Rdigeback Comet - thoughts?

Jim L. Fixitt said:

My main criteria are:

- Costs no more than £300
- Not going to fall to bits in normal use.
- Flatten the incline on the way back as much as is reasonably possible.
- Faster - the gearing on the Apollo is 14-28 / 48-28 and I'm looking for
a slightly wider range.
- There's 2 years wear on the apollo and it's got a freewheel rather
than a cassette. By the time I've replaced the rear axle, probably the
rear wheel, fitted a buh, cassette, replaced the chain and got it all
lined up I'll have spent the better part of £80-100 and I'll still have
a cheap nasty bike. The phrase "good money after bad" springs to mind.

Quoted message said:

I'm looking at a Ridgeback Comet.

Ridgeback have a reputation for good value sensibly spec'd bikes. The
comet looks a decent choice given your budget and intended use,
personally I don't favour triple ring "mtb" type drivetrains on this
kind of bike, but, there you go.

Another option worthy of consideration is the Carrera Subway 8,
currently on offer at H*lfords for £280 (down from 400 ish). At that
price it's a damn fine bike. It has the premium Nexus 8 rear hub,
roller brakes, rigid forks, slick tyres, mudguards and mounting points
for a rack - basically an excellent set up for the kind of riding you
have in mind.

"Bob"
--

Email address is spam trapped, to reply directly remove the beverage.

in message <[email hidden]>, Jim L. Fixitt
([email hidden]'😉 wrote:

OK, let's try to be at least a little helpful. If you want a bike to
improve your performance then you need to think seriously about what's
causing your present performance deficit. There's nothing magically bad
about Halfords bikes - they don't have extra-draggy bearings or anything.
They tend to be heavy, and they tend to have cheap components which don't
stay in adjustment so well and aren't so durable, but neither of these
things have a big impact on performance.

In summary, I see no reason why the Ridgeback should be /any/ quicker. In
fact, it's more or less an identical bike, with only very small upgrades
on components. If you want a significantly better bike, £300 isn't a big
enough budget.

If you want to improve your performance, you need to consider the problems
with your bike setup, and set it up better.

Quoted message said:

My main criteria are:

- Costs no more than £300
- Not going to fall to bits in normal use.
- Flatten the incline on the way back as much as is reasonably possible.
- Faster - the gearing on the Apollo is 14-28 / 48-28 and I'm looking for
a slightly wider range.

That gives you a low top gear, but a very low bottom gear. You could
increase your top-end gearing simply by replacing the chainset.

Quoted message said:

- There's 2 years wear on the apollo and it's got a freewheel rather
than a cassette. By the time I've replaced the rear axle, probably the
rear wheel, fitted a buh, cassette, replaced the chain and got it all
lined up I'll have spent the better part of £80-100 and I'll still have
a cheap nasty bike. The phrase "good money after bad" springs to mind.

OK, fair enough. The current product sheet for the Ridgeback Comet
specifies a freewheel, not a cassette, so check what you're getting.

Quoted message said:

- More enjoyable to ride. I don't know if it makes any sense but I just
feel on the Apollo that I'm fighting a constant battle to keep the damn
thing going.

Quoted message said:

Before I hand over my cash, has anyone any thoughts (including "Dear
God, don't do that because..."😉?

Dear God, don't do that until you've sorted out what your problem is. Does
the bike fit you? Is your saddle high enough? Are your handlebars too
high? The Ridgeback is not a significantly better bike than the Apollo.
Providing it fits, the Apollo can with only a little work perform just as
well as the Ridgeback will.

All this is not a reason for not getting a shiny new bike. But if you want
a shiny new bike I'd advise spending a bit more and getting one that's
genuinely better.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Wise man with foot in mouth use opportunity to clean toes.
;; the Worlock

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Dear God, don't do that until you've sorted out what your problem is. Does
the bike fit you? Is your saddle high enough? Are your handlebars too
high?

And tyre pressures?

Jc

Josey' nospam@josey said:

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Dear God, don't do that until you've sorted out what your problem is. Does
the bike fit you? Is your saddle high enough? Are your handlebars too
high?

And tyre pressures?

Given that the bike as sold seems to be a hybrid with fairly chunky
tyres, upgrading to something a bit thinner - and running at higher
pressure - would probably be a good move.

James

in message <[email hidden]>,

(') said:

Josey' nospam@josey said:

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Dear God, don't do that until you've sorted out what your problem is.
Does the bike fit you? Is your saddle high enough? Are your handlebars
too high?

And tyre pressures?

