What the *#^% is up with modern road bicycles?

[DCLane]

@bonzobanana - that's a decent bike for the money. And for most people it's probably as much as they need.

 

[Fab Foodie]

The vast majority of aero gains are produced by altering the position and attire of the rider. But none of it really matters unless you're racing.

My Aero-belly certainly gives big gains on downhill sections....

 

[Fab Foodie]

I obsess about the colour of my valve caps. Does that count?

You use valve caps? Think of the weight and aero-savings by not having them - Marinal gains and all that you know....

 

[Fab Foodie]

I'm not a cyclist that needs a performance road bike but from all the evidence I've seen most high end bikes only have marginal gains that only benefit competitive pro cyclists. Safety is impacted when you make a bike as light as possible. Components wear out faster and are more likely to fail in use.

Looking on Halfords you can get a carbon fibre road bike with Shimano 105 that is comfortably a long way under 10kg for £1200 but Halfords rollercoaster pricing and the use of cashback sites, halfords giftcards and any other discount scheme you can make use of, might bring the price down to £900 if purchased at the optimum time.

https://www.halfords.com/bikes/road...road-bike-2021---s-m-l-xl-frames-365462.html?

Anyone who has looked at the Quest Composite site who make Canyon and Trek carbon fibre road bikes will see a very basic factory with questionable quality and worker conditions.

I admire people far more who use old bikes maximising their use and benefitting the environment rather than people who spend huge money on plastic bikes destined for landfill in a few years and adding more money to our national debt for all of us to pay back.

That's a lot of bike for the money!

 

[Dogtrousers]

You use valve caps? Think of the weight and aero-savings by not having them - Marinal gains and all that you know....

Outweighed by the bling value of having valve caps that match my bar tape, bottle cages and Garmin case.

And in future my cable outers maybe ...

 

[Fab Foodie]

Outweighed by the bling value of having valve caps that match my bar tape, bottle cages and Garmin case.

And in future my cable outers maybe ...

Your cable-outers don't match? And you call yerself a cyclist!

 

[Dogtrousers]

Your cable-outers don't match? And you call yerself a cyclist!

The shame

 

[roubaixtuesday]

That's a lot of bike for the money!

A near ideal sports road bike but there's very little choice and availability for bikes of that sort of spec.

Hydraulic discs dominate for these kind of bikes - adds nearly 50% to the cost of that bike - Halfords have a disc version

Then you get Di2 if you want a "better" bike, tubeless setups, 1x groupsets, pressfit bottom brackets, cables run inside frames, much of which is almost impossible to avoid.

All of these things not merely make a bike more expensive, but actively worse for a leisure cyclist. Crazy times.

The Claris version of that bike is below £600, and has everything you need to enjoy riding a bike.

 

[Alex321]

A near ideal sports road bike but there's very little choice and availability for bikes of that sort of spec.

Hydraulic discs dominate for these kind of bikes - adds nearly 50% to the cost of that bike - Halfords have a disc version

Then you get Di2 if you want a "better" bike, tubeless setups, 1x groupsets, pressfit bottom brackets, cables run inside frames, much of which is almost impossible to avoid.

All of these things not merely make a bike more expensive, but actively worse for a leisure cyclist. Crazy times.

The Claris version of that bike is below £600, and has everything you need to enjoy riding a bike.

Apart from the cables running inside frames, I'm not sure how any of those things are actively worse for a leisure cyclist. Possibly not worth the cost, but how are most of them worse?

Incidentally, while the disc version of that bike is £500 more, it is the later model, and does have some other minor improvements/changes. Whether those are enough to justify an extra £500 is questionable.

 

[Fab Foodie]

A near ideal sports road bike but there's very little choice and availability for bikes of that sort of spec.

Hydraulic discs dominate for these kind of bikes - adds nearly 50% to the cost of that bike - Halfords have a disc version

Then you get Di2 if you want a "better" bike, tubeless setups, 1x groupsets, pressfit bottom brackets, cables run inside frames, much of which is almost impossible to avoid.

All of these things not merely make a bike more expensive, but actively worse for a leisure cyclist. Crazy times.

The Claris version of that bike is below £600, and has everything you need to enjoy riding a bike.

The Claris version for me then please and more cash to spend on nicer/lighter wheelies!

There are reasons why I had my Rourke made the way I did, it's really simple maintenance-wise and robust - close to a do-it-all bike. A change of wheelset and cassette and the overall weight wouldn't be too bad either.

 

[fossyant]

Your cable-outers don't match? And you call yerself a cyclist!

They should be black or dark grey !

 

[roubaixtuesday]

Apart from the cables running inside frames, I'm not sure how any of those things are actively worse for a leisure cyclist

Hydraulic discs are more of a faff to maintain, make forks stiffer and add weight.
Di2 requires batteries to be charged
Tubeless is a total PITA
1x increases gear spacing and/or reduces gear range, requires very expensive cassettes.

 

[Fab Foodie]

They should be black or dark grey !

NOOOOOOOO. Apart from the tyres, nothing on a bicycle should be black or dark grey unless no other option exists!

 

[Alex321]

Hydraulic discs are more of a faff to maintain, make forks stiffer and add weight.
Di2 requires batteries to be charged
Tubeless is a total PITA
1x increases gear spacing and/or reduces gear range, requires very expensive cassettes.

Hydraulic discs are LESS faff to maintain. I have no idea where the myth that they are more of faff has come from.

Yes, Di2 requires batteries to be charged every few months. I don't see that as making the whole thing worse for even a "liesure" cyclist. I don't believe the advantages of Di2 are enough to make it worthwhile for anybody cycling less than hundreds of miles a week, but I don't see the very minor inconvenience of charging batteries as being nearly enough to outweigh even those small advantages.

Tubeless is inly a PITA if you have issue with it. IF you can get it set up right, it is generally better, as it results in much fewer punctures, and the ability to run at lower pressures, giving a better ride. Whether that outweighs the faff of getting it set up to start with, I grant is debatable.

1x, I agree I would not want it, but then it isn't one of the things that are hard to avoid, very few road bikes come with it, the main use for 1x is mountain bikes, plus quite a few gravel bikes. I doubt it makes those bikes worse for the people using them - and indeed only having one changer to worry about is probably an improvement for a leisure cyclist.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

The Claris version for me then please and more cash to spend on nicer/lighter wheelies!

There are reasons why I had my Rourke made the way I did, it's really simple maintenance-wise and robust. A change of wheelset and the overall weight wouldn't be too bad either.

Completely agree. Tyres as important as wheels too.

I also have a very nice but simple and robust bike, and made to measure for my 6'4" person.

The things that make up the majority of the cost of bikes beyond that £1200 Boardman would all make it a worse bike. Despite being made personally for me, it's cheaper than many road bikes.

It does have a black groupset though... here in its natural habitat.