How To?

Welcome to the world of Sydney Road Racing.
Being from "God's country" (according to my old man anyway) you will have good access to a few good options for racing.
The big clubs in the area are Manly Warringah and Bicisport (my old club). Both have plenty of riders, so, as long as you are prepared to talk to a few people there'll be plenty of knowledge to soak up.
The main places I have raced at are Terry Hills, Brookvale Crit circuit and at Calga/Peats Ridge. If all else fails there's usually Heffron Park in Maroubra, a good ride in and home makes for good training. They all offer good quality fields (though you never see heaps of riders. You are also lucky that you have a wealth of training rides in the area and plenty of hills.
Going from my own experience about 200km per week in training and racing will see you amongst it in C grade and 300 - 350km per week will make for competetive B grade. Above that and you're looking a A grade.

of course riding and racing are different things and, depending on your current level of fitness, it may take a while before the transition takes effect in your legs. In your earlier years of racing get in as much competition as you can but make sure you rest when tired, it is more important to gain experience and skills at first.

It is best to set your sights on one grade to start in and even if you don't finish for a couple of weeks, persevere, you will be rewarded in the end.

But fundamentally you should just get out and enjoy it.

Cheers.

Thanks for the advice. Bicisport sounds good. Does it matter if i live in the Manly Area? Would you recommend Turramurra cycles for a new bike. I'm leaning towards an alum Lemond.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by tafi
Welcome to the world of Sydney Road Racing.
Being from "God's country" (according to my old man anyway) you will have good access to a few good options for racing.
The big clubs in the area are Manly Warringah and Bicisport (my old club). Both have plenty of riders, so, as long as you are prepared to talk to a few people there'll be plenty of knowledge to soak up.
The main places I have raced at are Terry Hills, Brookvale Crit circuit and at Calga/Peats Ridge. If all else fails there's usually Heffron Park in Maroubra, a good ride in and home makes for good training. They all offer good quality fields (though you never see heaps of riders. You are also lucky that you have a wealth of training rides in the area and plenty of hills.
Going from my own experience about 200km per week in training and racing will see you amongst it in C grade and 300 - 350km per week will make for competetive B grade. Above that and you're looking a A grade.

of course riding and racing are different things and, depending on your current level of fitness, it may take a while before the transition takes effect in your legs. In your earlier years of racing get in as much competition as you can but make sure you rest when tired, it is more important to gain experience and skills at first.

It is best to set your sights on one grade to start in and even if you don't finish for a couple of weeks, persevere, you will be rewarded in the end.

But fundamentally you should just get out and enjoy it.

Cheers.

There is no problem with being a member of Bicisport and living in Manly.

There are many bike shops on the northside which have access to a broad range of bike brands and Turramurra seem to have good quality. No matter where you go you will hear stories both good and bad about a bike shop.
Being a Clarence St rider at the moment and having always bought most of my equipment from them I would recommend them too. If you are after a Lemond then Clarence St Cyclery would also be a particularly good option since they specialise in bikes from the TREK conglomerate (Lemond, TREK, Klein, Gary Fisher) and will probably have the size you need available faster.

Whichever shop you go with you will usually find what you're after eventually.

I agree Clarence St, can cater to my needs. I was there not long ago to check out the bikes in my price range. They were very helpful. I have a small problem. Do I save up for the Trek 2200 or buy the alpe d'huez now? I just missed a sale which is a bummer but can hold out for a couple of months I suppose. When is the best time to buy a bike? I hear Ultegra will get an upgrade soon, would it be a good idea to wait and buy a bike with the superceded components? Sorry, one more question. Are Trek's build in the U.S.A. vs Lemond built Taiwan?

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by tafi
There is no problem with being a member of Bicisport and living in Manly.

There are many bike shops on the northside which have access to a broad range of bike brands and Turramurra seem to have good quality. No matter where you go you will hear stories both good and bad about a bike shop.
Being a Clarence St rider at the moment and having always bought most of my equipment from them I would recommend them too. If you are after a Lemond then Clarence St Cyclery would also be a particularly good option since they specialise in bikes from the TREK conglomerate (Lemond, TREK, Klein, Gary Fisher) and will probably have the size you need available faster.

Whichever shop you go with you will usually find what you're after eventually.

TREK'S were built in the U.S.A but are now built in Taiwan...

As for Australian prices.... I live in Japan and got a TREK 5500 (2003 model new off the shelf) for 300,000yen (AU$4000) I was stunned to look at TREK Australias RRP for $7500 for the same bike...

You could fly to Japan when a sale is on and still save!!!!!

