bike shopping rambling questions

jman0

I'm always indecisive about these things.
Considering upgrading my bike, this time going for a racer.
Willing to spend 1000€.

But a couple questions:
1) shopping online, is this wise? What about repairs and tuning things up, isn't it preferable to get a bike from a shop so that it is under warranty? And maybe the shop would treat you as a "valued customer" (i almost laughed as i typed that). Seriously: if you were getting a bike from a bike shop would you buy stock or have them order it in?

2) I don't know what make/model of bike i want yet, open to suggestions - but it's got to be LIGHT. I rather like the look of those flat bars instead of drops as well. Anybody have experience with them?

3) Where to cycle, i live in Dublin now. I'm presuming people go South to Wicklow mountains, are there well known or recommened routes for racers?
Or are the road conditions gonna be a bit hard on the bike..

4) Groupsets. I've got Shimano XTR and XT on my mountain bike, but i see a lot of racers with Shimano Dura Ace and Ultegra, which is better?

Enduro

It sounds like you're changing your biking style rather than upgrading your bike. Any MTB with XR/XTR is probably of a similar standard (at worst) to a €1000 road bike.

(1) shopping online is the way to go once you have a good idea about what you want, and you're not afraid of a little self assembly and maintanance. No free 1 month service for an online bike, but I could do the equivalent service myself in about 5 minutes (its that easy). The bike will still be under a warranty if it bought online. It'll just be that little bit more awkward to deal with if something goes seriously wrong (unlikely).
If I was buying from a shop I would still only buy exactly what I want. Customer service levels vary from shop to shop. Depends on the individuals involved (i.e. its just like the web really).
Personally, I buy all my new bike related stuff online.

(2) flat bars on a racer = commuter bike. Depends what you want to use your bike for exactly. Drop bars are design to get you into an efficient tucked aero position for maximum speed. flat bars will be more comfortable, but if your looking for comfort wh would you buy a racer in the first place?

(3) the roads through the wicklow hills are an excellent place to cycle. Buy the sheet 56 OS map and start exploring and having fun. Or join up with a club.

(4) apples and oranges. Road groupset and MTB groupsets are different, not better or worse. On MTBs the order of groupsets (top to bottom) is XTR - XT - LX - Deore . I'm not sure of the roady equivalent order, but its easy to look up. With roady stuff you have the added issue of Campag groupset to factor in as well.

uberwolf

Dura-Ace = XTR, Ultegra = XT, 105 i Think is LX

Enduro

Hey Uberwolf, are you a MTBer?

uberwolf

former MTBer, more roadie these days

Enduro

Turned to dark side! :eek:

uberwolf

Enduro wrote:

Turned to dark side! :eek:

just did so much training on the road that I raced it for conditioning as well. Then as a junior I crushed my own bike off a drop off and had to return my sponsored race bike(MTB) at the end of the season - I had no money to buy a new bike and so had to stick with what I had the equipment for!! - i.e the road bike

Enduro

Sounds like you were a pretty good MTBer. Hope you're kicking butt in the road races.
Do you know Richie Byrne, Dave Gill etc....

jman0

Thanks for the reply.
I probably shouldn't have said i was upgrading. I'm keeping the MTB for commuting and acquiring a new road bike. MTB cost me less than 1k, i bought it second-hand.

Fair comment about Flat Bars. This is actually what i had in mind:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/?ProductID=5360008174
I'm assuming that is considered a "flat bar", i could be wrong.
It accomodates for getting into the aero position obviously.
Anybody have experience with that sort of bar?

Quigs Snr

They're tri-bars. Perhaps a little niche for day to day cycling. Nice to have a set around in case you are doing a triathalon or a time trial, but otherwise for general cycling, especially up mountains, I would recommend the drops.

For 1000 you won't get a bike with Dura Ace, and I think you would be hard pushed to get one with Ultergra also. In that price bracket you are looking at an aluminum frame, carbon fork and tiagra/105 at Irish prices. For a few quid more you might get a trek1500 with full ultegra (they were 1300 last autumn, down from a 1500 sticker price in my local shops).

Racer groupsets (shimano) go in this order from worst to best

Sora (Total B*llSh*t)
Tiagra (Better)
105 (Really, really good, interchangeable with Ultegra and Duraace parts just a tad heavier)
Ultegra ( Great, best price/performance out there, almost as light as Dura Ace and just as smooth)
Dura Ace (Good enough for Lance, good enough for me).

I have Sora on my Trek1000 and DuraAce on my Trek5500. If I was starting out on a budget, I would aim for at least a 105 kitted bike.