Help with new bike



Sounds like the tribal elders have served you well my son, and to your great credit you have heard and absorbed the sacred teachings.

My contribution is that until you are a very very experienced rider, with many many (ie > 10,000) miles in your legs, the major factor with regard to your happiness on the bike will be its proper fit to your body, not frame materialor group-set. Research this fully and learn and experiment. If you were to get any old clunker to fit properly, you would cleave to it with a passion. Carbon? Dura-Ace? Who cares - get the fit, get the legs, and enjoy the ride. Do not fall prey to the techno-weenie spend-at-all-costs school of consumerist cycling. And thank your wife lovingly for her gift.

Thus endeth the lesson.

My very best wishes for your many years of fulfilling cycling, and the extra quantity and quality of active life it will bring to you.
 
FriendlyFred said:
I can understand wanting the best, we all do. But I HIGHLY recommend you spend the next six months to a year on the bike your wife got for you before you go out and purchase "the best."

The reason....
1) you haven't been riding for any length of time and there's a chance you may not like it or stick with it.
2) you don't have the experience to know what you're going to like to ride. You may well find that you'd prefer a Cervelo, or some other brand over the Trek once you've ridden awhile and have a better idea about your particuylar style and riding

I'll equate it to going out and buying a Bentley Turbo when you have just received your driver's license. You don't know what your uses will be, you don't know what your tastes will be, and you don't know what style of driving you'll be doing. Give yourself a chance to find out BEFORE you go out and spend a lot of money and get yourself further in debt with something that may well end up sitting in the garage after the first 75 or 100 miles.

just my 2 cents.
FriendlyFred - you worded it perfectly. I got back into cycling back in 2000 and bought a Lemond Zurich. While the Lemond is a bit more expensive than the Cannondale r800 (couple hundred $) it was considered a great bike to start riding. To buy a bike equivalant to the Trek 5.2 to "start" riding is a big mistake.
 
Unless you are racing at an elite level where EVERY advantage is needed/wanted, than there is no problem with aluminum and 105. When I started racing last year, I was riding an aluminum trek 1000 with shimano sora components. Thats two steps BELOW 105, and I had no trouble at all. My recommendation would be put in a few thousand miles on the cannondale, and if you still feel the need to upgrade, just get a nice set of wheels to use on sunny days and race days (if you end up racing). Its much cheaper than a whole new bike, and shouldn't hurt your wife's feelings.
 
I think some of the responses have been a bit too hard on you. You seem like a nice enough guy, who simply needs some guidence. Very few are as willing to accept such critism and advise with the calm that you have.

Believe me, you will not notice any difference in performance as long you're an overweight. recreational rider. I have a new bike with the latest Ultegra group on it. I also still ride a 27 year old bike I bought in college. On the flat, my timed rides are virtually identical with both bikes. The older bikes is 8 pounds heavier (much of it in the wheels) and I still ride it just as fast. On steep climbs, the new bike does give me some time gains, but it isn't nearly what you might think.

The difference between your current Cannondale and whatever you might upgrade to, would be 10 times less than the difference between my bikes.

As a side note: 25 years of marriage has taught me to always love my wife's gifts, even when I don't. Your wife's gift may not have been perfect, but it was certainly one heck of a good try. You can still make it up to her..... act like it's the best thing you've ever received, even if you have to fake a little. Just tell her you don't know what you were thinking before. It's not only the polite thing to do, it's the right thing when it involves spouses.
 
stuntjunky2006 said:
So, here is the problem. My wife decided to surprise me for christmas with a piece of **** aluminum bike (cannondale r800). The frame has caad8 on it, and it has 105 gears on it. What I really want is a carbon frame with dura-ace gears. I'm sure most of you, being bikers and all know what I mean.
You are kidding me right? lol, I have saved virtually my entire life for the Bianchi Via Nirone that I bought last month. It had 105 gearset and the works. But saying that the bike given to you was a piece of ****?!?! :confused: The funny thing is you don't even know what road bikes feel like, so before going out and buying a 6 grand CF bike w/ Dura Ace components, use that so called "piece of **** aluminum bike" and try it out, and if you like it and actually start to get commited, then CONSIDER buying a better one.
 
stuntjunky2006 said:
Thanks for all the remarks and help (even those that were a bit harsher than others). I know you meant the best and were trying to make a point to me.

