posted Jul 1, 2008

It's much more effective Jez and, on a long ride, much less damaging to the lumbar spine - which gets damaged/strained during cycling when the spine is extended by being stretched.

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posted Jul 1, 2008

Sorry puydedome: coffee obviously lacking here ...
which is better - a lower position (ie some 3inches diff between seat and handlebars), or an upright one ? With a smaller frame I can sit upright on the 'bar middle, and nice and low when on the drops.

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posted Jul 1, 2008

Jez. Look at the pros. It's obvious which works. Pros. tend to get the smallest frame that they can manage, with everything extended to the max. much more control all around - which is the reason why BMX bikes are so small!

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posted Jul 1, 2008

indeed, I find the smaller (50cm) frame more "natural"... just that sometimes I get lower back ache during a longer ride ? Or is that just the strain from crawling uphill ?!

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posted Jul 1, 2008

"Or is that just the strain from crawling uphill ?!"

It sounds more likely to me. Especially if you climb on the drops. A bit more yomping should help!

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posted Jul 3, 2008

campag vs dura ace.. they're about as good as eachother imo.. the snobbery about campag has dwindled except for blokes who still ride 531 frames and wear white socks..
the old saying is 'campag wear in and dura ace wear out' .. so dura ace will feel slicker at first .. if you're an occaisional rider i'd go for dura ace but if you're a 500k a week monkey then i'd go the other way..
personally i have campag and shimano and like them both but prefer campag on the road bike cos i prefer the ergo levers to the 'ugly' shimano ones with the cables out..
hth

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posted Jul 7, 2008

Have a whole mish mash of Campagnolo Chorus and Record on a bike I built myself. I have to say handling the Campa components, they're a lot better designed and engineered.

Having said that my Ultegra on my Specialized everyday bike is plenty good enough. I agree with what someone says about Shimano working out. They require more maintenance and seem to slip into inline imperfection. But that might be more to do with my cack handed mechanic skill.

Still my take on it is price. I can pick up a whole Ultegra groupset for for around 370 quid. Now that may be a previous seasons but considering the modern Chorus & Record carbon fibre chainsets are £200+ and plus bottom bracket. Now I know Ultegra chainsets are expensive but there's a hell of a lot of them about and many dreamers putting camapag on shimano spec'ed bikes. If something goes wrong with my Shimano bike I can often pickup a barely used part on eBay for a third of the cost. That ain't gonna happen with Campag and their more manic followers of fashion.

I can not believe that anyone on this website is gonna benefit from groupsets that cost £1,000 plus. Talking to mechanics who setup bikes for Tour De France riders, they say that many riders in the peloton on campag use Chorus for price reasons; perhaps not BIG names.

To me price is the key between the two. If I was a funded millionaire rider it'd be Campag. As a very average amateur it has to be Shimano.

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posted Jul 15, 2008

Focus bikes look excellent to me, and both top-end groupsets from "Shimanagnolo" will be as well. However, unless you are a verging on going professional top-end amateur racer, or an ageing fatty who needs to save weight on the bike rather than reduce your massive gut, I wouldn't personally buy a carbon frame. I'm currently recovering from a broken collarbone sustained when a pedestrian dragged me off my steel framed bike. Despite my various sores and breaks, the bike, apart from a smashed computer and a bit of scraping on the rear rack (it was a touring bike), is amazingly unmarked, and carefully examining the frame for paint wrinkles I know it is rideable. Had this happened with a carbon bike, unseen damage might have been impossible to detect. In addition, most carbon frames are only guaranteed for a few years. But then, until one of my machines was stolen last year I had built from components and maintained my 2 bicycles myself for about 15 years; for me a bicycle isn't a disposable consumer product to be thrown away every couple of years.

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posted Jul 15, 2008

The industry standard for frame guarantees today is three years for steel and, one for aluminium and carbon. As long as you use your bike for its intended purpose, all frame materials are more than dependable. However, I would NEVER buy a carbon mountain bike, because of the purpose for which it is intended.

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posted Jul 15, 2008

I never understood for the amateur riders like most of us, you'd ever want to buy a carbon fibre mountain bike? I love my sixteen year old Reynolds 531 Kona Explosif. Although it's been replaced it seemed like madness to get a carbon model. Even after being very happy with a carbon road bike.

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