£6,000 budget, recommendations welcome

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Milkfloat

An Peanut
Location
Midlands
The other week I was out on my Raleigh Royal, not exactly dawdling, and I got overtaken on a slight uphill gradient, at quite some pace, by some bloke riding the cheapest, nastiest Viking road bike - one level up from a BSO. This guy didn't even look like a cyclist, he was dressed casually just like I was, but he was going like a bat out of hell - and having passed me, continued at that pace into the distance. The bottom line it's the rider that makes the biggest difference, not the bike. You can spend all, the money in the world but at the end of the day fancy bikes don't mean shoot. A fast rider will make anything go quick, a slow rider will still be slow even on a £10k bike.
Correct, it sounds like you will be slow on anything, and the OP will be fast on anything, slightly faster on a better bike.
 

vickster

Legendary Member
The OP does Ironman triathlons, I expect he’s a reasonably quick cyclist
 
The OP does Ironman triathlons, I expect he’s a reasonably quick cyclist

i never bad mouth peeps but that's a big assumption generally the weakest skill of a tri-Antelope is the bike but clearly the Brownlee's buck this trend as do many including a few in my club. I will mostly tongue in cheek also say riding in a group is not your avg. tri strength :whistle:

you have to admire anyone that commits to three very tough sorts in one event :notworthy:
 

DRM

Guru
Location
West Yorks
The OP does Ironman triathlons, I expect he’s a reasonably quick cyclist
Original post says getting back into cycling after a 3 year absence, wants a pro spec race bike, but rides rural, singletrack and crap roads, sounds like a gravel/CX bike would be a better bet
 
OP
OP
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djw1

Regular
Hello again.

Just a quick reply to some of the comments. I've not gone about things in an arse about face way, i.e. starting with a budget and working backwards. I know what sort of frame, wheels and components I want and in general this is the price point at which they could be had.

As for the financial side of things, just to settle the 'curiosity' of some, the purchase will be made on interest free credit card. This make me a reckless tosser, surely? He can't afford it, I'm sure some will sneer, without knowing what's within my means or otherwise. Well, just so you're able to sleep at night, most of my cash is sat in various stock and share ISAs, mostly in index linked tracker funds. It makes much better sense using the cash for this instead of an outright bike purchase given what the growth's likely to be in 18-24 months. And even then, I might decide not to pay it off. I'm not a millionaire, not by a long way, but I've a decent balance between sticking money in a SIPP and stocks and shares ISA, and buying things I like. I'm in my mid-30s, with a mum who was diagnosed with Alzheimers in her early 50s, and so I appreciate the need to live for now whilst sticking money away for the future. I hope that helps.

I'm not buying another bike under the illusion it'll make me go faster. I didn't come down in the last shower and I'm not especially susceptable to marketing guff either.

Thanks a lot for the make/model suggestions. Lots to consider and I need to start viewing bikes in the flesh and start on some demos. I'm keen to find a decent bike shop that'll help me get the right size, and not just convince me the one they've got in stock or whatever they can get their hands on is the right one for me. Lots of the models I've been considering have an integrated bar/stem, so I'm guessing not much could be done in terms of customisation at the bike fit stage. I'm used to more old school finishing kits and the shop accomodating narrower bars, shorter stem etc. But not too sure how this'd work when it's a 1 piece aero bar/stem. I can only ask I spose.

The other thing I've started to consider is whether I'll be storing up issues later, relating to the above point. I'm not hugely technically minded but for instance, I don't know whether this limits changeability in the future if bars/stems etc are 1 piece and in-house. And I wouldn't want a bike off the road for ages awaiting bespoke parts from a manufacturer for this reason too.

I'm based in east Cheshire and would prefer somewhere within 1.5 hours drive but I'm prepared to travel further if needed. The only issue with that is after-sales support if the shop's miles away.
 
OP
OP
D

djw1

Regular
In terms of my previous ability, I'm not especially quick despite completing a few Ironmans. Over the 112 miles my average was 18 mph - but then again I'd swum 2.4 miles before and had a 26 mile run (well, jog/walk) after it, in the baking heat.
 

vickster

Legendary Member
In terms of my previous ability, I'm not especially quick despite completing a few Ironmans. Over the 112 miles my average was 18 mph - but then again I'd swum 2.4 miles before and had a 26 mile run (well, jog/walk) after it, in the baking heat.
:becool:
I don’t think Skippy has ever ridden at 18mph average, let alone 112 miles :scratch:
 
OP
OP
D

djw1

Regular
The other week I was out on my Raleigh Royal, not exactly dawdling, and I got overtaken on a slight uphill gradient, at quite some pace, by some bloke riding the cheapest, nastiest Viking road bike - one level up from a BSO. This guy didn't even look like a cyclist, he was dressed casually just like I was, but he was going like a bat out of hell - and having passed me, continued at that pace into the distance. The bottom line it's the rider that makes the biggest difference, not the bike. You can spend all, the money in the world but at the end of the day fancy bikes don't mean shoot. A fast rider will make anything go quick, a slow rider will still be slow even on a £10k bike.

Is your specialist subject the 'bloody obvious'?
 
In terms of my previous ability, I'm not especially quick despite completing a few Ironmans. Over the 112 miles my average was 18 mph - but then again I'd swum 2.4 miles before and had a 26 mile run (well, jog/walk) after it, in the baking heat.

18mph is decent but no good if you follow up with an 8 hour Marathon. It's a bugger getting it all to work. I've never done it and I've done a dozen or so.

What's your winter bike OP ? Lanza is May so it's early season and you need to bang the miles in early.
 
OP
OP
D

djw1

Regular
I'd under-trained for the last Ironman (Vichy) and did a 5.5h marathon, I think! I'm just over a year to go before the 2021 event so plenty of time to get myself sorted. I'm covering around 100 miles a week now and trying to keep my HR as low as I can. Lots of slow miles to come until my base returns. It's not Lanza this time, it's Vichy again - the course was flat-ish back in 2016 - but now is properly hilly. Not too sure how it compares with Lanza though but I'm assuming Lanza is hillier still.

I've no specific winter bike with me only having the one (Neil Pryde Bura SL).
 

AuroraSaab

Veteran
I frequent lots of forums, but can't think of any where the posts deteriorate into snarkiness quite so quickly as CycleChat. It's a wonder the OP hasn't given up by now.

You've probably seen these already OP, but there are a few reviews out of triathlon bikes for this year:

https://www.t3.com/features/best-triathlon-bike-for-beginners

https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/best-time-trial-bikes/

I recently read Chrissie Wellington's book.
https://www.musicmagpie.co.uk/store/products/alifewithoutlimits-chrissie-wellington

It's not a great read, but very much made me think it's all about the engine, not so much the bike, especially in long events. She famously won a major duathlon in Argentina, after entering it spontaneously, riding the second hand bike she was having a holiday on.

There are a few deals sites for cycling that might be of interest:

https://bikesy.co.uk/
https://www.bikebargains.co.uk/
https://cycling-bargains.co.uk/
 
Oh yes Lanza is slightly hillier. I've had pals do Vichy and it was devilishly hot.
I'm sure most people ride TT bikes though.
 
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