Advice on road bikes

[prydey]

thats road bike, as in push bike.

i currently have a vintage ricardo viva 12sp, which was ok in its day, but 'its day' was quite some time ago. its still in great condition and rides quite well, but its time for an upgrade as i want to start riding more.

i don't want to spend more than $500 and would prefer something about half that but obviously that seriously limits the options.

i've been looking at used bikes obviously for that sort of coin, and even though i'm not looking at spending much, you can still get a reasonable brand with good enough gear to suit me. i'll only be riding around my local area, bike tracks, etc. not competition or anything, just social/fitness etc.

i've come across a couple of new options.

anyone heard of woodworm bikes? here's a ebay link
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/261110241...ht_4246wt_1163

it seems like a pretty good option to me.

also, a bit pricier is a REID osprey

ebay link
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/REID-ROAD...ht_7753wt_1397
looks the shizzle!

any advice, options etc. anyone got a bike they are looking to sell and don't mind posting to adelaide?

[prydey]

turns out i don't have much idea.

speaking to my brother and was advised to avoid those like the plague.

have since come across a bike that has tiagra gears etc which is apparently good stuff at a very good price so far.

bike is a newish shogun samurai 18sp.

also watching a specialised one, but expecting that to go well beyond the $400 start price.

[MisterAU]

I'm not much help either. My only advice is "don't do it". Motor bikes are deadly enough among motor cars and trucks driven by people who have a skill level of somewhere towards the negative and a care factor towards bikers of even less. On a push bike you are a sitting duck as you don't even have the power option to escape them. You may as well hike to the nearest cliff for a game of lemmings.

[4Vman]

Lynton is your man, he's a cycling guru!

[FTe217]

prydey if my wife read this thread she'd sell my bike to you quick smart being its been dorment for a couple of years but thats another storey and won't be for sale
Second hand I would keep looking at the known brands - there should be plenty of Giants around, Cell has been acopy brand for years and was typically frowned upon by the purists but I see them as the Hyundai/Kia in the cycling world - built up their quality at a very reasonable price.
In group sets Sora/Tiagra are the base start and for the casual biker do the job perfectly, anything higher as 105's Ultegra bonus !
The 2 you are looking at right now sound good - just comes down how much you wish to spend as you say - let us know what transpires I'm keen to start up my self again infact I'll give the baby a clean up and get her ready for a early Sunday morn run need to burn off some kilos.

[prydey]

well, i've put a bid on the shogun on ebay, so i'll see what transpires there. my brother just picked up a giant ocr2 for $200 in pretty good nick so you just have to be in the right spot at the right time. unfortunately, adelaide is a fairly small market. my folks live in bris, so i could look for one up there and get my folks to pick it up and send it, but i have no idea what it would cost to send. my old man is a truckie so i'd be hoping he could help with a deal.

i like riding. at the moment i'm not very fit so its a bit of a chore, but its great to get out on the bike and just cruise around.

[FTe217]

bloody good pick up for $200 on the OCR. That right place right time.
I would have thought Adelaide wouldn't be that skinny on cycles having the Down Under race and much flat riding city metro but yes I know the Hills and further out testing stuff.
Good luck you'll find one.

[Lynton]

A couple of points on this one.

First off, the first bike on ebay is utter crap, cheap chinese rubbish that uses 1980's technology and not a move up at all for you.
The second one is better but I would not touch it. Sure you could get it if you must have new but you can get a lot more bang for your buck if you get a quality bike second hand. When looking at these cheap chinese bikes off ebay, consider the after sales service if anything goes wrong with them (and it will). Bike shops will charge you like wounded bulls to fix them as they are time consuming pieces of junk to try and get them working right. Your other option is to send it back but that is an option full of danger. The end result is all that money you saved is then lost getting the piece of junk working right.

I have a lot of experience trying to get these bikes right for customers and it was not uncommon to have to replace an entire wheel because the quality was so poor you could not get it straight, no matter how many hours you spend on it. Added to that these bikes do not suit upgrading components in the future if you want something better, no point putting good gear on a crap frame, it will still be a crap bike. The frame is the heart of the bike and makes the greatest difference in how the thing rides, crap frames like those always ride like crap frames, no matter how much you dress them up.

Bikes are no different from cars in a couple of aspects, the first is you get what you pay for. The more you pay the better the quality of construction, the better the materials used, the lighter the weight and the better it functions. For those that think it is just a bike what's the difference, a Ferrari is just a car in the end. That does not mean you have to pay a fortune for the type of riding you do, you just have to find the best compromise for you. The other similarity is the manufacturers continually update their range and bring out new tech making their older bikes cheaper. This makes it possible to pick up bargains for good quality bikes second hand as people update their machines or even NOS if you can find it. Also you will find that bikes depreciate massively the moment you take them out of the bike shop and plant your bum on it for the first time, second hand do not retain good value unless they are something really special, just like cars.

Personally I would look at brands such as Avanti, Giant, Merida, Specialized etc second hand. You will get much better quality that will last you and be a lot nicer to ride. Added to that spares will be a lot more available and there will be room to upgrade components later if you need to replace them or you want something better because the frame is worth building on.

A good example of some of these concepts is my own bike. I have a Eddy Merckx 1XM frame which is a 2006 model. I bought it as brand new old stock in 2010 for $1500, back in 2006 it cost over $4000. I replaced my old frame as I wanted to change from an alloy frame (7000 series alloy with carbon forks and rear end) to a full carbon frame (yes they ride different). The parts that I have put on it are from my old bike which I bought in 2003, all Shimano Durace and Campagnolo wheels which are all top level stuff and to replace now would cost in excess of $5000. These parts have taken me to 2 Ironman triathlons and done in excess of 100,000 km yet they function as new with the only replacements being chains, cables and brake blocks which are all consumable items. If I was to replace this bike with todays equivalents at new prices, it would cost me in excess of $9000. The better the quality the better it lasts, plain and simple. If I was to do the sort of distances I did on either of those ebay bikes they would not last 3 months.

My old bike that I bought in 2003, the Monoc TC2 Compact



The new frame, Eddy Merckx 1XM with all the components of the Monoc.

[prydey]

cheers lynton.

as you can see i'm pretty green. disregard everything linked to ebay in the first post. the more likely scenario is now in the 2nd one, with me having already put a bid on this http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/170924718...#ht_500wt_1414

its not the latest and greatest, but it has everything i need for now. if it falls through or goes beyond about $500 then it will be back to square one. watching this one http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/120998094...#ht_500wt_1414 but its probably a fraction too big for me. i'm 6'2 although my brother has suggested i get it and swap him for his giant ocr2. i'm expecting it to ramp up a bit from the $400 but you never know. for $400 i'm guessing its a pretty good deal.

thanks for your input anyway, even if it is kind of extreme for me

[Lynton]

No worries Rob. Not saying you should look at the standard of my bike, that would be overkill for you. Just using it as an example of what can be done if you look beyond new bikes.

Out of those two the specialized is by far the pick of the two and considering your height of 6' 2" is 188 cm, the size may well be right for you. Some adjustments in reach can be made with different stem lengths if you need to.