So, thanks to you, I've decided keep the current bike and try it out for a while. If I decide I don't like it, I'll get a new one once I get a job (currently unemployed, but my wife is a teacher so we have a fine income), but it sounds like the bike isn't as bad as I thought. Sorry to those out there who ride an aluminum bike who I may have offended.

Thanks again for the help.
I had a nice long rant about how much of a jerk you are, but this is a cycling forum and not a marriage councel. I'm glad you're keeping the bike, but frankly I think this is the least of your problems. Get ready for harsh, you haven't seen it yet!
 
As soon as you can afford it, go get that priceless wife of yours a new bike so you can go riding together.

Women like that are hard to find: getting you something that 's good for you, that you'll like and use, and sensibly within your budget. Mate, that's better than gold. Treat her right and if you're very, very lucky you might get to keep her. You need to set things right. I mean it! Do it now!

Because if you don't value her, someone else will - and sooner rather than later. And as that Joni Mitchell song goes,

"Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got till it's gone?"
 
I can't agree more. Sounds like money is not an option here. SO why not donating it to charity for poor kids. SO both of you will be happy!!
First time I heard CAAD8 is "piece of ****".
Hope you find realy joy of riding road bike.......
Good luck!


Scotty_Dog said:
This has to be one of the most knuckleheaded posts I've seen in a very long time.

You sound as if you are 12, not 22. The CAAD8 frame with 105 gearing is much more than adequate for a beginner to intermediate cyclist. Your wife did a great thing for you, and you're acting like a selfish child. Go put a couple thousand miles on that "piece of ****" bike you own, and then you'll have the right to an honest opinion. Until then, don't let the pacifier fall out of your mouth.
 
1. LOL. What a hilarious thread. I was roaring in the office (stop this!).

2. To the OP. Keep the current bike. Ride it. Salivate and plan on the purchase of your next super-duper mega-galactic carbon fiberp-touched-only-by-virgin-taiwanese-cycling-goddesses wunderthing that you will reward yourself when you ride 10,000 miles in the course of the coming calendar year.

Then all of the cyclingforums regulars will bow in respect and admiration... :p

In the meantime, ' it's in the legs ' to paraphrase a great Italian rider of the 1930s (and my grandfather, and my dad... to all my requests for better equipment).
 
a $1000 bike bought on a teachers salery? I now a lot of teachers, my mother is a retired teacher. I want to know what school district she teaches in. Really do you have rich parrents? Do you know how hard most people work for $1000? Do you know the kind of **** she had to put up with as a teacher to earn that money? Really many of us who read this forum would love to get a gift like this. Really get some pedels on it and ride it, And when you get a job she better be getting something nice before you buy a bike that costs 3 times as much.
 
I'll be honest...as a new Road Rider(have rode MTB for a while) I'm 29 and just getting into cycling. My wife of 3 years and I went to the LBS and we looked for some road bikes for me to step into. I looked at the same spec Cannondale as you got, rode it and then just to get an idea rode a Kuota Kharma with Ultegra from top to bottom on. I admit that I could not tell the difference except how stiff the Kuota was and how gorgeous the bike was. Well my wife, as a surprise, bought me the Kuota for my birthday when I was just hoping to get myself the Cannondale. I almost fainted when I walked in my house and there it was. Only bad thing is when I ride, I'm scared as hell to drop it thinking I may crack it. I love the bike like one of my children. Keep the bike and keep riding. Oh, and unlike you I kept my mouth shut about the bike and told her I loved it!;)
 
cldwingnut said:
a $1000 bike bought on a teachers salery? I now a lot of teachers, my mother is a retired teacher. I want to know what school district she teaches in. Really do you have rich parrents? Do you know how hard most people work for $1000? Do you know the kind of **** she had to put up with as a teacher to earn that money? Really many of us who read this forum would love to get a gift like this. Really get some pedels on it and ride it, And when you get a job she better be getting something nice before you buy a bike that costs 3 times as much.

This topic is from Jan 07. I bet this guy hasn't been back since his last post.

It is funny to see this topic come up after everything that has happened in the financial world since 2007. It would have only been more ironic if he had of bought it on credit and being unemployed and a wife that is a teacher. :confused:
 
So who's the chupok who revived this zombie of a thread?

Cldwingnut, I see you are a new user and you apparently enjoy reading some of the old stuff. Kindly refrain from adding your two cents, though, if the thread has been quiet for over six months.
 

Similar threads