Which one is best for sportives?

[road_runner12]

Hi all. In the search for a 1st road bike with a budget of £850. Have narrowed it down to the following bikes.

Ridley Eos - £850
Wilier Escape Xenon - £799
Giant Defy 2 - £825

Can't find any information on the Ridley and Wilier. Just wondered if anyone had any information on them - how durable they are, will they do the job, are they reliable and good value?

Very impressed with the Ridley and on looks, would be my choice - just want some feedback on it before I buy anything.

 

[Young Un]

The ridley is a very nice bike! WE have one at work at the moment, and I have to say it looks the sex Just had a quick look up on the website to check I'm telling you the right things, but the Eos would be great for sportives because; it has a triple meaning you can pretty muchclimb up walls, even with 100 plus miles in your legs. It is designed as a audax/ winter bike meaning the geometry is slightly more relaxed making it perfect for long periods in the sadle, the Tiagra kit is very good for the price you are paying, and is a good solid reliable groupo, the bike hasn't been skimped on with the finishing kit etc - it features very nice white ste, bars, seatpost etc, all made my Ridleys only brand 4ZA, and I have to say it is very nice stuff.

Voerall a good buy in general for the riding you want to do! Hope this helps you in your decision!

Steve
www.ehcelon-cycles.co.uk

 

[jimboalee]

The lightest.

 

[B-B-BikeyStrike!]

The only way to answer it is to test ride them all. Thats where your answer lies. I test rode a Giant SCR last year and I really wasnt that impressed with it. The finishing kit felt a bit mediocre, and the ride quality felt too neutral for my liking. The most important thing in my view is the ride quality. Something you cant put down on paper.

Durability isnt an issue on an £800 road bike - they'll all use either Campag, Shimano or SRAM gears (all very good) and the wheels will be half decent. As long as you dont go mountain biking with them they'll be fine.

I bought a Chris Boardman Team recently and i love it - round about your price range. Feels stiff, responsive and composed. If you cant persuade your local Halfords Bikehut to test ride one, i think you'll be impressed.

 

[jimboalee]

Some may disagree, but the first dimension on a bike, and prob the most important ( cus all the others are adjustable ) is crank length ( if you don't want to go buying four crank sets and throw out the three that aren't right ).

Details of how to choose the correct length are on Peter White's website.

Test riding a bike will only tell you one thing. That is the crank length is right for you.
Before you test ride any bike, do Peter White's sum and take you tape measure with you to the shop.

£850 worth is on the borderline of being a 'mass produced' and something that SHOULD be fitted.

When the shop show you a bike that they think is your size, put your ruler along the crank and tell them what crank length you need.
Then you get respect.
Get the correct crank length and you won't need to dirty the shop's nice clean new bikes.

Incidentally, when I bought my SWorks, I firstly checked for a 170mm crank length. Spesh do a fine job and that length was standard on the 54cm. 54cm is 1cm smaller than my ideal, but I'm not worried about 10mm in the seat tube and 10mm in the toptube. There are stems to sort that out.
As it happens, the reach on the bike is 4mm short ( and I can really feel it… NOT ).

The SWorks cost a shitload of money, but I didn't test ride it. I knew it would ride good because the crank length is correct.


Your legs are the parts of your body that do all the movements. They are attached to the pedals and do thousands of repetitions in a bike ride.
Getting their range of movement correct from the outset is the single most important part of sizing a bike.

 

[jimboalee]

The ridley is a very nice bike! WE have one at work at the moment, and I have to say it looks the sex Just had a quick look up on the website to check I'm telling you the right things, but the Eos would be great for sportives because; it has a triple meaning you can pretty muchclimb up walls, even with 100 plus miles in your legs. It is designed as a audax/ winter bike meaning the geometry is slightly more relaxed making it perfect for long periods in the sadle, the Tiagra kit is very good for the price you are paying, and is a good solid reliable groupo, the bike hasn't been skimped on with the finishing kit etc - it features very nice white ste, bars, seatpost etc, all made my Ridleys only brand 4ZA, and I have to say it is very nice stuff.

