What do I do?

[3-IN-One]

Through Injurys my CV workouts have failed me so decided to get a bike to keep up the good work. After alot of reading and advice brought a Scott Aspect 40 Hartail to road ride just to see[as advised and rightly soooo] To see if I liked it or my injury would be re-ignited.

The question is since buying the Scott at xmas and Road riding it to death[in my opinion] I feel that I really want to get a decent Road bike for about a grand so that I can take it to the next step,My wife says I SHOULD do a year with the hardtail and still if after that i still love it,then seriously consider spending an absurd amount of cash on 2 wheels.

What do I DO

Me,myself and her/youlot



LOL.............Help me

 

[Big John]

Life is short so just do it if you can afford it, of course. You can get a lot of bike for a grand these days and a decent road bike is beautiful to ride. If you work for a decent company you might even get it under the Bike to Work Scheme or whatever it's called. That way you don't pay the VAT and get tax allowances so it saves you loads of money.

Focus do some good bikes at a grand or under and can be found on the Wiggle website I think. I remember looking at the Kayo, I think it was called. Nice bikes and great value for money.

 

[Danny]

You can get a decent road bike for a lot less than £1000. For example the Specialized Allez costs £540 while the Specialized Allez Sport sells for £740. Either of these would be a huge improvement over your existing bike for road riding.

There are lots of other bikes in this price range. Rather than buying through Wiggle I would recommend you find a good local bike shop (LBS) and talk to them about what kind of riding you want to do. They will give you advice on what bikes would suit you best and let you try different ones out. Which is probably the best way to get a feel for whether a cheaper bike will suit your needs.

 

[Cubist]

3-in-1
It all depends on your definition of "ridden to death"! You bought a £300 bike, perfectly capable of what you are asking of it, ie, to give you a workout as you ride. I can't imagine that a Scott has become unserviceable in two months! (unless you've bathed it in salt and thrown it in the garden..)

Riding a MTB for fitness will give you far more of a resisitance based workout than a roadie. ie, it's harder to pedal per mile than a swift, light bike. If you want more speed from the Scott, swap the tyres for some skinny slicks, as a halfway measure.

If you want to buy a roadie, then do it, but remember that mile for mile you won't be getting the same sort of exercise!

 

[PpPete]

Almost any road bike will be an improvement, but think very carefully about the kind of riding you want to do. If all-weather you need mudguard clearance. If long trips appeal, consider an audax type machine rather than a pure roadie.

What you could do is buy a frame & forks for between £200 or £300
Wife can't object to that now can she....
Have a look at Kinesis for example

The fact that you are then going to spend another £800 on bits & pieces and tools over the following months as you build up your dream bike doesnt have to raise it's ugly head just yet

It's a more expensive way to do it of course, but it will build your maintenance knowledge along the way.

 

[spandex]

What I would do is put slick tyres on the HT and ride that for a month or two and see how you fill about it.

 

[spandex]

In the mean time you could be looking at road bikes to see which one if any you would like?

 

[peanut]

3-in-1
It all depends on your definition of "ridden to death"! You bought a £300 bike, perfectly capable of what you are asking of it, ie, to give you a workout as you ride. I can't imagine that a Scott has become unserviceable in two months! (unless you've bathed it in salt and thrown it in the garden..)

Riding a MTB for fitness will give you far more of a resisitance based workout than a roadie. ie, it's harder to pedal per mile than a swift, light bike. If you want more speed from the Scott, swap the tyres for some skinny slicks, as a halfway measure.

If you want to buy a roadie, then do it, but remember that mile for mile you won't be getting the same sort of exercise!

+1

couldn't have put it better myself.
You need to decide whether you still want a good workout or enjoy your road riding more at the expense of a good workout.

I have only lightweight road bikes so for a good workout I mostly ride really hilly loops around my home to compensate.

I just can't understand why peeps starting up in cycling are advised to get an MTB when 95% of their cycling is for road riding

 

[peanut]

What you could do is buy a frame & forks for between £200 or £300
Wife can't object to that now can she....
Have a look at Kinesis for example

The fact that you are then going to spend another £800 on bits & pieces and tools over the following months as you build up your dream bike doesnt have to raise it's ugly head just yet

heed these words of wisdom folks.

Here speaks a man of wisdom beyond his years and adept at deceiving SWMBO

 

[PpPete]

Here speaks a man of wisdom beyond his years and adept at deceiving SWMBO

Thank you for your kind words Peanut. However my other half caught on to this trick very quickly, so 3-in-1 should not count on deceiving his for long.

I am however fortunate that I have been tasked by aforementioned love of my life with restoring a 60 y.o. BSA. Of course that has required lots of specialist tools and orders for all kinds of components from various retailers.

 

[shunter]

My wife says I SHOULD do a year with the hardtail and still if after that i still love it,then seriously consider spending an absurd amount of cash on 2 wheels.

If only we applied the same rule to women before spending an absurd amount of cash on them

 

[3-IN-One]

Riding a MTB for fitness will give you far more of a resisitance based workout than a roadie. ie, it's harder to pedal per mile than a swift, light bike. If you want more speed from the Scott, swap the tyres for some skinny slicks, as a halfway measure.

If you want to buy a roadie, then do it, but remember that mile for mile you won't be getting the same sort of exercise!

Thanks I never thought of it like that,Obvious really when you read it

I,m thinking of using the Hardtail for the rest of the year possibly with skinnys and then only using it for a Winter Bike. All being well hopefully using a new Racing bike[like the Allez] as a summer bike.

Or is that a bad Idea?

 

[3-IN-One]

Almost any road bike will be an improvement, but think very carefully about the kind of riding you want to do. If all-weather you need mudguard clearance. If long trips appeal, consider an audax type machine rather than a pure roadie.

What you could do is buy a frame & forks for between £200 or £300
Wife can't object to that now can she....
Have a look at Kinesis for example

The fact that you are then going to spend another £800 on bits & pieces and tools over the following months as you build up your dream bike doesnt have to raise it's ugly head just yet

It's a more expensive way to do it of course, but it will build your maintenance knowledge along the way.

Excellent Idea that puts another angle on things

 

[soulful dog]

Listen to your wife - or at least compromise and wait until the summer!

Seriously, you only live once, but just a couple of months on from buying a new bike where is the sense in splashing out three times as much on another one?

What Cubist said about changing to slicker, thinner tyres to make your mountain bike faster, seems to make a lot of sense? That'll give you the chance to get more out of the bike, and give you longer to think about exactly what kind of new bike will suit you better in the long run.

Also gives you longer to convince your wife that it's a good idea, and the bit about the summer/winter bike could help too.

 

[3-IN-One]

Listen to your wife -

Your fooking joking its hard enough looking at her lol

All joking asside Soulful m8 your rite I have to bite the bullet and use a little common sence.

Thanks

My time will come,I hope