'Novice' enquiries Re. the Vitus Alios

[DFyall]

Evening all,

I am an entry-level newbie in the market for my first road bike. I appreciate many of you will have heard this type of question many a time before and apologise for the lack of originality on this occasion but as I've read elsewhere on the forum... got to start somewhere!

Have been doing my research over the last few weeks around the £300 price range and have been strongly drawn to the below Vitus which seems to be causing a stir as I've read nothing but raving reviews about excellent value for money:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=37907

Have a few novice questions that hopefully one or two of you can help me out on, before I bite the bullet:

1) No pedals in the pics and the spec. only states 'N/A'. Is it standard for a road bike to come without?
2) How many gears does this bike actually have? From the pics it looks like 3 x 7 (21) but I see no mention of this in the spec.?
3) My biggest concern and one which could be the limiting factor... I'm 6 ft. 2" and 13 stone. Will I fit on a 54 inch frame bike?!

Really appreciate any response.

 

[aJohnson]

1) Don't know, shoot the company a website about it.

2) I think it will be 21 gears or 27.

3) Sizing is a tough one, so I cant comment there.

EDIT: Oh yeah, welcome

 

[getfit]

Hi DFyall,

Once you get past a certain price range (top price) pedals are not included as there is such a wide choice of clipless pedals and fittings that riders will either already have a set or buy a set to go with the shoes.

This bike has a triple up front and 9 gear cassette so 27 gears.

Sorry don't know the answer to number 3.

GF

PS, welcome to the site.

 

[accountantpete]

Hi

1) pedals don't normally come with a bike and the ones that do are crapola. Best to look at "clip-in" type pedals eg spd-sl

2) see above

3) A 54 with sloping toptube should fit you - it equates to something like a 58 horizontal toptube - but they mess around with the lengths of the toptubes so I'd ask for the length and then get back to this section of the forum.

the 13st is no problem.

 

[rednax86]

Pedals do come with this bike, at least they did with mine. However I doubt you'd fit on the 54cm bike, I have the 57 and feel it's about as small as i'd want it to be. I'm 6ft.

 

[youngoldbloke]

2) How many gears does this bike actually have? From the pics it looks like 3 x 7 (21) but I see no mention of this in the spec.?

+1 getfit - This is the Vitus TRIPLE. Triple refers to the number of chainings on the crankset - the big round bit with lots of teeth that the pedals are (or will be!) fixed to with the cranks - the specs clearly state • Crankset: Stronglight Impact 28 x38 x48.
Elsewhere the specs refer to a 9 sp(eed) cassette, Xenon 9 derailleur, Xenon 9 shifters. Mutiply the number of chainrings - 3, x number of cogs on the casette - 9, and there you have it = 27. Recommend you buy a basic bike book like the Haynes, and become familiar with the various components and their names and functions. Check out the components listed in the spec on Google - its all quite straightforward, and you will soon know (almost) everything about bicycles!

 

[Goobs]

Is it worth the extra £60 for the carbon fork model ?
Scrap that - they only sell the 48cm now. Other sizes are discontinued.

 

[getfit]

Have you ordered your bike yet? Noticed that the bike has jumped to £399.99 tonight, must be going to fast at the £299.99 price.

GF

 

[DFyall]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the advice and help.. what a great community this forum has. Thanks for the pointer GF, in answer to your question, no I have not ordered the bike... I'm not disappointed though as I was ultimately concerned about the frame size given the responses and other bits of reading about the importance of 'good fit' when it comes to picking a road bike. Gonna come back to the market when I have finished my dissertation in a few weeks and have the time to try a few for size.

Very cheeky leap in price though - the road bike market must be far more volatile/responsive than I first thought!