Voerall a good buy in general for the riding you want to do! Hope this helps you in your decision!

Steve
www.ehcelon-cycles.co.uk

I know Echelon Cycles in Pershore. The GF and I had a caravan on the Riverside at Eckington and I rode there many times.

You may have seen me scoffing down pies in The Angel.

 

[road_runner12]

Thanks for all your comments so far, very helpful. Sadly the Ridley site and catalogue doesn't give a very detailed spec for each component on the bike - anyone know where I can find one?

Also has anyone tried or bought a Ridley?

 

[Young Un]

Thanks for all your comments so far, very helpful. Sadly the Ridley site and catalogue doesn't give a very detailed spec for each component on the bike - anyone know where I can find one?

Also has anyone tried or bought a Ridley?

What exactly do you want to know? Let me know and I'll try and find out for you

And Jimbo, you should pop down sometime on a Saturday and confuse me with your jargon technical reasoning.

 

[Young Un]

PRODUCT MODEL YEAR: 2010
PRODUCT OPTIONS: X-Large, Large, Medium, Small, XS

FRAME WEIGHT (g) 1765

BIKE WEIGHT (kg) 9,62

WHEELSET 4ZA Stratos

BRAKE/SHIFT LEVER Tiagra

SADDLE 4ZA Stratos

FR DERAILLEUR Tiagra Triple STEM 4ZA Stratos

REAR DERAILLEUR Tiagra Triple

HANDLEBAR 4ZA Stratos

CASSETTE Tiagra

SEATPOST 4ZA Stratos

CRANKSET Truvativ Elita triple

HANDLEBAR TAPE 4ZA Stratos grip

BRAKES Tiagra

BOTTLE CAGE 4ZA Stratos

CHAIN Tiagra

TIRES Vredestein Fortezza

Then this PDF is useful for finding out about the finshing kit etc - http://www.4za.info/index.html

 

[road_runner12]

Just wanted to know a bit more info on the cassette and the triple crankset.

By the way, how good are the Tiagra brakes?

 

[Young Un]

Just wanted to know a bit more info on the cassette and the triple crankset.

By the way, how good are the Tiagra brakes?

I can't tell you those details off my head, but I can find out for you on the 2nd of January if your still interested, as that's the first day I'm back at work Tiagra brakes - they're better than what I have, and mine stop me, so yes I'd say that they were definately good enough. Upgrading just gives you better modulation rather than power I'd say, but then I've never heard anyone complain on the Tiagra brakes to be honest, as all round its a good solid reliable groupo.

Steve

 

[road_runner12]

Just wondering, when you place an order for a new Ridley bike, are you able to request different crank arm lengths? Not sure what length comes with a standard bike. Looking at a size small and site doesn't specify what the length is.

 

[Young Un]

I don't think you can, but if you are ordering from a good LBS, I'm sure that they would agree to change cranks if it made you 100% certain in the bike. Although, technically, because Ridley make good bike's, you shouldn't have to change cranks as the sizing should already be done anyway, ie - the cranks should be the right length given the size of the frame.

 

[road_runner12]

Just checking - I'm 5ft 9 and have an inside leg of 29". Just checking that the small would be the best fit for me?

By the way, anyone done the Merlin Ride (Sportive)?

 

[lukesdad]

Road Runner. I think you re going to have a bit of a dilema. Im 5 ft 7 with an inside leg of 29" ( I take it you ve got short legs and a long torso ).

Depending on the goemtry of the frames (which im not familiar with) a small though probably right for your leg measurement will have to shorter top tube length,and depending on the stem length ( which probably will be 100mm) you may not be able to correct with a longer stem.

Ive got a litespeed and a dolan road bike in their small sizes and had to lengthen one to a 110mm stem and the same with the other from a 90mm.

Jimbo s wrong on this one frame geomtry are the most important measurements especially in your case.

As for cranklengths well I use 175s on my road bikes and 170s on my xc and 172.5 s on my full susser ! Work that one out.