What is the Mercedes of road bikes/frames?

happytramp

The Madison Genesis team ride very nice steel frame bikes

ROK ON

^
Stunning looking paintjob - have admired them all year.
Simple classic looking bike, but rider must have a very very small inseam in proportion to the rest of his body.

Lumen

http://www.condorcycles.com/latest-blog/all-new-super-acciaio.html

1800g for a tiny frame, which is about 1kg weight penalty over the lightest CF.

Something a bit dorky about the geometry too.

el tel

Nowadays Mercedes is synonymous with rusty **** buckets so that rules out titanium and carbon composite framed bikes.

Brian?

OP you want a specialized Roubaix.

If you have the cash a S-works SL4 one.

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/category/bikes/road/product/review-specialized-s-works-roubaix-sl4-us-build-13-47244/

clod71

slap/dash wrote: »

http://www.circleacycles.com/bicycles_gallery.php?act=view&collection_id=016&name=steve&type=1

wow, that's a beauty

krissovo

I checked out the roubaix and actually had a test ride but short, I was allowed to take a sector out for a longer spin though which is the same frame but in aluminium. Without a doubt it's a nice ride but it's lacking some soul ( jag not merc :-)) and not the best looker, I think it will look very dated in a couple of years.

Brian?

krissovo wrote: »

I checked out the roubaix and actually had a test ride but short, I was allowed to take a sector out for a longer spin though which is the same frame but in aluminium. Without a doubt it's a nice ride but it's lacking some soul ( jag not merc :-)) and not the best looker, I think it will look very dated in a couple of years.

You think a modern frame will date but are happy to buy a steel/Ti frame that's dared before it's even welded together?

I fear you may be a lost cause.

Saying the sector(I know nothing if this frame) is the same frame as the Roubaix except its Aluminium is quite odd as well. What makes carbon fibre frames great is being made from carbon fibre. I suspect bike manufacturers give their Alu bikes a similar look is to sell more of them off the back of the carbon models. They're completely different animals.

happytramp

Brian? wrote: »

You think a modern frame will date but are happy to buy a steel/Ti frame that's dated before it's even welded together?

You might be misunderstanding him here. A great many people do and always will love the classic racing lines of steel framed bikes, they will always look good (in a recent poll here classic steel beat modern carbon by a landslide in the looks department)

While a lot of carbon bikes look incredible some of the stuff from a few years ago looks awful now (pinerello for example) There's a lot of innovation in frame building right now in the quest for increased aero capabilities and some of these experiments may seem quite ugly or out of date in a few years.

Brian?

happytramp wrote: »

You might be misunderstanding him here. A great many people do and always will love the classic racing lines of steel framed bikes, they will always look good (in a recent poll here classic steel beat modern carbon by a landslide in the looks department)

While a lot of carbon bikes look incredible some of the stuff from a few years ago looks awful now (pinerello for example) There's a lot of innovation in frame building right now in the quest for increased aero capabilities and some of these experiments may seem quite ugly or out of date in a few years.

I completely understood him. I just completely with the notion that steel bikes don't date. They look dated to me.

Bigus

Sporty comfort is the RT 57 carbon from Planet X , your requirements sound just like mime. Age weight history .http://planetxireland.com/products-page/rt57/

Go for the force build at 1620, best value bikes that you can try out off apart from the web .

I've mine two years now , exceptionally reliable and robust and comfortable,

happytramp

Brian? wrote: »

I completely understood him. I just completely with the notion that steel bikes don't date. They look dated to me.

Cool. A lot of other's don't feel that way. He is obviously one of them.

mistermatthew

Lumen wrote: »

Here are a couple of welds on mine.

Is my weld hot or not?

http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab129/lumen_boards_ie/Travel%20bike/P1000509.jpg

Is this a fold up road bike? Did u do this yourself? Or who did the cuts and things?

krissovo

Bigus wrote: »

Sporty comfort is the RT 57 carbon from Planet X , your requirements sound just like mime. Age weight history .http://planetxireland.com/products-page/rt57/

Go for the force build at 1620, best value bikes that you can try out off apart from the web .

I've mine two years now , exceptionally reliable and robust and comfortable,

Hey thanks for sharing, that's actually a nice looking carbon bike. One of the only ones I like.

