Originally Posted by swampy1970 .
Quote: Originally Posted by MikeM95831 .
Thanks for the quick reply; sorry for my slow one.
Yeah, I have two bikes. Since I'm 52, I had to resort to my "concession speech" bike -- I was never much of a climber anyway, but the passing of years hasn't exactly helped. But I do think I ride better now than when I was 30. The second bike is "just" a LeMond Reno -- AL frame, carbon forks -- that I've gone through. It came with Bontrager triple cranks, Alex wheels, a terrible seat, weird stem, Tiagra FD and shifters... I picked up a 105 triple crank, FD and BB for $72, some Ultegra 3*10 shifters, put on a Terry Ti Fly, a pair of 105/DT/Open Pro wheels for $180, brand new... Bike weighs at least 2 lbs lighter than stock. The crank/BB is about 200 grams lighter than the Bontrager. It's about 18 lbs and is faster than the Trek.
The Centaur is 10 speed; had the old steel frame spaced out 4mm to accomodate the Record Ti 10-speed hub. This bike weighs about 20.5 lbs. Taking off the original fork and quill stem saved nearly a pound.
Both pretty good (but not really racing) bikes. I don't really want to get rid of either bike, but if I had to choose, the old steel bike would be the one.
I'm interested in is the "[SIZE= 12px]Brand New Full Carbon 3K Weave Road Frameset Fork 57cm" sold by maniac_bicycle for $415. I believe I can get around $200 (that's about how much others like my steel Trek frame have sold for), and would need to face the BB (Ultra Torque; I'm being conservative), get a new Campy FD, and perhaps a few other items (tape, cables, etc) to put it together. I think it'd be worth it; I'm not sentimental about old cars/bikes/cameras that I've sold.[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px]The other bike I've looked at is, believe it or not, the Sette that Price Point sells for about $900. That's a good looking frame. The only real reason I'd get that: 5 year warranty. And, I admit, it's prettier than the one maniac_bicycle sells.[/SIZE]
[SIZE= 12px]Anyway, those are my thoughts. But if if all it's really going to do is lose 3 lbs, I just don't know. I'm pretty fit -- 6'1", about 175, and really can kick out a century pretty well. Recovering from Crohn's, so I'm happy I can really mash out a 70 mile ride in 3-1/2 hours (zero hospitalizations in 2010; about 3 in 2009 -- you haven't lived until you've had a blocked small intestine).[/SIZE]
If the frame has a carbon BB shell I wouldn't face it.
I'd recommend riding a bike that you're interested in. Small design changes make as much of a difference in ride quality and handling as the material does. I bought my Cannondale SuperSix Hi-Mod because of the ride not because of the weight, or lack thereof, but because of the ride qualities (near telepathic handling, comfort, vibration damping) as well as the massive out of the saddle stiffness in addition to having the correct geometry to put me in the position I desired. That I can feel somewhat less fatigued that I used too after knocking out 200 miles in the high sierras (8 passes, 21,000ft of climbing) on the Cannondale goes to prove that it's not just the material that's the "performance enhancement" - as my last frame was carbon and not a frame from an unknown manufacturer either.
Personally, unless you're knocking on 6% bodyfat or less I wouldn't become overly worried about bike weight - if you wanted to go a bit faster and have a bit of bling grab some used Zipp or HED wheels off ebay. Weight, unless you're going up monster hills >6% for miles on end, is overrated.
I've ridden a Cannondale CAAD 8 and 9 and they're great frames - not carbon but at the end of the day you shouldn't really care what the frame is made from - you should care more what the frame feels like to ride and how it fits. One of the things on the to-do list for this year is get rid of the other carbon frame I have and get a CAAD 8 or 9 frame and use that bike as a training/crit bike. The later generation CAAD frames are not as harsh as the CAAD4's - not that they were that bad to begin with. I've seen CAAD 8 bikes, complete for $899 and CAAD 9 with 105 10 speed for $1,100 complete.
Good to hear that the Crohns is getting better. Not sure what a blocked intestine is like - but is it as much fun as a hiatus hernia and puking up a fair amount of what looks like used engine oil (blood) at the end of a hard time trial?
The Crohn's will never go away; it's a life-shortener. But the longer I can go between the original diagnosis and my first surgery, the better the prognosis.
During my last attack, I told my GI that the only worse thing I could imagine was having my arm ripped off in an industrial accident. "Actually...", he said to me.
Yup, it's worse; lots of nerve endings in your gut. Now you have some perspective. I came very close to copious amounts of projectile vomiting on a packed light rail train. That would have been extremely bad.
One thing I've learned having both the Trek and the LeMond is that the LeMond is longer in the front and tighter in the rear, and it's more laterally stiff. That's the real reason I'm faster on it. Now that I have the Reno, I can see just how much too short the Trek is for me. I like being laid out on the bike now. It felt really awkward and "big" at first, but not any more; now I feel hunched up on the Trek. If I get another frame, three factors will come into play: Position/Geometry, weight savings, lateral stiffness and "bling." Wait, that's four things. Oh well, I'm not going to shorten my list.
Another thing that's important to me on these eBay/Alibaba frames is warranty. I asked one guy, and he said 8 months. I'm not going to get rid of a bike I've had for nearly 35 years (on which, incredibly, Trek still honors the lifetime warranties) in favor of a no-name with no warranty... Or a 5 year old Giant that I think people have bid too much for.
