Newbie road bike advice
Posted: 10 Aug 2009, 09:04
Hi all
I had my first ride with DHBC a bit over a week ago, and had a great time. Problem is, I think I'm now addicted and need another bike.
To try to give some context; I've spent a fair bit of time on bikes but last Sunday was my first group ride. I started with the slowies then merged with the middies at the hill before the Kingsway. Apart from a lack of experience with bunch riding (which lead to problems like a hard chase to catch back up around Loftus, because I had been sitting behind a group that got dropped) I felt quite comfortable with the pace, and rolled off another 20ks after the cafe.
I was using the 2002/3 Cervelo P2K that I just got at a bargain price for high-speed commuting. I love it to death, but obviously as a TT bike it's got issues for group riding and is no good for crits/road races even in D grade. It's also a bit problematic in terms of replacement gear for a commuter - some *&^%$#@ smashed the fork when it was outside work and the only one left in Oz is currently slowly coming back from Darwin.
So I'm now looking for a road bike, for fun racing, group rides and a some commutes. Problem is, my "real" sports (sailing and windsurfing) are even more costly than cycling, so I can only afford a cheapie.
Would something like a Vivente Como be reasonable for BHBC Middies and things like the Crit on Sunday? I would plan on keeping an eye out for second-hand component to upgrade to later. I think the weight of the Como is about 10kg, which is similar to the P2K. My concern is not with ease of shifting etc, but with the safety-related stuff like frame and fork integrity. I'm keeping the Cervelo for fun solo rides, commutes and TTs.
The alternative plan was to fix up my brother's early '90s chro-mo road bike (it was an okay machine for its day, with second or third tier gruppo) but I forgot that his legs are 3" longer than mine, which could be awkward!
Thanks for any feedback, and for being such a welcoming bunch.
I had my first ride with DHBC a bit over a week ago, and had a great time. Problem is, I think I'm now addicted and need another bike.
To try to give some context; I've spent a fair bit of time on bikes but last Sunday was my first group ride. I started with the slowies then merged with the middies at the hill before the Kingsway. Apart from a lack of experience with bunch riding (which lead to problems like a hard chase to catch back up around Loftus, because I had been sitting behind a group that got dropped) I felt quite comfortable with the pace, and rolled off another 20ks after the cafe.
I was using the 2002/3 Cervelo P2K that I just got at a bargain price for high-speed commuting. I love it to death, but obviously as a TT bike it's got issues for group riding and is no good for crits/road races even in D grade. It's also a bit problematic in terms of replacement gear for a commuter - some *&^%$#@ smashed the fork when it was outside work and the only one left in Oz is currently slowly coming back from Darwin.
So I'm now looking for a road bike, for fun racing, group rides and a some commutes. Problem is, my "real" sports (sailing and windsurfing) are even more costly than cycling, so I can only afford a cheapie.
Would something like a Vivente Como be reasonable for BHBC Middies and things like the Crit on Sunday? I would plan on keeping an eye out for second-hand component to upgrade to later. I think the weight of the Como is about 10kg, which is similar to the P2K. My concern is not with ease of shifting etc, but with the safety-related stuff like frame and fork integrity. I'm keeping the Cervelo for fun solo rides, commutes and TTs.
The alternative plan was to fix up my brother's early '90s chro-mo road bike (it was an okay machine for its day, with second or third tier gruppo) but I forgot that his legs are 3" longer than mine, which could be awkward!
Thanks for any feedback, and for being such a welcoming bunch.