Gurus of the bike world .. how does this sound, brand new, for £400 ? RRP is £500 but it's end of season. Like the carbon forks and Campo bits, anything else in similar RRP/Sale price has Sora bits and alloy/other forks. I'm 6ft 1, and have a 60cm Giant hybrid commuter, so would I need a 55/58/61 cm in this with semi-compact geometry ?
I've done 4 tri's so far, intend doing as many as Mrs Kanga and the budget will allow next year, but £500 is top spend for a bike for the next few years. I'm not Lance, and not sponsored, so dont need his kit ;-)
Haven't heard much about Dawes racers, moreso their MTB's - are they any good ?
Cheers,
Kanga
FRAME NEW BUTTED 7005 T6 ALLOY, REPLACEABLE DROP OUT, SHAPED TUBE SECTIONS AMD INTEGRATED HEAD. SEMI COMPACT GEOMETRY
SIZES G52, 55, 58, 62
FORK CARBON FIBRE ROAD WITH DEEP BLADE FOR INTEGRATED
HEADSET INTEGRATED (INTERNAL) HEADSET
HUBS ALLOY WITH QR FRONT AND REAR.
CASSETTE, SEALED BEARINGS AND CAMPAGNOLO CASSETTE COMPATIBLE
RIMS DOUBLE WALL RIGIDA NOVA WITH BLACK FINISH AND CNC SIDEWALLS
SPOKES STAINLESS
TYRES VITTORIA RUBINO TWIN TREAD 700 X 23C
STEM ITM ROAD RACING
H/BAR ITM ALUMINIUM EUROPA ANATOMICAL
GRIPS/TAPE CORK BAR TAPE
BRAKE LEVERS CAMPAGNOLO ERGO POWER COMBINED SHIFT AND BRAKE LEVER 18 SPEED
GEAR LEVERS CAMPAGNOLO ERGO POWER COMBINED SHIFT AND BRAKE LEVER 18 SPEED
BRAKES ALLOY DOUBLE PIVOT WITH QUICK RELEASE
REAR MECH CAMPAGNOLO XENON 9 SPEED
FRONT MECH CAMPAGNOLO XENON 9 SPEED
CRANKSET CAMPAGNOLO XENON 52/39
BOTTOM BRACKET CAMPAGNOLO XENON
CASSETTE/F-WHEEL CAMPAGNOLO XENON 9 SPEED 12-23
CHAIN KMC Z9000
SADDLE SELLE ITALIA OKTAVIA LEATHER
SEAT POST ALLOY MICRO ADJUST SATIN BLACK
PEDALS RACE SPECIFIC ALUMINIUM WITH METAL CAGE AND TOECLIPS
0 ·
Comments
Anyway, I paid #400 for mine three years ago, so this sounds like a good deal!
I swapped the pedals on mine straight away for Look CA pedals - since then the bike has slowly been modified ... new seat post (exisiting one was v. heavy - don´t think yours is though), upgraded saddle, new handbuilt wheels (the wheels it came with were a bit soggy), new chainring, new headset ....I want to get new handlebars (slightly smaller) and replace Shimano components for next season, which I think will make a big difference.
Anyway, with modifications, the bike is lovely and twitchy - so much so that I won my first tri! I can feel the difference when I sit on my husband´s bike though (two or three grands worth of handbuilt frame and Campag components) but if you´re doing tris and not bike racing/TTs the one you´re looking at should be fine. Bit of a bargain really!
Only caveat I´d add is that if you´re planning on keeping the bike for a long time and crash/throw your bike around a lot, carbon fibre might not be the best material for the forks, but that´s a personal thing! Likewise, if you´re a ´big´ 6 foot 1, and an aggressive rider, is the frame going to be strong enough for you?
But, hey, #400 is a bargain! And I´ve been relly happy with my Dawes bike.
Where abouts was this - I might well go for it myself?
(or he did until he crashed his bike last month!) The mangled derailleur is now kept on the coffee table as a conversation piece!!
FBF, got your email thx, been out every last coupla nights so no time or brain cells to respond ;-)
I'm a bit of a fan of sram stuff too for off road...
I'd not go too 'specific' just yet.. 9sp cassettes are abundant these days (better gear 'choice')
starters from say trek, Giant or Spesh are pretty functional and adequate, or the dawes as quoted at the start...
new say 400-500 upwards will get ya' a decent start....
BTW, is there such a thing as a Tri bike or are they just road bikes really?
tri bikes have this fabled revised angles to position you more over the front of the bike to aid stability in aero tuck position and to 'ave' ya' quads for the run afterwards...
Just bought a Quintana Roo Te Quilo and well, it does make a difference... but maybe not something 'that' important when trying things out for the first time..
Are lots of 'normal' geometry bikes out there too that are regularily used in tri's by the top guys too...
Think you're right about ignoring the specifics at this stage; it's a 'cheap' bike I need and the 'sparkly' components are gonna 'ave to wait. Right now I'm interested in finishing a Tri... a year down the line, we'll see.
Yes if you go 2nd hand I'd go for 9 speed (or 10 of course) - it's easier to find second hand bits like wheels for 9 speed than 7 or 8 now.
Now I just need some wheels, a groupset, some handlebars, pedal, saddle, basket ...
http://www.langsettcycles.co.uk/products.php?show=278 at Sheffield are £450
A bunch of shops seem to share a web content server, so they're all identical layout, info and price. Despite the alleged free market every one sells them for £500 RRP oddly enough :-|
Working through the list of dealers on the Dawes site most dont have web pages, on most that do the links fail, and the local ones I know of/have been to dont inspire me. (Global Esprit at Earlsfield especially, thieving bunch of b'stards who dont grasp the concept of warranties, service etc ...) Doesnt fill me with confidence about the product even though at £400 it's a cracking spec.
Think I'll just toss a coin ...
Cracking spec for the price ... I'm off to try them on for size
Let me know PDQ if you're interested and we might be able to get some extra leverage
I am sure its now very happy that 9 years of dust has been swept off it.........
Was this the bike that became the " self distructing bike"?
Kanga trained?!