Reviews, please, please, please

Steve has put together a great reviews section but so far there have only been 5 reviews written. Please I am looking at spending some serious money on cycling this year but I have very little idea what to buy or why. I have scrolled through many of the forums looking for info but it would be much nicer to go to just one area when I wanted to have information on what to buy.

Err try www.roadbikereview.com

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Fausto Coppi after being asked the quickest way to improve fitness: Ride your bike!!, Ride your bike!!, Ride your bike!!

I've promised myself that I'll sit down and write a couple when I'm not busy at work and have a chance to goof off ... unfortunately it hasn't happened yet

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Peter
Cannondale Synapse Carbon Scalpel Cyclocross Ultra

Sounds good but my question was, and still is, which bike?

Ah, if you're after a bike ...

1/ What kind of riding do you intend on doing?

2/ Which brands do the good bike shops nearby sell?

3/ What sort of price range are you looking at spending?

4/ Is there anything specific that you definitely want (e.g. suspension, pannier racks, etc.)

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Peter
Cannondale Synapse Carbon Scalpel Cyclocross Ultra

A classic if you have the money. Either Fondriest, Colnago, De Rosa or Pinarello. You can't go wrong mate.

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Fausto Coppi after being asked the quickest way to improve fitness: Ride your bike!!, Ride your bike!!, Ride your bike!!

www.roadbikereview.com has almost no reviews for the latest model year (2004) bikes

1. Touring. Both weekend and long distance.

2. I live near Vancouver, BC, so there are the usual Canadian, American and Asian models but not too many from Europe.

3. I can't afford the top line bikes. My max would probably be around $1500 US. My preference would be for a good used bike. So I am interested in hearing about the year to year reliability of various brands.

4. I can't think of anything specific other than perhaps the best mix of components for touring in my part of the world. That is significant hills but also decent sections of flat land or rolling hills.

I would appreciate any feedback you can give me.

But I still think it would be nice if some people who have the experience would take the time to write some reviews so us newbies have a single place to go to. Thank you.

If you're interested in touring, check out the very nicely made and comfortable Rivendel Romulus. It's in your price range, has the right gearing for touring, the right braze-ons, and it accepts wide tires and fenders (unlike most modern road bikes).

www.rivbike.com

I've got to agree with you - as regards a road bike, I can say that
the Pinarello that I have is an excellent model.
A few years back I bought a Pinarello Angliru : Lama carbon fork,
Campagnola 9sp groupset, mavic wheels
I bought her because the other Pinarello models had straight forks, whereas the Angliru has the old style front fork which I find better for direction.
Although she was expensive (I paid about Euro 1500.00 in 2002),
she has been a great investment.
She's light but sturdy.

So I heartily recommend a Pinarello !

I agree, I have a '91 Pinerello Vuelta (steel) and a newer model an '02 Surprise. I can't kill the old one and the new one is a quality bike although not one of their top models. If their good enough for Indurain, Ullrich and Zabel (before T-Mobile went with Giant), Petacchi and countless other pro's, there has to be something to it. I'm saving up for a Prince SL in a couple years..

A steel frame is going to give you the best long range comfort in your price range. You'll also probably want a tripple crankset if you're going to be climbing hills with any kind of load. Bianchi makes some really nice steel framed bikes with tripple cranksets.

That reviews area would be tons better if people "uploaded" reviews about the stuff they already have and have tried if it's not there. Chances are it's not. looks like it started with product info on campy/shimano & some bikes.
The only interesting things are the items that were obviously uploaded by users or people on the forum rather than pulled from a website.

I just saw a recent one that had some pictures of a pretty cute girl in the "Bike Bags" section and again in the "Shorts" section. Now that's what I wanna see!

Norsman, the most comprehensive body of reviews that I know of can be found on the "Bicycle Review" website. [url]http://www.bikebuying.com/bicycle_reviews/bicycle_reviews.htm
Here you can find extensive user reviews on complete bikes, components, and accessories. Click on roadbikes....then Roadbike Review website, which is the most extensive. You will note that other websites are also listed. Same thing in the MT bike, and BMX categories.

Don't forget to check out the classified adds, I found my Serotta there

Best of Luck!