 for£950).
Obviously, there is the Ribble and Planet X route, but would really prefer to swing a leg over the bike before buying if possible.
Anyone have any other suggestions/recommendations on similarly spec’d/priced bikes?
If you have an Evans Cycles near you, they will let you test ride pretty much anything. They take a deposit off your bank card, which you get back when you return the bike and it could take them a few days to get the specific one you want to try in the shop, but definitely worth trying them.
I would think you will be spoiled for choice if you look around, I had trouble getting my short list down to something I could work through sensibly!
I just bought a Giant Propel Advanced 1, admittedly it is over your budget but I think there is a 105 one for around £1200, maybe less. Have a look at Dolan bikes, they have a great range and if you can get to the shop (near Liverpool I think) you may be able to try one.
If you are not averse to trying the internet, Rose will have some fantastic specced bikes to look at. Canyon also get good write ups but they are less flexible in letting you tweak the spec; Rose lets you change every part pretty much.
Could you maybe get a 2014 bike with that spec?Oliver Duffy wrote:You lot
You lot ain’t half helpful 🙂 i have considered the genesis – itd be nice to show some brand loyalty and theres nothing wrong with 105!! i actually got to handle a propel at the weekend (not ride) lovely machine. the heavy wind i was facing either side of that brief cafe stop would be a concern on an aero bike no? aero would clearly be handy for the tris and ironWas in a similar position to you a few months ago, £1500 or so to spend on a bike. I had a shortlist of about 15 bikes and couldn’t split them on spec, give or take £50. I hadn’t considered an aero bike, and as soon as I started looking at them seriously I knew it was what I wanted. The decision came down to either a Giant Propel or a Fuji Transonic, and tried both. The Fuji looked slightly better, although I didn’t really want gloss black. The Propel rode brilliantly, and I was certain. I managed to talk my employers into doing a CTW scheme with the local Giant dealer and have been enjoying the Propel for a month or so now. It’s the Advanced 1, so the wheels are not as deep section as some, possibly not what you’d call “aero” at all, so haven’t had any issues with cross winds.
If it hadn’t have been for the CTW scheme, I would have gone with a Rose of some description, I like the fact you can tweak almost every aspect of the final bike, much more than any other retailer, and you don’t see a lot of them on the roads.
Have you looked at Dolan? Also, Evans let you test ride pretty much anything you want if you book it and give them notice.
