I like to Ride my Bicycle...

[unit]

i'm not super experienced a rider either but if i had to do it again, i would probably go with a more relaxed frame with disc brakes. i have sora on my bike and i don't really find any problems with it, but i never hear anyone say anything bad about 105 5800. i agree that you should try them all and not just look on paper.

[UFO]

When I was riding road, I hated and never rode in the wet, total fair weather rider. No point in discs for my situation. The other thing with road bikes is braking power will ultimately be determined by traction provided by the skinny tires, and regular caliper brakes have shown to be quite adequate at providing the stopping force to the brake in most conventional situations.

As to whether to splurge big now or upgrade as you go along, really depends on the type of person you are. If you are a gearwhore/junkie and like to have fancy toys, better to spend the money up front. Otherwise you will spend way more down the road upgrading parts or selling your current bike at a loss and getting a nicer one. If you are one to be content and will enjoy the ride and experience more than the gear, 11spd 105 is very good, and exceptional for the money, and should give you no reason to want to upgrade from a functional point of view.

[604CEFIRO]

A piece of advice that I wish someone told me when I got into road bikes... Spend as much as you can comfortably afford on your bike, and then worry about the rest as you go. Your main piece of equipment is your bike, and EVERYONE at some time or another will experience a case of "new'itis" ... wanting the newest / hottest shit lol. So you may as well buy a bike that you will be happy with. And being happy with it usually means the looks, because let's face it, road cycling is like 80% about looking cool hahahaha.

SRAM vs. Shimano... It's all personal preference. I prefer SRAM for it's doubletap levers and the indexing is a crisper feeling for me. I like the quickness and feedback, almost like driving a manual transmission. Also the levers feel better with my small hands. Shimano feels almost too smooth if that makes any sense. Hydro disk vs rim brakes, again depends on riding needs.

Go into the bike store ride and ask plenty of questions. No one here will be able to give you a clear cut answer

[604CEFIRO]

Video from this past saturday's escape velocity spring series race out at Thunderbird Show Park

There's a crash that happens at 2min36 that held dton13 and I back from catching onto the lead group, we both finish just outside of the top 10

dton13 is the one I latched onto during the final drag up to the line

https://www.youtube.com/v/7nzGagcomt...ion=3&vq=hd720

[dton13]

Both UFO and 604CEFIRO hit the nail on the head here. Totally depends on the kind of person you are. If you're a gear whore, bike geek, you'll probably want to spend as much as you feel comfortable with.

If you're not then there's less of point spending on new fangled trends like road discs, etc.

I rode my first road bike - sora equipped - for 20,000 clicks before I upgraded (and it was just my chainrings were toast). This is commuting almost every day year round, racing in the spring and summer, over 200k rando-type rides. I don't care too much about my gear, I just want it to work. And it did.

Originally Posted by UFO

When I was riding road, I hated and never rode in the wet, total fair weather rider. No point in discs for my situation. The other thing with road bikes is braking power will ultimately be determined by traction provided by the skinny tires, and regular caliper brakes have shown to be quite adequate at providing the stopping force to the brake in most conventional situations.

As to whether to splurge big now or upgrade as you go along, really depends on the type of person you are. If you are a gearwhore/junkie and like to have fancy toys, better to spend the money up front. Otherwise you will spend way more down the road upgrading parts or selling your current bike at a loss and getting a nicer one. If you are one to be content and will enjoy the ride and experience more than the gear, 11spd 105 is very good, and exceptional for the money, and should give you no reason to want to upgrade from a functional point of view.

Originally Posted by 604CEFIRO

A piece of advice that I wish someone told me when I got into road bikes... Spend as much as you can comfortably afford on your bike, and then worry about the rest as you go. Your main piece of equipment is your bike, and EVERYONE at some time or another will experience a case of "new'itis" ... wanting the newest / hottest shit lol. So you may as well buy a bike that you will be happy with. And being happy with it usually means the looks, because let's face it, road cycling is like 80% about looking cool hahahaha.

SRAM vs. Shimano... It's all personal preference. I prefer SRAM for it's doubletap levers and the indexing is a crisper feeling for me. I like the quickness and feedback, almost like driving a manual transmission. Also the levers feel better with my small hands. Shimano feels almost too smooth if that makes any sense. Hydro disk vs rim brakes, again depends on riding needs.

Go into the bike store ride and ask plenty of questions. No one here will be able to give you a clear cut answer

Sneaky sneaky, I almost didn't realize you were on my tail at that point . Stupid crash and stupid me for hesitating for that split second after.

Originally Posted by 604CEFIRO

Video from this past saturday's escape velocity spring series race out at Thunderbird Show Park

There's a crash that happens at 2min36 that held dton13 and I back from catching onto the lead group, we both finish just outside of the top 10

dton13 is the one I latched onto during the final drag up to the line

https://www.youtube.com/v/7nzGagcomt...ion=3&vq=hd720

[dat_steve]

holy shit, looked like he should have taken more of you out lol basically swerved all the way left to the left shoulder and back the other way

[604CEFIRO]

Yup I had the same feeling about it too, I hesitated for a bit too long and lost the chance to hook onto my teammates wheel as they zoomed past (guys in red jerseys)

Oh well, we lived to die another day

Originally Posted by dton13

Sneaky sneaky, I almost didn't realize you were on my tail at that point . Stupid crash and stupid me for hesitating for that split second after.

[ZN6]

I agree on starting out on the best you can afford comfortably if you are absolutely certain this is a sport you want to delve into. Otherwise, if you aren't sure, or aren't too passionate about it, I'd get a starter used bike first.

