what bike? how many gears? viking any good?

[rhys]

hi there, i'm currently training for the navy and cycling to and from my local gym. i'm looking for a road bike and the viking san marino 2010 has caught my eye. do i really need a bike with aluminium frame/carbon forks etc? how many gears do i need? (i have many steep hills on my route!!) my budget is around £300 any advice would be much appreiciated, cheers

 

[rhys]

as you can tell i dont know much about bikes cmon guys!!!

 

[rhys]

what about the Viking 2010 Roma Gents 16 Spd 53cm Road/Race Bike??? £290 brand new 16 gears....any good??

 

[accountantpete]

what about the Viking 2010 Roma Gents 16 Spd 53cm Road/Race Bike??? £290 brand new 16 gears....any good??

I haven't ridden it but it looks a bit cheapo.

Ideally you should look to carbon forks to give a bit of comfort especially as the low end bikes can transmit a great deal of road vibration to the body. I'd also recommend looking at the major manufacturers - Specialized,Trek, Giant and perhaps Cannondale as you are less likely to get a duff frame this way.

Trouble is that a reasonable entry level bike is going to set you back more like £500 or so.

This is a reasonable entry level bike - an extra £100 will get you the Shimano Sora groupset

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Specialized-Allez-16-2010-Road-Bike_27448.htm

 

[rhys]

very nice looking bike mate, i can see it is alot better quality.
where would be good to purchase second hand or on sale?
any other bikes that you would recomend?
thanks for your reply by the way cheers mate.

 

[accountantpete]

Second hand will get you a better bike generally although some components may need renewing.

eg http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Cannondale-Ro...UK_Bikes_GL?hash=item20af587372#ht_500wt_1182

You really need to decide on size and whether you want triple(for hilly terrain) or double chainrings.

 

[accountantpete]

Also have a look at the Carrera at Halfords

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/...6-b2c0-dc36b54a327e&istItemId=lwlqmt&istBid=t

 

[Fab Foodie]

what about the Viking 2010 Roma Gents 16 Spd 53cm Road/Race Bike??? £290 brand new 16 gears....any good??

One of our Nobs (see Sig) has a Viking bike, cheap as chips, but basically sound.
He's as fast as the rest of us...

 

[rhys]

thanks for the info guys...

so is that carrera really worth an extra £200 more than the viking?

i'm definatly after a triple for those hills, the 1 on ebay was perfect size and spec, just i thought abit much money at £350 for a 7 year old bike, also it looked a little nasty, not into the mustard colour!ha

 

[rhys]

what do you mean by "Shimano Sora groupset"?

 

[rhys]

One of our Nobs (see Sig) has a Viking bike, cheap as chips, but basically sound.
He's as fast as the rest of us...

what type of viking does he have mate? some do have carbon forks yet some have alloy.....what sort of weight difference would an aluminium frame make compared to an alloy one? cheers

 

[Fab Foodie]

what type of viking does he have mate? some do have carbon forks yet some have alloy.....what sort of weight difference would an aluminium frame make compared to an alloy one? cheers

No carbon forks, just the Aluminium ones. No idea how it rides as I've not tried it, but it's well enough put together and my mate blasts along on it without a care (but he is slightly mental). Considering it cost very little I was surprised at the quality tbh.

At the bottom of the price range, Aluminium is what you'll get, other than that it'll be cheap steel and that'll be really heavy and nasty. The other place to look is Decathlon, their budget road bike is good value usually and the Carrera virtuoso in Halfrauds was well reviewed in one of the mags, having a compact chainset gives a good gear range.
Cheap roadbikes are hard to get these days.

 

[accountantpete]

Basically Rhys - you want a reasonably light well made frame,which is where the major manufacturers like Specialized etc come in.

On that frame the main set of components is what we call a groupset-which is everything you see except the bars,stem and seat post. The main suppliers of these are Shimano, Campagnolo and Sram who each produce a range of groupsets from cheap and heavy to the expensive and light. Shimano's main groupsets are Sora, Tiagra, 105, Ultegra and Dura Ace (the most expensive).

Shimano also produce a cheap set for inexpensive bikes - like on the Viking.

 

[rhys]

ahhhhh right lol, well ive certainly been put off the viking, mainly because it seems to have pretty basic componants and i figured an aluminium frame is a must...what do you think of the spec on this bike then which i may purchase today?!:

Dawes Giro 300 road bike with substantial upgrades over original. 49cm compact aluminium frame with integrated headset. Key upgrades consist of: - Shimano 105 wheel set - Shimano Ultegra 9 speed STI shifters - Shimano Ultegra triple crankset (50/42/30) - Shimano Ultegra 9 speed rear mech - Shimano 105 front mech - Shimano 105 bottom bracket - Shimano 105 cassette (13/25) - Shimano M520 SPD clipless pedals - SRAM PC970 9 speed chain - ITM 4 Ever carbon fork - ITM stem - Cannondale dual pivot brakes - Continental Ultra 3000 tyres

 

[rhys]

49cm frame, me being 5'9" and 10 1/2 stone i kinda figured i dont wana be too stretched out on it if that makes sense (never ridden road bike before by the way) is the gear setup ok for hills?