Request advice, Ridley Triton T vs Kinesis Racelight T

[DougieB]

Hi,

I'm looking into building a new audax bike for commuting and touring, and am looking to base it around one of these two frames. Does anyone have any experience of these frames, or recommendations?

Any guidance you can provide me with on their relative merits will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Dougie

http://www.ridley-bikes.com/2008/lang/uk/bikes/TritonTBlue507E/index.htm

http://www.kinesisbikes.co.uk/product.php?id=11

 

[P.H]

I’ve had a Racelight T for a few months, built up with the £150 brown frame from Wiggle, a discounted discontinued ITM fork, Paul Hewitt wheels, and a mixed Campag 9 speed triple. It’s the only 21st centaury aluminium frame I’ve ridden, I love it. It’s as light and fast as I was hoping, it’s also a lot more comfortable than I’d expected, on 28mm tyres not much different to me steel tourers. The review linked to on the Kinesis website influenced my decision and the fact they’ve been getting good reviews for years. I can’t add much to that review except to say I agree with it. I nearly bought the Racelight TK, which is nearer the price of the Ridley, not doing so allowed me to spend more on the wheels and I think it was the right choice. I bought it for short rides unencumbered by the usual stuff I cart around, I can see it getting used for a lot more than that.
Are you building it up yourself? If not, Epic cycles might be worth checking out;
http://www.epic-cycles.co.uk/Kinesis.htm

I don’t know anything about the Ridley, the geometry doesn’t look as relaxed as the Racelight and it takes standard drop brakes so will have tighter clearances.

 

[DougieB]

Excellent, thanks for the advice. I'm going for the Kinesis, and would prefer to build myself - never done that before, would teach me quite a bit. Mind if I ask a couple more questions?

- How easy / tricky is building your own bike for the first time?

- I'd like to use a Shimano 105 groupset, however websites like chainreaction give lots of options. Would any of them represent a 'bad' choice with the Kinesis? I see epic provide the 105 "10s compact" set?

- Any recommendations on wheels? What did you go for?

- Google shopping has a poor-ish reviews of chainreaction cycles. Any recommendations around? I know of wiggle and chainreaction...

Many thanks once again,

Dougie