Easy to get confused by expert cyclists.

[proletaratOne]

Cervelo C3 which cost me £3000 and I've since invested £6-700 on wheels.

This one in these colours.

https://images.app.goo.gl/UHL4SyYHsjkdRXJ77

People criticise Cervelo but I don't care. This bike fits like a glove, it's an extension of my body to the extent I don't even know it's there! 😂

Can I ask why
I’m kinda new to cycling. Like started last year. And started racing this year

A few guys have cervelos... they look pretty and these guys seem to do fine

what’s the criticism

 

[mustang1]

Yeah was gonna post long diatribe... but this covers about half of it

a non cycling analogy
Some of us are old enough to remember when a cup of coffee ( yeah I’m an American... no tea) was cheap. The Starbucks and other boutique stores start selling a 9 dollar coffee. Soon cheap coffee was 2 and 3 bucks

There must be a marketing term for this as they're always (it seems) up to this kind of facade.

 

[proletaratOne]

I have done a lot of reading on the next bike I wish to buy. My budget is £1500 max and, according to expert cyclists, this is just entry level bikes and not worth looking at because they don't have the latest deraileurs/ train set/ carbon frames etc.....
I have no intention of entering any races, not bothered about losing a few grams here and there, don't wish to go from a to b as fast as possible, not interested in climbing 25% slopes.
Two of my bikes have aluminium frames with carbon forks and Claris gear change. My other one is full carbon and 105 gear change but I am happy with riding either of them.
I think those reviews by experts are designed to guide you to spend more money than you intend to really by playing on your ego so I will stick to my budget and am pretty sure I will get a very decent bike that will meet my needs and make me happy when I ride it.
Last night, I was watching a report on YouTube on bikes up to 1500 euros and the guy was rubbishlng them all, saying that no bike is worth buying unless you spend at least £3500 !!
Do you take much notice of experts when you look for a new ride?

Na 1500 should do you wonders, if you don’t mind shopping around used will get you even more bike for buck

and trust everything you ever buy is used , or at least will be. Buy a car and drive it off the lot. Do a round the block and go back to dealer and sell it back to him. He will tell you quick it’s a used car

bike is not too much different


And.

View: https://youtu.be/3HmVQCAjBE0

With fairly high level riders
Climbs ... thousands of dollars gets a Few seconds and it’s a kilo lighter.... but who here couldn’t just shed a kilo .., I know I could

brakes... the mighty disc gets ya a few feet

aero... a few seconds and who couldn’t train to be in a bit more aero position on the bike.
And suprise the faster rider was faster regardless of bike

truth is you can’t buy the legs

 

[CanucksTraveller]

A cyclist moan about the cost of things thread and how you could get a complete bike with dura ace for £5 just a few months ago 😁

No it's not that... I don't mind costs going up; Inflation happens, and demand has driven supply and pricing recently, we all get that. My issue is that the bike goes up "X" number of hundreds of pounds, AND the 105 groupset suddenly becomes a Claris. Not a downgrade to Tiagra, or Sora, but flippin' Claris. On a grand and a half of bike.
Claris is entry level, it sits on a 400 quid bike from Halfords, it shouldn't come on your 1400 quid road bike. There's nothing inherently wrong with the kit, but it's like Range Rover only offering the Vogue at full price but with cloth seats and wind down windows and no option for leather or electrics. You shouldn't have to just accept that level of kit at that price point.

 

[gavroche]

Well, in the end I am not going to spend £1500 but £995 on a Trek al3 disc , ( unless the price goes up again when they get new stock ) so happy with that.

 

[Dave Davenport]

Unless you particularly want a 'gravel' style bike, had you considered SLR 8.9 Carbon Road Bike 2021 (boardmanbikes.com) only another £100 and quite an upgrade in spec and reduction in weight.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Well, in the end I am not going to spend £1500 but £995 on a Trek al3 disc , ( unless the price goes up again when they get new stock ) so happy with that.

To me £995 is still an expensive bike, if it's what you want & it does what you want go for it,

 

[Saluki]

All my bikes must be a bit shoot then. Ignore the ‘experts’, they are trying to sell bikes.
Test ride bikes in your budget range, find the one you like best and buy that. That is my ‘expert’ opinion.

My favourite was £1200 (entry level?) steel gravel bike, running full Sora. It’s comfy, goes anywhere, smooth shifting and I can leave my mate, on his £4.2k ebike, in the weeds. Even more so on my £350 steel roadie (second hand Mercian).

Advice from so called experts can be confusing. I ignored most of it

 

[gavroche]

Unless you particularly want a 'gravel' style bike, had you considered SLR 8.9 Carbon Road Bike 2021 (boardmanbikes.com) only another £100 and quite an upgrade in spec and reduction in weight.

That looks like a very good bike but it fails to attract me for two reasons:
- no disc brakes.
- 11-30 cassette no good to me, I need at least 11-32 or better, 11-34.
Thanks for drawing my attention though.

 

[vickster]

Why do you want disc brakes? You have said many times that you don’t ride in wet/winter?
that bike has Tektro mechanicals as there’s no Sora hydraulic, they won’t be much better in the dry than decent rim brakes ultimately. I guess the experts have convinced you otherwise
but it’s your cash

 

[gavroche]

Why do you want disc brakes? You have said many times that you don’t ride in wet/winter?
that bike has Tektro mechanicals as there’s no Sora hydraulic, they won’t be much better in the dry than decent rim brakes ultimately. I guess the experts have convinced you otherwise
but it’s your cash

There are some steep descents round here and I find the disc brakes on my Roubaix are much sharper than my other two bikes with caliper brakes.
As far as the experts are concerned, they are in no way influencing my choice, I just like the look of the Treck.

 

[vickster]

What is the Trek giving you that a Roubaix isn’t? Other than being new?

 

[gavroche]

What is the Trek giving you that a Roubaix isn’t? Other than being new?

Nothing, I just fancy a new bike.

 

[proletaratOne]

Why do you want disc brakes? You have said many times that you don’t ride in wet/winter?
that bike has Tektro mechanicals as there’s no Sora hydraulic, they won’t be much better in the dry than decent rim brakes ultimately. I guess the experts have convinced you otherwise
but it’s your cash

Cause rim brakes suck. Can’t run fat tires, no good on gravel, or wet , or big decents... thing of the past dude... live in the now

oh wait

 

[Lovacott]

. Well, the bike I am interested in is the Trek al3 with disc brakes at £995. I like the look of it and answers all my needs. As soon as they have one in stock in my Lbs , I will go and have a proper look at it, with my wife's blessings too.

That looks (and reads) to be a very nice bit of kit.

All of the parts are DIY replaceable without too much trouble and unless you plan on hurtling down a muddy mountain trail or entering the TDF, it will do everything you want it to do.

Why spend more?