Noob Help

ABriggs

Help please. I am just starting to get back into road cycling and and considering purchasing the below:
http://www.tiny.cc/Xhdgz

Any advice anyone can give on this bike would be greatfully accepted.


thanx
Al

JeremyP

You'd be better off with a new 08 Giant OCR3 at that price which would include a year's free service.

Better still, you'll have a choice of sizes to choose from at your LBS.

The stem and bar setup on that TCR makes me wince.

artemidorus

Those wheels look very high-drag with their silly fat spokes. Steel is real when it comes to spokes.
The bike and especially the components look pretty old. I agree that the stem looks ghastly.
I would suggest that that bike is worth 200-300$.

__________________
"All that we see and seem is but a dream, within a dream..."

j.r.hawkins

The stem looks adjustable so it may not be so bad. However, you should check before committing. The spokes seem to be the bladed type, not the plain circular-section steel so I'd suggest the wheels might actually be quite light and low drag, and better than expected.

You should confirm with the owner how old it is, and how many cogs on the back. Any less than 9 and I'd go for a newer bike.

The most important thing is how well the bike fits you, not what gear it has on it. If it doesn't fit you properly, injury WILL result which, in addition to causing pain, discomfort, and time off the bike, will cost you more to fix and recover from than paying the extra for a new bike of the same spec that fitted you properly in the first place.

For this reason I recommend that newbies go to a competent bike store and get fitted properly, even if it means paying full retail. It's much, much cheaper than getting the fit wrong.

j.r.hawkins

On a second look, I noticed it has a threaded headset. Forget everything I said that might have been encouraging about this bike. It is too old. Go for something newer.

artemidorus

J.r., if you look at the meagre literature regarding wheel drag, you will find spoke thickness is important as a cause of drag. Very expensive wheels such as the lightweight obermayer, a deep profile carbon wheel, are almost beaten on drag by cheap wheels such as the r550 because the obermayer has very thick composite spokes, making the latter wheel a bit of a joke. Despite the blade profile, the wheels on this bike appear to have spokes even thicker than those of the obermayer.
I would estimate those wheels to be worse than most in terms of drag; weight is a secondary issue.

__________________
"All that we see and seem is but a dream, within a dream..."