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hi,
i recently bought a Giant OCR3 2005 (ye im a total newb to the sport). iv been training alot on it and it seems like a good bike for the money, although i dont have too much experience on other bikes so i wouldnt really know.
anyway im 17 years old and was wondering if i could enter a race with this bike and still be able to contend?
before im racing i will most probably be upgrading the groupset, so keep this in mind. in my own opinion i think the frame is definately ready to race.
thanks.
Absolutely you can race it. For 1, 95% of what it takes to win the race comes from the human involved. For 2, the 5% that comes from the bike, the OCR will provide most of. (Think of an OCR3 level frame as being roughly equivalent in streght-weight a very high-end model from 10 or so yrs ago.) A separate racing-dedicated light/aero wheelset for it would make it even more competitive...not sure I'd start w/the gruppo -- if you get hooked on racing, a little devil will eventually appear over your shoulder thinking of tons of valid reasons to separate you from your money.
As RC stated, hell yeah you can race it...especially at 17 😎
A tip you may not of thought about...believe you can invert the stem to
closely replicate the riding position of the quicker handling TCR...should help your speed a bit.
Have fun.
George
Absolutely! Go for it, and don't let anyone [censored] you off for riding a cheap bike. A lot of amatures and club racers are riding expensive bikes that are way too good for their use. Its all about you not the bike. Train, sleep and eat right and you'll do well. Consider a wheelset upgrade for racing rather than the groupset. Wheels are the most important part of the bike and you can keep them with you for the next bike and maybe keep the standard wheels for training. There's no need to spend a lot of money to win.
Good luck Jay.
Agreement on the rims... sturdier/heavier 32/36 old school wheels are cheap and fine for training. Actually there's nothing like the feeling of a race-day switch from a 2000 gram wheelset to a 1500-or-less. The feeling on your warmup is that you're in top shape and invincible. Like the feeling you get after taking ski boots or roller skates off and putting your normal shoes on, you can jump 4 feet high. Plus nothing like pulling up on a pair of ksyrium SSL's to a group outing to give yourself away as a nub. I was good enough this year and got a pair of Ascents tucked away from xmas w/open corsas, they been ridden a couple times gently and ooohh sweetness...incredible what a wheel can do.
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