RollCNY

ADon't look at your front wheel. Look up the road. Don't try to rock the bike side to side until you know what you are doing. Relax.

BigC_82

I will try this while riding on my trainer.

orpheus505

I got a question. I just bought a bike from Craigslist with no real markings. I could tell it had been painted, But it was a custom paint job. It came with an Ideale saddle in great shape and its sporting an old quill stem with The only markings "competition" and "made in France." It also has MaFac brake levers. I am pretty sure it is a track bike. Do they make cheap track bikes? also, where the welds are it seems to have reinforced joints. Does anyone know who who make a frame like this? Here's a couple of pics. It also came with nice shimano brakes and Mavic GP4 tubular rims. It came with ****ty walmart pedals but I'm pretty sure that they added these. Any comments would be appreciated.

johnadarin

It has some of the same specs and looks a lot like my 1977 Peugeot. Maybe it's a PX10 or a PR10 from the late 70's.

orpheus505

Awesome. I got this bike for $50. I'm pretty happy with it although its a bit big for me but I'll suffer with that. Thanks for the info

Sy Reene

Why is padding built into expensive shorts and bibs, instead of just being built into the saddle or as a washable velcro add-on?

VeloCross

I have something I wanted to hear comments on. I recently moved to the PNW this last year and never heard of cyclocross before. I fell in love and it's rejuvinated my love for cycling. I have a cannondale caad 8 and was riding it casually before but now I'm really "in" the cycling culture and lifestyle. I see other people kitted out in their road gear and it makes me think that everyone is a racer. I love the style and feel of the roadie culture, but as far as actually racing I just want to race cyclocross. Road racing is just waaaay too intense and everyone seems super serious about it. Is it weird that I want to ride my road bike for fitness and fun while still being fast and training for cross or is road racing something that all roadies must strive to to really be a roadie? Stupid idea, I know. I just wanna hear the thoughts from the group.

ytursunoff

Hello. I have been riding for a lot of years but mainly on suspensionless MTB chromoly with tarmac tyres and can't wait to get a road bike. But there are some tech questions, giving me a headache.
The LBS can offer me new bike with Shimano SORA, but for that money I can buy a second hand roadster with 105 5700 or Dura Ace 7400? My current bike is with Tourney/Acera setup and has no problems.
I do 300kms per week, sometimes short tourings, As far I read the upper gruppos last longer.Is it worth it to go upper level and built some set and forget setup?

Thank you for your time.

LGHT

I started off with a used 2008 Roubaix and love it. I paid next to nothing for it without wheels and just got a set of new take off mavic 7's for $120. Added tires and tubes and I road that thing happily until I got a frame 54" frame instead of the 58" since the 58" was just too big. It has dura ace shifters and a rear derailleur that shifts like butter. I have been told it will be even better with a new cassette and cables which should run less than $100 total. Total costs for the bike was around $700 and it shifts just as good if not better than my new tarmac with full ultegra on it.

prs1

Hey new here

Been riding a lot using cheap beater bikes since I graduated college 2 yrs ago. Wanted to get into road bikes a bit earlier but decided while I had a temp job in florida to get a surf board instead which now just sits in my room lol. Anyways I've been searching for the past 2 weeks and got frustrated with CL and the LBS. CL had some decent MTBs but for road bikes it was mostly people that wanted $100 off MSRP for their 5 yr old bikes. LBS's had almost no rollover inventory best thing I could get 2014 was a Raleigh 105 set bike but I couldn't talk the owner down much so it was still out of my price range.

So I went online and ended up buying a BH Zaphire Tiagra from price point for $700 shipped. Hoping thats a pretty good deal, most tiagra group bikes Ive seen are around 1k. The BH however is 2013 which prolly takes a bit of its value away. Sad that I missed the DB century 2 105 bike for ~750ish on REI but I think I would have had to drive 100 miles to get it and I'm assuming you're usually not going to get a 105 for the $700-800 price range unless you find a used one in your area with a reasonable seller.

Anyways I'm not too worried about building other than the gears. I BMX'd/freestyled w.e from MS to HS and always did the maintenance on my bikes myself. Are there things I should really double check before riding that a road bike newbie might mess up or forget about when putting together a road bike? Should I bring it to a LBS after I'm done to have it checked and for a basic fitting?

edit: any1 know if price point CS is easy to break btw? They did the usual up some prices on items before doing a site wide sale so I only saved $50 instead of $100. They also have a dumb $10 coupon thing that requires people to join for it to work or something. The coupon will apply though throughout everything till you finalize your purchase. Was thinking about sending an email and seeing if at best I could get $60 taken off. Reverse scummy tactics back at them .

FujiSon

Hello everyone. I am new to this forum and I do apologize if I am posting this in the wrong place but I need some assistance. I just bought a Fuji Roubaix 1.5 2014 model for 799. I was also really looking to get the Fuji Sportif 2.3 2015. I am really stuck and do not know what to do. I am strongly debating on returning the Roubaix and getting the Sportif but I am not sure that is the right choice. This is my first bike in almost 14 years and I am just starting to get in to cycling. Can I please have some help from some people that know more about this then I do. I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

nick779

Quick question, I just purchased a 2015 Spesh Allez Sport - Full Sora, compact crank.

