time to upgrade?

[stu9000]

I'm in my second season riding and getting stronger,,, or so I thought.
I took a friend out for a ride up Box Hill and he absolutely scalped me. Thing is, he literally just got his first bike and I thought we we fairly even in fitness terms. Most depressing.

Now I know there are a lot of variables, and ill never be super quick, but was it the man or the bike? He is on a £500 Merlin and I am on my Triban 3 (the old red version). The Merlin is a nice bike. Lighter for sure. A double to my triple. I uprated the wheels to Fulcrum 5s and that has certainly made a difference, which makes me wonder what a whole new bike might do for me. Next time out we will swop bikes at the bottom of the hill which will be a good test.

But I think I'm ready to get something new.

I've got my eye on this Merlin for £500.

I was also looking at some carbon frames and would not be against a self build project given the new fulcrums I've just bought. But should I be concerned about it breaking with rough use? I do seem to end up on the odd woodland trail at times, although not enough to get a CX. Also, it would be quite nice to keep the triban as a bike I'd be happy to lock up outside the shops without worrying too much.

Second hand is also an option given I have a better idea of sizing now. But I've not seen anything to catch my eye yet.

Also, is it a bad time to buy? I know there can be good discounts on a last season bike which would be fine by me. But when do the new ones arrive?

Ill head over to some bike stores when work allows, but I thought I'd see what you lot might suggest. Budget is £500, maybe £600 if it really spoke to me.

Is that Merlin a good choice?
Should I get a frame?
Should I stick to reliable aluminium or go for exotic carbon?
Where the hell are or the 2nd hand bargains (looking for 56cm)?

Come on, help me spend some £££

Cheers

S

 

[vickster]

Carbon at £600 will be no better than an alu bike...self builds never work out cheap either!

http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/trek-1-5-2010-compact-road-bike-56cm.152752/

Well under budget but you'd need to drive up to the midlands

One of these with your wheels?

http://www.ashcycles.com/site/giant-defy-2-2013

 

[stu9000]

Carbon at £600 will be no better than an alu bike...self builds never work out cheap either!

http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/trek-1-5-2010-compact-road-bike-56cm.152752/

Well under budget but you'd need to drive up to the midlands

One of these with your wheels?

http://www.ashcycles.com/site/giant-defy-2-2013

Trek looks nice but its a long way to go.
The giant looks good too. Are you saying they might sell it without wheels for a discounted price?
I'm out of my depth in terms of ability to compare bikes really.
I'm not in love with the merlin but how does the giant compare with it?
Thanks

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

I'm not a bike at £500 will be much of a jump over the triban. I would rather spend the money on a better group set.

 

[SS Retro]

The bike won't make that much difference, but your own fitness will ride hills more.

 

[MikeG]

I would rather spend the money on a better group set.

Really? That'd be the last thing I spent good money on. Even if the shifters, derailleurs, chain and cassette were a few grammes lighter, and had some discernible difference in performance, that would only mean better gear changes, and wouldn't enable our OP to get up the hill faster than his mate. Surely?

Isn't getting up the hill quicker going to be all about his wheels? Some light wheels are the only technical upgrade I can think of that are going to improve hill climbing performance, unless the cassette has the wrong gear ratios (ie doesn't have a big enough size of low gears).

Set up properly, the bike-swapping test will be a most interesting comparison. It really will show if the bike makes the difference. If the same bike gets to the top first, then you could fairly say that the bike is the difference between the two riders.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I changed my bike over last weekend (previous a red T3) and spent £695 (after getting £75 trade in for the T3 keeping my Fulcrum 7 CX's - the forks were broken so I was happy with 25% RRP back tbh!).

I have noticed a difference. Some of that may be down to having a better fit bike, but once I got the hang of the 10 speed compact (verses 8 speed triple) I much prefer it (I was getting a little lost in the gears initially, there just seemed too many of them )

One Monday I did a big ride for what was only my 2nd ride on the new bike. Strava informs me I was quicker on 49 out of the 55 segments I went through. Last night I came home from my parents' inside 1hr 28 mins of cycling and that had been with a headwind and various sets of roadworks to negotiate requiring me to cycle slowly along a horrendous pavement for around a mile. I have only gone under the 1hr 30 mins on that ride twice in the past, both with good tailwinds...

The bike is not that much lighter (500g I think if that) but it is much nicer to ride and I think that has made it easier & quicker for me. And hills, well they don't seem as bad but I was careful to make sure that the compact (50/34 11-32) had a similar ratio setup to what I had changed the T3 to (50/39/30 11-28)

 

[vickster]

Trek looks nice but its a long way to go.
The giant looks good too. Are you saying they might sell it without wheels for a discounted price?
I'm out of my depth in terms of ability to compare bikes really.
I'm not in love with the merlin but how does the giant compare with it?
Thanks

No, of course not but you could sell the wheels (I guess you could ask them though)

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

Really? That'd be the last thing I spent good money on. Even if the shifters, derailleurs, chain and cassette were a few grammes lighter, and had some discernible difference in performance, that would only mean better gear changes, and wouldn't enable our OP to get up the hill faster than his mate. Surely?

I simply do not think the difference between a Triban with upgraded and a £500 bike of any other brand will be worth the money, from a component perspective they will be restricted due to the cost and I doubt the frames will be remarkably better than each other. I would think spending £500 on better components would make more sense and for my money it would be a better groupset would give you a better shifting experience imho.
I personally think its likely that the person on the Triban with its tripple just dropped to a gear which was lower than necessary, while the other person with a double simply got out of the saddle and got on with the task in hand.

What would you spend the money on?

 

[nickyboy]

It's not about the bike (or at least it rarely is).

The difference between your and his bike is marginal. If he got up a hill faster than you it is down to (a) He's lighter than you (b) He's fitter than you (c) He can take more pain than you........or a combination of these

If you want a better bike that's great. But if you want to get faster up the hills then deal with a,b,c

 

[Rob3rt]

I'm not a bike at £500 will be much of a jump over the triban. I would rather spend the money on a better group set.

The flipside is that the Triban 3 is hardly worth spending £500 on upgrading! True you could take the parts with you to another frame in the future I suppose...

 

[MikeG]

What would you spend the money on?

I wouldn't. I would save it, get fitter, and then in a year or two spend a decent amount of money on getting a bike in a whole new category.....£1200 plus, and REALLY notice the difference.

 

[vickster]

I'd rather have a nice new bike for £500 than spend on a triban groupset. Plus the faff / expense of fitting

That said, I do think the triban is a pretty dull looking bike even in red, so would change if funds permit

 

[nickyboy]

I wouldn't. I would save it, get fitter, and then in a year or two spend a decent amount of money on getting a bike in a whole new category.....£1200 plus, and REALLY notice the difference.

I did exactly that, was riding a £400 bike and bought one for £1,300 so perhaps my experience is of some help. Going from a 10.5kg bike to a 8.0kg one makes me go up long hills faster. But not by a lot. It is probably about 5% maximum; I can get up the Snake Pass in 21 instead of 22 minutes. On short power climbs there's a bigger difference which is partly weight-driven but also presumably down to the stiffness of the carbon frame. Also, going from SPDs to Look Keo type pedals/shoes seems to have made a discernable difference. I am probably 10% faster up these hills. Oh, and I'm faster on the flat too....probably down to better aero position with lower handlebars.

So in my experience you could chuck a lot of cash at this and improve your speed up a longer hill by a small amount. But it REALLY is about fitness and rider weight if you want to make big improvements

 

[vickster]

To the OP, why not join a club, practice riding at a higher level with others and that may help