mrmacmusic
Veteran
- Location
- Tillicoultry
Thanks to everyone for their input in my earlier post I'm not sure I'm any nearer making a decision, but things have moved on in the last month, and I've also made a few decisions about what I like, want and need. Quick update...
• I'm fortunate (if everything pans out like it should) that I'm no longer going to have to find my own money to fund the upgrade, and the budget may actually stretch to a wee bit more than £1k.
• I still want a more exciting, responsive ride than my Flight01 (after all there's nothing wrong with commuting on a "GTI" is there?), although I don't want to sacrifice comfort too much. The new stead needs to be sportive-ready too – I figured the 140 miles a week I do commuting was enough to be going on with this year, but I want to do some big miles in 2013.
• I will want to fit mudguards of some description (be they roadracers/raceblades etc) but no longer want to fit full-time rack and guards as I'm happy as Larry with my new Vaude backpack. Having been used to Marathon+ (25c) on my Flight, I would prefer to be able to fit 25c Durano Plus. Had a lot of punctures this time last year.
I have managed now to see quite a few bikes, and this has only helped and hindered in equal measures!
It may be a sensible commuting choice, but I just don't like the look of the Boardman CX Team, and the fit was strange – the Medium seemed unexpectedly long (my Flight is a 56cm, I'm 5'10). Although the primary use for my new bike will initially be day-in, day-out commuting, I've decided that I don't want a 'cross bike (Focus Mares, CAADX etc) as they just seem too chunky. I used to be chunky, and much prefer the skinny me
Whilst I've not been able to see a Giant Defy 1, I have seen the new 2013 Defy 2 and Defy Composite 3 – I really like the Defy, and the aluminium 105-equipped 2013 Defy 1 (in white) is number one on my shortlist. However, the LBS is suggesting that it's worth spending a wee bit more and getting into the Defy Composite... are they right? I can still pick up a 2012 Defy Composite 2 in the sales (same price as a 2013 DC3), but I'm not sure about SRAM Apex – in my head, my next bike was going to have 105, and I've never used SRAM.
I saw both the Cannondale Synapse (Sora) and CAAD10 105, but not the CAAD8 105 that was on my original viewing list. I definitely don't like the Sora thumb shifter, and wasn't particularly taken with the Synapse styling, especially when compared to the 2012 CAAD10 in white (liquigas?) which I really liked the look of. I'm not sure if the Synapse is too relaxed and the CAAD10 a touch too aggressive, and what was strange was that the 56cm Synapse and 54cm CAAD10 both seemed to fit. I guess geometry is at play here, and that a CAAD8 may well be spot on... just not sure which size I'd need!
Thinking about the LBS recommendation to 'go carbon', I have to confess I really like the look of the Carrera Virago, however it seems to be lambasted by other bike retailers as "cheap". Is it really any better or worse than the 'mainstream' offerings at a few hundred pounds more (e.g. the Giant Defy Composite)..? On paper, the Virago seems like great value, but would spending money on top-end aluminium (Defy 1) rather than budget carbon (Virago) be money better spent..?
To carbon or not to carbon, that is the question... well one of them The other questions are: which mudguards will fit the Defy 1/Composite 2 and CAAD10; and would either take 25c tyres?
• I'm fortunate (if everything pans out like it should) that I'm no longer going to have to find my own money to fund the upgrade, and the budget may actually stretch to a wee bit more than £1k.
• I still want a more exciting, responsive ride than my Flight01 (after all there's nothing wrong with commuting on a "GTI" is there?), although I don't want to sacrifice comfort too much. The new stead needs to be sportive-ready too – I figured the 140 miles a week I do commuting was enough to be going on with this year, but I want to do some big miles in 2013.
• I will want to fit mudguards of some description (be they roadracers/raceblades etc) but no longer want to fit full-time rack and guards as I'm happy as Larry with my new Vaude backpack. Having been used to Marathon+ (25c) on my Flight, I would prefer to be able to fit 25c Durano Plus. Had a lot of punctures this time last year.
I have managed now to see quite a few bikes, and this has only helped and hindered in equal measures!
It may be a sensible commuting choice, but I just don't like the look of the Boardman CX Team, and the fit was strange – the Medium seemed unexpectedly long (my Flight is a 56cm, I'm 5'10). Although the primary use for my new bike will initially be day-in, day-out commuting, I've decided that I don't want a 'cross bike (Focus Mares, CAADX etc) as they just seem too chunky. I used to be chunky, and much prefer the skinny me
Whilst I've not been able to see a Giant Defy 1, I have seen the new 2013 Defy 2 and Defy Composite 3 – I really like the Defy, and the aluminium 105-equipped 2013 Defy 1 (in white) is number one on my shortlist. However, the LBS is suggesting that it's worth spending a wee bit more and getting into the Defy Composite... are they right? I can still pick up a 2012 Defy Composite 2 in the sales (same price as a 2013 DC3), but I'm not sure about SRAM Apex – in my head, my next bike was going to have 105, and I've never used SRAM.
I saw both the Cannondale Synapse (Sora) and CAAD10 105, but not the CAAD8 105 that was on my original viewing list. I definitely don't like the Sora thumb shifter, and wasn't particularly taken with the Synapse styling, especially when compared to the 2012 CAAD10 in white (liquigas?) which I really liked the look of. I'm not sure if the Synapse is too relaxed and the CAAD10 a touch too aggressive, and what was strange was that the 56cm Synapse and 54cm CAAD10 both seemed to fit. I guess geometry is at play here, and that a CAAD8 may well be spot on... just not sure which size I'd need!
Thinking about the LBS recommendation to 'go carbon', I have to confess I really like the look of the Carrera Virago, however it seems to be lambasted by other bike retailers as "cheap". Is it really any better or worse than the 'mainstream' offerings at a few hundred pounds more (e.g. the Giant Defy Composite)..? On paper, the Virago seems like great value, but would spending money on top-end aluminium (Defy 1) rather than budget carbon (Virago) be money better spent..?
To carbon or not to carbon, that is the question... well one of them The other questions are: which mudguards will fit the Defy 1/Composite 2 and CAAD10; and would either take 25c tyres?