If you are into it already and you do get a bike that isn't quite up to spec that you wanted, you realize there's always something better and to upgrade it to the level of the next tier up, you'd be spending more in the long run to get the bike to where you wanted it to be to begin with. The only thing is you never know you love the sport until you try. If I had to do it all over again without knowing what I know today, I would have done the same thing. The journey is more rewarding than the destination, I find.

I went from 94 woman's Canadiana Pathfinder with a warped wheel rubbing on the brake to a Jamis Ventura Comp, to a Roubaix comp, to a langster, to a groundcontrol mountain bike, to a state black label before finding out I really love to ride and work on these things. I really love SG/FG and the simplicity and I'll most likely build another frame at some point.

[tomatogunk]

I agree with what ZN6 said. If you're not sure whether or not you'd enjoy the sport, I would recommend that you get a used bike with good components. That will give you enough time to determine whether or not cycling is your thing and if it is, a used bike with good components will last you quite a while. Though I'm quite new to the sport myself, I'm already on my third bike in two years. I probably have "new'itis," but I'm very happy with my current bike and won't be looking to switching for a while.

My friend was able to score this used Orbea Orca with Dura Ace 7800 from craigslist over the weekend for less than $1,500

[ntan]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Any reason why most 'endurance bikes' ( the ones with disc brakes ) all have lower-end cranks, but paired with better shifters etc. ( ie. RS500 cranks with ultegra derailleurs and shifters ).

[604CEFIRO]

^ Likely to keep the price point lower

[bcrdukes]

Price point lower, and also because most "endurance" bikes cater to people who don't care for the finesse and light weight of high-end cranksets. If they have to make a compromise somewhere, it's usually cranks.

[UFO]

Aside from weight and maybe slight difference in stiffness, most won't know the difference between different/cheaper cranksets.

[ntan]

This makes me wonder, is an 'endurance' bike really what I'm looking for? ie. Specialized Roubaix. I'm not looking to race, but a big motivation to pick up cycling is equally for fitness and, hopefully, ride with friends to Squamish, Whistler, or down to the States, etc.

It seems like I should be looking more towards a 'performance-oriented' bike, ie. Specialized Tarmac etc.? I notice those 'performance-oriented' bikes typically don't have disc brake options.

[azncreationz]

How about a do-it-all bike...back to the Cyclo-cross bikes! You can get disc or non-disc, ride over most types of terrain, swap out the tires for slicks to road ride, has eyelets for racks/fenders if you decide to use it to commute to work or go touring, etc.

[ZN6]

Originally Posted by ntan

This makes me wonder, is an 'endurance' bike really what I'm looking for? ie. Specialized Roubaix. I'm not looking to race, but a big motivation to pick up cycling is equally for fitness and, hopefully, ride with friends to Squamish, Whistler, or down to the States, etc.

It seems like I should be looking more towards a 'performance-oriented' bike, ie. Specialized Tarmac etc.? I notice those 'performance-oriented' bikes typically don't have disc brake options.

First step, get fitted. Second read up on what the tarmac is good for and what the roubaix is good for. Roubaix is fine if you aren't racing. A comparable bike would be the cannondale synapse line I would say. Tarmac and roubaix are both "performance" bikes that excel in their own respects. Roubaix will absorb more road harshness and cause less fatiguing, while tarmac loses out the damping but gains slightly in stiffness and speed.

If you are going long distance and don't care to sprint, roubaix is about as smooth riding as road bikes get from Spesh. If this is your first road bike ever, chances are it will feel harsh and fast no matter which frame you choose. From the roubaix onward, (tarmac, venge) only gets harsher and stiffer when you no longer get zertz paired with a carbon frame.

[ntan]

^Haha, alright =D Back to my initial plan! Endurance bikes. I figured they're a better transition into biking, as you said, all road bikes will feel harsh to me.

I was 'fitted' at Westwood and they pushed me towards the Trek Emonda. I'll give this a test run, along with the Specialized @ Dunbar as well.

[ZN6]

My commuter in it's final form. Tired of working and tweaking it. Just gonna stop working on it and ride it.

Note the back wheel is not rubbing on the seat tube, it's just really close to it. I set the hub at the very end of the drop out.

[tomatogunk]

how far is your ride to work each day?

[ZN6]

Originally Posted by tomatogunk

how far is your ride to work each day?

About 17km. 34km round trip. The ground control will be the trainer bike. Hauling a 35lb bike and a 4lb lock on it is rough especially on a dual suspension.

[azncreationz]

^ what's going on with your front brake cable? Looks a bit too long.

[604CEFIRO]

^we have the exact same brand bike, paint color, and bar tape color combo lol. Nice! I'll take a pic of mine tomorrow.

Yea agree front and rear brake cables are quite long.

You should try to avoid sharp bends for best performance.

[unit]

someone upgrade to a new garmin and sell me their old one

i have a forerunner watch that works pretty good but since it defaults to running, when i change it in the strava app to cycling, it doesn't record any trophies. what are we even riding for if no trophies
also it doesn't have ant+ so the speed is just from gps which doesn't start displaying accurately unless you're sustaining the speed for a while.

[604CEFIRO]

Rapha 15% off discount code, just guess the winning time for Milan San Remo, and they will send you an email afterwards with a code: Rapha | Spring Monuments Competition

[aKa_Ricerocket]

Updated my commuter with some new shoes






I'll be selling my Curren't sram red 22 groupset once my Sram etap stuff shows up, if anyone is interested, haven't thought of a price yet , but it will be shifters and durailers, and sram red Cassette 11-26. possibly the brakes too.