Hi all,
I've been away from cycling for a few years dues to numerous knee
operations and have recently been back in the saddle properly again for
about a month now, managing to fit in 100-120 miles a week round work
commitments and the rain.
I've been using a bottom end Halfords road bike, which is (technically)
aluminium, but probably weighs the same as my mid-80s Dawes tourer
(which is currently disassembled) (including rack). This 200 quid
machine goes okay, and I rode steel bikes (531 and 501) in the 80's and
early 90's, so at first it seemed okay to me.
It is pretty heavy though - then again so am I at the moment, so I
thought it would be perfectly adequate to get fit again. I bought the
cheapest bike I could find, in case the old knees turned out not to be
upto the task, then I would have only wasted a couple hundred quid. So
far so good.
I'm planning to treat myself to something a bit better, possibly next
spring, but have recently been tempted by a Corratec in a local bike
shop. This is a featherlite carbon thing with dura-ace groupset and
carbon cranks. Weighs about the same as one of my wheels.
I wondered how much easier to ride a bike like this would be - it's
probably not practical to take it for a proper test ride with a cycle
computer on it. My original plan was to slog through the winter on the
"Apollo", by which time I expect it to be wearing out. However, with a
couple of months of Summer left, I'm thinking maybe I should upgrade now.
I wonder if such a low end machine as the Halford's Apollo has a
practical limit as to how quick it can go. The gearing is pretty low, I
think the smallest sprocket is 16 teeth on the rear. It's got the
cheapest shimano 7 speed system. I'm often spinning round in top gear,
reaching for the down tube (old habits), with no higher gears, and this
is on the flat.
Despite oiling etc, it just doesn't seem to roll along the road very
well, which could be the cheapness of the hubs etc. If you stop
pedalling, you lose momentum more quickly than seems reasonable. I used
to have a reasonably good mountain bike a decade ago, and I am sure it
was quicker than this. I had a decent set of road wheels on the dawes
and (as far as I remember) it glided along much more readily. I'd try
those wheels on the new bike, but the cartridges are not compatible.
I have no idea where the price bands are for road bikes - is a 500 quid
bike really that much better for example, or do you need to spend 1000
or more to really see the benefit? Are there any light aluminium bikes,
or is it better to pay a bit more for carbon?
Cheers