The 34T small cog is practically useless for where I ride, is it possible to swap that to a 36 or 39T cog?

FlatSix911

Yes, most compact cranks and front derailleurs can accommodate a range of ring sizes ... just check with your local LBS.

Tornike

Hi, my first post here.

I haven't owned a bike since childhood (I'm 30 now) and now I'm in the process of looking for a road bike model to buy.

I found one I like at my local store, but it has no drop handlebars, which I really need for my riding. I know there are handlebars on sale on the web, but not sure if they would fit that bike. Do handlebars fit any bike, or if not, what are the technical specs to check if they will this bike model?

Thanks in advance.

chasm54

The problem is not whether the bars will fit the bike. The problems are:
1. Putting drop bars on a flat-bar bike will change the reach - the distance from saddle to bars. So the bike may no longer fit you with drop bars installed
2. The brake levers will need replacing, and so will the gear shifters.

All things considered, if you want a drop bar road bike, you'd do much better to buy one

Tornike

Thank you for the tip.

aoreugifragde

CHECHO

Hello there!
I want to ask to experienced members about suggested components for a custom made steel road bike. Let me put you in context. About a year from now I began to commute to work after almost 15 years without touching a bike. It has been a really nice and I'm feeling really attracted to biking as a sport.

My one and only bike is a folding Dahon with some customisation that I've done myself and, although I love that bike and it's really practical in terms of commuting to the office (the thing fits perfect under my desk ), I think that for exercising I need something else... I've search for some off-the-shelf models here where I live, but definitely are out of my budget (basically due to exchange rates)... however, I found a local craftsman that make custom steel frames for a really good price! check here so, I'm considering to buy one from him on christmas. It's not only the price but also the idea of having a custom made bike what drives me on that direction.

Now, my doubts are related with what type of configuration and components choose for the bike, I have cero experience with road bikes so... here're my questions:
1. What gear configuration should I choose? please keep in mind that my goal is not to built a high performance bike, but something that I can use to exercise. Where I live there's a mix of flat roads and some hills... I was thinking on a 16 gears (2 cranks and a cassette of 8) but a suggestion of brands and configurations would be much appreciated.
2. What type of shifter system should I choose? the thing with those custom-bikes is that they look somehow "vintage" and honestly, I'm not choosing it because the vintage look, but for the reasons mentioned above... however I don't think that the old school shifters that sits on the down tube are practical at all... so what's a good option for a shifter option on the handlebar or levers?
3. What would be your recommendation in terms of wheels/tyres considering that budget is a big constraint?

I'm sorry if some of the questions seems silly, but as I mentioned my knowledge of road biking are limited to watching the "Tour" or "La vuelta"...

Thanks in advance!

chasm54

With regard to your specific questions:

As far as gears are concerned, the most important thing is not the number of ratios, but the range. However, it makes no sense to restrict yourself to an 8-speed cassette. The major manufacturers are moving up to 11-speed, though ten is still the most common. I'd suggest a 10 speed cassette. At the front you might want to consider a triple rather than a double chainset, if only because it would give you a lowish gear for the hills without sacrificing close gear ratios. The Shimano 105 5700 groupset is out of production but still widely available. It comes in a 50/39/30 triple. Matched with one of their 11-28 ten-speed cassettes you'd have a versatile climbing bike. Alternatively, a compact double (50/34) chainset at the front, maybe with a 12-32 cassette, would give a similar range but slightly wider steps between ratios.

If you take that advice the only shifter system to choose is STI "brifters". That is, Shimano Total Integration. The gear shifters are incorporated into the brake levers, it's an extremely ergonomically efficient system. You can order entire groupsets - brifters, derailleurs, chainset, cassette, brakes, chain - online. UK suppliers like Wiggle are often the cheapest and deliver worldwide.

As far as wheels are concerned, there are any number of choices. Lighter generally means more expensive. If you can find a wheelbuilder, mavic openpro rims with DT Swiss spokes and Hope pro hubs would be more than decent and not outrageously expensive, they're a good basic wheelset. But if there's a reasonable bike shop in your vicinity, go in and talk to them about the options.

CHECHO

Well, thanks a lot! I'll check at Wiggle and Amazon... I¡ll come back if more questions arise after review the components you suggest... thanks again!

BladeRunnerX

Hi,

I have a question regarding a cycling shoes. I run a road bike with flat pedals, so I would like to know could I use regular cycling shoes, for clipless pedals? Or should I just buy scate shoes, or any other sport shoes?

chasm54

The question reads rather confusingly. If you are thinking about adopting clipless pedals instead of flat platforms, the shoes you'll need will be dictated by the pedals you choose. Different manufacturers use different systems, so the cleats on the shoes have to match the pedals.

BladeRunnerX

I use flat pedals, just the ones you find on MTB. What I was asking is: could I take off the cleats of the regular road shoes and use it for flat pedals? Maybe it doesn't make sense but I've find nice ones that I like how they look and price is affordable to me.

chasm54

Ah. Well you can certainly remove the cleats, but you need to make sure that the soles are suitable for use without them. Most road shoes have soles that would be too slippery.

PepeM

That sounds like a really bad idea. Any pair of trainers will do the trick.