Given that the bike as sold seems to be a hybrid with fairly chunky
tyres, upgrading to something a bit thinner - and running at higher
pressure - would probably be a good move.

True. And slick.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Diplomacy, American: see Intelligence, Military

Simon Brooke said the following on 18/03/2007 22:54:

Quoted message said:

OK, fair enough. The current product sheet for the Ridgeback Comet
specifies a freewheel, not a cassette, so check what you're getting.

Another website http://www.devercycles.co.uk says it's a cassette, and I
would be surprised if it is a freewheel these days. I'm often surprised
though!

Quoted message said:

The Ridgeback is not a significantly better bike than the Apollo.

I know this is subjective to some extent, but I would disagree. The
Comet has a better range of gearing, and a better build quality than the
Apollo. Perhaps I'm biased because my first MTB in the mid-80s was a
Ridgeback, but it lasted me a long time. Unfortunately the Halfords
website chucked up a blank page when I tried to find out more about the
Apollo. Perhaps they're embarrassed!

Quoted message said:

All this is not a reason for not getting a shiny new bike.

You mean there needs to be a /reason/ to buy a shiny new bike? :-)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Paul Boyd said:

Quoted message said:

All this is not a reason for not getting a shiny new bike.

You mean there needs to be a /reason/ to buy a shiny new bike? :-)

Shirley "a shiny new bike" is a reason in itself... ;-)

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

in message <[email hidden]>, Paul Boyd

('usenet.dont.work@plusnet') said:

Simon Brooke said the following on 18/03/2007 22:54:

Quoted message said:

OK, fair enough. The current product sheet for the Ridgeback Comet
specifies a freewheel, not a cassette, so check what you're getting.

Another website http://www.devercycles.co.uk says it's a cassette, and I
would be surprised if it is a freewheel these days. I'm often surprised
though!

Yes, well, frankly, so would I, especially as it's 8-speed.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The Ridgeback is not a significantly better bike than the Apollo.

I know this is subjective to some extent, but I would disagree. The
Comet has a better range of gearing,

According to the specs on Ridgeback's website and on Halfords, it has
exactly the same - cog for cog the same - gearing.

Quoted message said:

and a better build quality than the
Apollo.

Thet's possibly true. The Ridgeback certainly has slightly better
componentry on the drive train. But it's marginal.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; may contain traces of nuts, bolts or washers.

Simon Brooke said the following on 19/03/2007 11:46:

Quoted message said:

According to the specs on Ridgeback's website and on Halfords, it has
exactly the same - cog for cog the same - gearing.

Ah - but not compared to what the OP already has - 14-28 / 48-28. The
Ridgeback has 11-32 / 28-48.

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

Call me Bob said:

Another option worthy of consideration is the Carrera Subway 8,
currently on offer at H*lfords for £280 (down from 400 ish).

Note that that's the 2006 model - the 2007 will cost more.

Quoted message said:

At that
price it's a damn fine bike. It has the premium Nexus 8 rear hub,
roller brakes, rigid forks, slick tyres, mudguards and mounting points
for a rack - basically an excellent set up for the kind of riding you
have in mind.

I got one when my Specialized Crossroads Hub was nicked. The only things
I don't like about it are (a) the 26" wheels rather than 700s and (b)
it's a complete [censored] to get the back wheel off, because you have to
work round both the back brake and the gears. (So now I have a Schwalbe
Marathon on the back.)

Roger

Quoted message said:

Josey' nospam@josey said:

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Dear God, don't do that until you've sorted out what your problem is.
Does the bike fit you? Is your saddle high enough? Are your
handlebars too high?

And tyre pressures?

Given that the bike as sold seems to be a hybrid with fairly chunky
tyres, upgrading to something a bit thinner - and running at higher
pressure - would probably be a good move.

Done that. Didn't make much appreciable difference.

Which brings me back to upgrading the drivetrain and my original point
that I'm throwing an awful lot of money at a bike which was built to be
throwaway. I could also fit toe clips, which I've found most effective in
the past at helping improve efficiency, but Halfords were too cheap to fit
pedals with removeable reflectors - they're one solid lump of plastic -
so it's either power-drill time or replacing the pedals. Another £15-20
by the time you add the clips.

Regarding the freewheel, I don't think anyone builds an 8-cog freewheel,
and the local bike shop said it was a cassette. Though there's no harm in
double-checking.

The alternative possibility I have in mind - if I go with RidgeBack -
is a cyclone. Seems a bit closer in geometry to a racer, though without
the dropped handlebars, and I've had a couple of racers before.