lanternerouge
Veteran
- Location
- Leafy Cheshire
Hi folks
My friend is looking at getting into cycling. She is already pretty physically fit, and is after a decent road bike to start out on. As I have had a bit of conflicting advice I thought I'd see what the good burghers of CycleChat think.
Cost is one issue, she wants to keep this down but also in her words "I don't want a sh*t heap", (sensible girl)! She is planning to get it on HP so it can't be a Triban 3 unfortunately.
What is has boiled down to is this: Should she get a starter-ish road bike from Evans like these two for example:
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/cannondale/synapse-8-2300-2013-womens-road-bike-ec042942
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/dolce-triple-2013-womens-road-bike-ec040973
Or the other option (which we are leaning towards due to it coming from v good people) would be to get her a custom-built bike from a local frame builder. This would be made to measure and is from the guy who supplies a lot of bikes to our club, and comes recommended. Apparently this would have better quality throughout unlike your lower end big brand bikes which, I am told, have Shimano 105 groupsets (for example) but then cheap parts on the rest of the bike. Mine must come under this bracket then... :/
The custom-built bike would be £699, top quality aluminium frame and have the following spec:
Pro-Lite Giralba Carbon Fork.
Shimano Tiagra 4600 10 Speed Groupset.
Choice of Handbuilt or Factory Built Wheels.
Pro-Lite Alloy Finishing Kit.
Selle Italia XO Gen Gel Saddle.
Bike Weight: 18lbs.
She would be able to select frame size, stem length, bar width, chainset spec, cassette ratios, wheel colours etc.
Any thoughts most welcome!
LR
My friend is looking at getting into cycling. She is already pretty physically fit, and is after a decent road bike to start out on. As I have had a bit of conflicting advice I thought I'd see what the good burghers of CycleChat think.
Cost is one issue, she wants to keep this down but also in her words "I don't want a sh*t heap", (sensible girl)! She is planning to get it on HP so it can't be a Triban 3 unfortunately.
What is has boiled down to is this: Should she get a starter-ish road bike from Evans like these two for example:
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/cannondale/synapse-8-2300-2013-womens-road-bike-ec042942
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/dolce-triple-2013-womens-road-bike-ec040973
Or the other option (which we are leaning towards due to it coming from v good people) would be to get her a custom-built bike from a local frame builder. This would be made to measure and is from the guy who supplies a lot of bikes to our club, and comes recommended. Apparently this would have better quality throughout unlike your lower end big brand bikes which, I am told, have Shimano 105 groupsets (for example) but then cheap parts on the rest of the bike. Mine must come under this bracket then... :/
The custom-built bike would be £699, top quality aluminium frame and have the following spec:
Pro-Lite Giralba Carbon Fork.
Shimano Tiagra 4600 10 Speed Groupset.
Choice of Handbuilt or Factory Built Wheels.
Pro-Lite Alloy Finishing Kit.
Selle Italia XO Gen Gel Saddle.
Bike Weight: 18lbs.
She would be able to select frame size, stem length, bar width, chainset spec, cassette ratios, wheel colours etc.
Any thoughts most welcome!
LR
