Which audax bike??

[yello]

Or a "Full kit" Revell Romany?

Yep, that's pretty much my mental image of an audax bike!

I think I should join a club, do a few rides and see where that takes me. I will have a better chance of not buying the 'wrong' bike that way too I feel.

That's a good idea.

At the risk of messing with your head - don't forget the 'heart'. The Basso will equally do everything that a Fratello would (maybe not the touring, depending on how you want to tour!) and I reckon it's more the heart than the head that gets you out riding. Not every decision in life has to 'make sense' you know!

 

[jimboalee]

Then there is the 'slicked up' MTB.

It has the gearing. It has the ruggedness. If it has disks, it has the stopping power and will not be messy in the rain.

I forgot to include my Land Rover Tahora 'slicked up' MTB. I rode the North B'ham CTC "Staffordshire Lanes" 100km on it. Up and over Cannock Chase.

 

[vorsprung]

I've just bought a new bike specifically for doing PBP and the qualifiers on.

It is a Specialized Roubaix, it's carbon fibre. It has 30 gears. It looks like a racing bike, but it isn't

I look forward to audax newbies telling me that it isn't a proper audax bike

 

[yello]

I look forward to audax newbies telling me that it isn't a proper audax bike

Ah but it won't be the "newbies" that tell you that... it'll be the 'leg-ends'!!

...or, given it's PBP, it'll perhaps be the 'fins de jambe'??

 

[jimboalee]

I look forward to audax newbies telling me that it isn't a proper audax bike

Not as good as going on a BP100 on a slicked up MTB, and you're sat at the first control sipping Coke when the newbies arrive.

 

[yello]

Hmmm.... there is always going to be someone faster than me, sometimes someone slower. I rode the last 36 hours of LEL with someone on a Brompton. I'm never going to claim a superiority based on speed or bike, I just like riding. What others do is their thing and long may it be so.

 

[ColinJ]

My heart is still set on a Basso though, a thing of beauty in my eyes, but my wooden head says Fratello.

I do 95% of my rides on this steel-framed Basso with a triple chainset.

I've done lots of hilly 200 km audax rides on it and my two longest rides (Hebden Bridge to Coventry and back a week later. Each way 227 km with 4,000 m of hills). It was great. I bodged a rack on for that ride, but usually I can carry what I want to in a Camelbak bag on my back.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

have a word with the nice peeps at Surosa. They understand audax bikes and audax people.

 

[jimboalee]

have a word with the nice peeps at Surosa. They understand audax bikes and audax people.

Do they really?

Three of the four 'Audax' labeled bikes on their website have 'Compact' chainsets. The expensive one has a 53/39 set.

 

[vorsprung]

have a word with the nice peeps at Surosa. They understand audax bikes and audax people.

I had a look at their Audax bike

Now, it's nice of them to do an Audax specific bike with mudguards

However the bike they offer doesn't look very suitable for long distances. Perhaps they are thinking of the short 100km events that AUK run as "Audax" which is fairy nuff

I've ridden long events on a aluminum framed racing bike. The main problem was, like this bike, the geometry puts the rider too low on the bars. So you will get neck ache

This bike for the 56cm model has a 56cm VTT and a 130mm head tube
Compare with the Specialized Secteur, similar size, similar price point. 56.5cm VTT, 190mm head tube. 6cm is a lot of spacers

 

[jimboalee]

I had a look at their Audax bike

Now, it's nice of them to do an Audax specific bike with mudguards

However the bike they offer doesn't look very suitable for long distances. Perhaps they are thinking of the short 100km events that AUK run as "Audax" which is fairy nuff

I've ridden long events on a aluminum framed racing bike. The main problem was, like this bike, the geometry puts the rider too low on the bars. So you will get neck ache

This bike for the 56cm model has a 56cm VTT and a 130mm head tube
Compare with the Specialized Secteur, similar size, similar price point. 56.5cm VTT, 190mm head tube. 6cm is a lot of spacers

Any bike can be used on an Audax, but when I'm at the start of a 200, most riders are equipped with a triple.

In any case, the hip ball joints, lumbar vertebrae and handlebar/stem clamp should be adjusted for the rider, not the rider adjusted for the bike.



I ride 200s and 300s on either a SWorks or a Dawes Giro 500. Both Alum, and the Spesh is a 'balls out' roadrace bike.



On yet another thread I mentioned the height of the upper headset race ( which indirectly determines the toptube/headtube weld ) is the only measurement of consideration when buying an 'off the peg' bike.



If I was to purchase from Surosa, I would measure the height of the upper headset race to get the size correct, and ask them to fit a triple.

 

[zigzag]

triple chainset is a bit of an overkill in my opinion, i ride single chainring in the front with wide cassette in the back. less complex, less things to go wrong, and gives nice linear gear range. the range is 32-93" which suits most (except the most ridiculous hills) terrains.

p.s. and o.t. - received a letter from virgin london marathon today saying i'm in for next year!! woohoo!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

If I was to purchase from Surosa, I would measure the height of the upper headset race to get the size correct, and ask them to fit a triple.

Guess what? They recommended more or less exactly that after finding out what I wanted to use the bike for. So mine has a triple and a big stack, by normal roadie standards, of spacers and when I did a bike fit elsewhere all was good. 300km is the longest I've done on it so far but I reckon its good for twice that. Hand built wheels, carbon fork, fizil gel and and a Ti railed Brooks makes for a very comfy bike too.

 

[Ian H]

triple chainset is a bit of an overkill in my opinion, i ride single chainring in the front with wide cassette in the back. less complex, less things to go wrong, and gives nice linear gear range. the range is 32-93" which suits most (except the most ridiculous hills) terrains.

Whereas I hate wide ratio blocks and run a triple for that reason. It's a broad church.

p.s. and o.t. - received a letter from virgin london marathon today saying i'm in for next year!! woohoo!

Congratulations!

 

[jimboalee]

Guess what? They recommended more or less exactly that after finding out what I wanted to use the bike for. So mine has a triple and a big stack, by normal roadie standards, of spacers and when I did a bike fit elsewhere all was good. 300km is the longest I've done on it so far but I reckon its good for twice that. Hand built wheels, carbon fork, fizil gel and and a Ti railed Brooks makes for a very comfy bike too.

Then all I can say is "The photos on the website send the wrong message to potential customers. Sack the marketing manager."