I've been lookng at the Sydney shops/prices online as that's where I'm from (Manly to Narrabeen) and I'm glad I'm living in Japan as I wouldn't be able to afford to ride if I moved back to Sydney!!!!!

You Aussie riders must all be rich!!!!

I used to like riding to Palm Beach along Pittwater road early in the mornings or out to West Head....but and but again...cars in Australia are just too fast and dangerous.... I love riding on the car less river roads in Japan and the drivers yield to cycles too as there are so many grandmothers riding out in front of cars to slow them down....

Sorry guys; back to topic.

Nup, we're all poor because we ride bikes!
I don't even want to think about the money that has passed through my hands and into the till at the bike shop.

In order to save money another option is to purchase by mail order. I bought my current frame (Trek5500) from Clarence St but purchased a Record groupset from England at about half of what I would have paid for it here. But you need to know what you want before thinking about that option.

As for origin of maufacture, Trek will put a sticker on the bike telling you where it has been made.
From memory models 2200 and above are made in the US whilst the cheaper frames tend to come from Taiwan.
Lemonds will vary in a similar way with cheaper full aluminium frames comming form Taiwan but more expensive stuff (with the silly looking carbon "spine"😉 will be made in the US.

The reason I bought a 5500 (and why so many others did too) is that it is a proven frame design which has been raced successfully both localy and internationaly and is known for being reliable. The trek frames generally are all quite reliable. If you see the way I punish stuff you'd understand!

My brother has a full aluminium 2300 from the year before they changed to having a carbon stay (equivallent to the current 2200).
This is also a reliable frame and comes with similarly reliable components (because he worked there he was able to get a mix of ultegra and Dura ace components).
Having ridden his bike fore a few months (and raced it too - don't tell him or he'll kill me!), I found it a bit more responsive than my old steel bike but slightly less harsh in ride, the 5500 feels more taught and stiffer again whilst giving a fairly plush ride too. In my opinion the 2300/2200 offers the best compromise between price and performance.

I have a 2002 Trek 2300, full ultegra. I bought it used 4 months ago.

It's fast, it's responsive and after my 3 first races, I managed to come in third place the last two (don’t be confused getting third place so soon, I have been running MTB for the last three years).

I love my bike (and my son and daughter too)

I'm getting closer to a buying decision thanks to everyone's input. Thanks. Can anyone tell me if the Aluminium Lemonds share the same frame and only differ in wheel sets, paint and group set?

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by tafi
Nup, we're all poor because we ride bikes!
I don't even want to think about the money that has passed through my hands and into the till at the bike shop.

In order to save money another option is to purchase by mail order. I bought my current frame (Trek5500) from Clarence St but purchased a Record groupset from England at about half of what I would have paid for it here. But you need to know what you want before thinking about that option.

As for origin of maufacture, Trek will put a sticker on the bike telling you where it has been made.
From memory models 2200 and above are made in the US whilst the cheaper frames tend to come from Taiwan.
Lemonds will vary in a similar way with cheaper full aluminium frames comming form Taiwan but more expensive stuff (with the silly looking carbon "spine"😉 will be made in the US.

The reason I bought a 5500 (and why so many others did too) is that it is a proven frame design which has been raced successfully both localy and internationaly and is known for being reliable. The trek frames generally are all quite reliable. If you see the way I punish stuff you'd understand!

My brother has a full aluminium 2300 from the year before they changed to having a carbon stay (equivallent to the current 2200).
This is also a reliable frame and comes with similarly reliable components (because he worked there he was able to get a mix of ultegra and Dura ace components).
Having ridden his bike fore a few months (and raced it too - don't tell him or he'll kill me!), I found it a bit more responsive than my old steel bike but slightly less harsh in ride, the 5500 feels more taught and stiffer again whilst giving a fairly plush ride too. In my opinion the 2300/2200 offers the best compromise between price and performance.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by aldwnunda
I'm getting closer to a buying decision thanks to everyone's input. Thanks. Can anyone tell me if the Aluminium Lemonds share the same frame and only differ in wheel sets, paint and group set?

I'd prefer the trek over the lemond but as to your question I don't know what the lemond frames are like. Best bet is to ask someone at the shop and if they can't answer your question then they shouldn't be selling you a bike!

Good luck.

The Lemonds I've seen here in Japan are all the old fashioned round pipe type frame....

The TREKS have the big chunky space age look....(THe carbon ones).

When I went to buy my TREK5500 there was a Lemond next to it about $500 cheaper.... It looked like the 10 speed I had back in 1977 though and a terrible paint job.... Maybe that was just a bad one, but didn't say 'BUY ME' like the TREK was yelling to me....

My wife's Aluminium TREK looks good too... WSD 1500

What would Lance buy?