Road racing bikes bikes?

[cafe latte]

Years ago I used to ride road racing bicyles. Recently I thought to get back into it, but 20 years have gone by and Wow how things have changed and prices have gone up big time!!! I has a Camppagnolo which was a serious bike at the time, rather special infact, but now frames are carbon fiber and bikes are only a few kgs. I am getting old it seems, how can things change so quick, (what is an ipod )
Anyone do a bit of biking on VE and if so were do I start?
Regards
CL

[kelvinMunson]

I ride with a local cycling club, I have a Bianchi 928 Carbon Tech with Shimano Ultegra which is OK as a beginners bike

[13oots2]

I still have a handbuilt Argos with Reynolds 531 and Campag groupset sat in my kitchen. Not been ridden in a while, bikes may have come down in weight but sadly I haven't and now exceed anything that the bike was designed for

[MARRA]

Currently riding a Campag equipped Lynskey;beautiful machine although like 13oots2 I need to shed a few lbs.

[satanfriendly]

Had so many bikes down the years, but my present 'Specialized Sirus Comp' (Shimano SRAM - and a massive 10Kg), must be among the best I've owned. Straight bars and in reality a light weight 'City bike'. The drawback? Would be useless on anything except roads and minor pathways. Off road it would probably fall to pieces.

Just back from a ten mile stint this evening and loved every minute. A pleasure to ride.

Guess the question CF would be, what do you want out of a bike?

Believe me as much as Campagnolo was 'the kit to own' in the past, good Shimano equipment is wonderfully well engineed and affordable.

[cafe latte]

Had so many bikes down the years, but my present 'Specialized Sirus Comp' (Shimano SRAM - and a massive 10Kg), must be among the best I've owned. Straight bars and in reality a light weight 'City bike'. The drawback? Would be useless on anything except roads and minor pathways. Off road it would probably fall to pieces.

Just back from a ten mile stint this evening and loved every minute. A pleasure to ride.

Guess the question CF would be, what do you want out of a bike?

Believe me as much as Campagnolo was 'the kit to own' in the past, good Shimano equipment is wonderfully well engineed and affordable.

Not sure what i want out of it yet which is why I have borrowed a bike for a month before I spend the hard earned stuff, but initially my thought is to go on evening rides. It is about 5km on the main highway to a very large estate of 5, 10, 20, and 50 acre blocks and the main winding roard through is 7.5km so it is 15km if I only do the main road and longer if I take one of the other roads and 10km in total on the main highway so 25km in total which is enough for a start. There is a few cycling clubs that arrange meets and cycle to different places each week which I may get involved in but right now it will just be local. I dont want mountain bikes as I had one in the UK and it was never the fun of a good racer.
What sort of money do you need to spend to get a good racer? I am not going to compete on it but if I do club riding I want it to be sutable too.
I wish I still had that Campag..
Regards
CL

[satanfriendly]

Some of the hybrids out there are superb all rounders without killing the bank balance. A decent bike from the Specialized Globe range to get you started is somewhere in the region of £280+, road racers £300+. Personally I don't think bikes have ever offered so much value. Top range start at around £500+

For examples look at 'Specialized', 'Trek', 'Marin' and 'Cube' bikes as decent manufacturers. There are loads others, but I looked at these when I bought the Sirus back in March.

Always worth asking the guys in the local clubs what they think. No need to join, but I'm sure they would share their knowledge. Look through the web, more reviews than there are for turntables!

Unless you are a serious off-roader mountain bikes are just not really that much use. You push far too much rubber with the tyres and end up just working your balls off to get nowhere. Great exercise, but no fun.

As a good guide try this web site to get ideas of prices:

http://www.formbycycles.co.uk/

[Bran Kulez]

cafe latte wrote: I wish I still had that Campag..

I think your heart is in the right place, cl...

like my audio gear, my cycling taste does not go beyond 1985 or so, for better or worse. Carbon Fiber seems as inaccesible as Compact Discs.

My daily commuter is a 1977 Raleigh Grand Prix that I overhauled and hand-built some nice wheel for. For joyriding, I use my 70's Falcon Special which has plain gauge Reynolds tubing and low-end Campy componets. My pride and joy is a Holdsworth Special with db Reynolds tubing and full Campy Record (Nuovo) components that I bought in the 80's.

There's nothing like an English made steel bike for sailing over lumpy urban asphalt...I don't think carbon fiber (or aluminum) would would be as forgiving...

[13oots2]

The link SF gave seems to be quite limited on lower and midrange bikes, I have always used http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/ to base my dreams on and £300-£600 seems to buy a lot of kit compared with the good old days

[satanfriendly]

There's nothing like an English made steel bike for sailing over lumpy urban asphalt...I don't think carbon fiber (or aluminum) would would be as forgiving...

There is some truth in that. A chap from Formby cycles is presently cycling around the world and his bike of choice? The present incarnation of the Dawes Galaxy because he felt anything else wasn't up to the job. Steel, butted frame etc. Made to last

[cafe latte]

Thanks for the links, seems I have a lot of research to do. I am 6 foot 3 inches so i dont think a too flexable frame is a good plan. I am only 83kgs so I am thin but all the same I am not convinced about carbon fibre frames at all as being tall the bike is going to suffer quite a lot of leverage.
What size frame should i be looking for?
Regards
CL

[Mark E Smith's Dentist]

like my audio gear, my cycling taste does not go beyond 1985 or so, for better or worse.

I can't identify with this at all. Last year I got a beautiful Reynolds 653 framed Peugeot from 1989. It was about 20lb with 170psi 17mm wide tubs and a full Campag groupset but the gearing was absurdly high, not indexed and the levers were on the downtube so I had to reach down and take my eye off the road to change gear.

My 2009 Specialized has a sensible gearing range and the shifters are integrated with the brake levers so I can hook my thumbs over the lever hoods and all controls are right there. I wish bikes had been so sensible when I was younger and rode more

There's nothing like an English made steel bike for sailing over lumpy urban asphalt...I don't think carbon fiber (or aluminum) would would be as forgiving...

I definitely agree with this about aluminium, it's hard but that does make the rear triangle nice and stiff so you lose less energy when pedaling hard. I've never ridden a full carbon bike so I can't comment but my fun bike is a steel singlespeed with carbon forks and that's really comfortable.

I feel like steel has soul whereas aluminium is a bit sterile - efficient but less fun.

Anyone ever ridden a full Ti bike? Talk about flexy!



JT

[Bran Kulez]

Like I said, JT, for better or for worse...and worse yet, my Raleigh and Falcon are each 10 speeds (2 chainrings and 5 cogs) with only about 6 or 7 distinct gears...my Holdsworth is 12 speed (6 cogs) so we're not talking state of the art 2012.

I don't compete in races so any gains in efficiency with a current bike would be wasted on me. I like the older bikes for several reasons, not least of which is the fact that I can completely overhaul them myself.

[MARRA]

Anyone ever ridden a full Ti bike? Talk about flexy!

You obviously have never ridden a Lynskey or Planet X sportive full Ti frame niether of which is flexy just very comfortable.When you get out of the saddle they respond instantly with very little loss of power.Quite how titanium compares to carbon I have no idea;guess I'll have to borrow my brothers bike and compare.