G rock

Op, if your budget is in moots territory, I'd look at custom steel.

Your budget would allow for a trip over to the uk for fitting etc.

So many frame builders across the sea that I'd love to commission for a build-donohue, robin mather, ricky feather, dave yates, oak cycles, saffron frames, talbot frameworks (who were doing 853 frames for £853 once upon a time).

Check out their galleries.

This is coming from a proud mercian owner, but I didn't make the trip for fitting, which I regret.

The wait is the only con I reckon.

Bigus

krissovo wrote: »

Hey thanks for sharing, that's actually a nice looking carbon bike. One of the only ones I like.

If you don't go carbon now you'll only ending up hankering after one, always move forwards not back.

Since I got my px I'd always be looking at comparable bikes in mainstream bike shops any time I'd be lookin at clothes etc,to my mind nothing compares to PX for value, more well known brands seem to charge double for similar spec and weight.


and like I said it's been super reliable , and I don't feel the need to upgrade anything, 3 or 4000 km goin on it every year including two 5.5 hour stints so it's very comfortable. My cycling buddie has an alu frame bike that wasn't a whole lot cheaper and his hands and arms suffer badly from numbness .

Take a drive down to athlone in your Merc and try one out.

Recon_

If you really want to know what your getting into then hit this website.

http://www.roadbikereview.com/reviewscrx.aspx

Lumen

Bigus wrote: »

If you don't go carbon now you'll only ending up hankering after one, always move forwards not back.

I reject the outright assertion that carbon is a natural and irreversible progression.

In the last five years I've owned two carbon road bikes (Focus and Scott), one titanium road bike (Enigma), one carbon TT bike (Planet X), one steel road bike (Peugeot), one steel commuter (On One), one aluminium road bike (Canyon), three aluminium cyclocross bikes (Focus, Specialized and Planet X), an aluminium 26" mountain bike (Vitus) and a steel BMX (Haro).

All the carbon bikes have been sold or killed. I have only metal bikes left. I don't really miss carbon.

YMMV.

P.S. anyone want to buy a BMX? :pac:

Bigus

Lumen wrote: »

I reject the outright assertion that carbon is a natural and irreversible progression.

In the last five years I've owned two carbon road bikes (Focus and Scott), one titanium road bike (Enigma), one carbon TT bike (Planet X), one steel road bike (Peugeot), one steel commuter (On One), one aluminium road bike (Canyon), three aluminium cyclocross bikes (Focus, Specialized and Planet X), an aluminium 26" mountain bike (Vitus) and a steel BMX (Haro).

All the carbon bikes have been sold or killed. I have only metal bikes left. I don't really miss carbon.

YMMV.

P.S. anyone want to buy a BMX? :pac:

Yeah grand , but if you never had carbon you'd hanker after a carbon frame , rightly or wrongly.

Plus you say you don't REALLY miss carbon , says it all really.

1750W

Thankfully there is no Mercedes of road frames. However if u wanna know the best frame to buy my opinion = mcLaren venge

Sagi

I think it is very hard to buy a bike that you will truly enjoy without having quite a lot of experience and having owned a few bikes for a while, how elso would you know what exactly you want/need. I would not advise to spend a lot of money before you really know what you want, otherwise you might end up with a brilliant bike that you will just not enjoy to ride and that would be a shame.

The only one happy about it will be the guy that buys it 2nd hand from you.

Can't give much advice on road bikes as I don't know much about them. I'd say steal or titanium if you want something that has a classic look that does not age. not a fan of titanium myself as apparently it is a sin to get it in a nice colour.

krissovo

Sagi wrote: »

I think it is very hard to buy a bike that you will truly enjoy without having quite a lot of experience and having owned a few bikes for a while

Thanks for the wise words and food for thought.

riccardo

hello there

If you are looking for a great quality bike and group set, you should think about a Pinarello Prince frame with a Compognolo Record groupset, very comfortable and totally bulletproof !!! You could probably pick up a great used bike for around €1200....

let me know if this any boxes as my friend owns one...not for sale but he recently purchased a new one and his wife wants the original out of the hall !!!!

We run up to sally gap most sundays so let me know if you want to see it......