Trying To Get And Understand Frame Information About The Tubes And Bike As A Whole.



mtnbikerva1

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May 30, 2010
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I am in the market for a bike. I want to be thorough and educated about my big purchase!
But trying to find ownership and long term reviews has not been productive to this point.
Also all this hype but no common understand of description and comparisons between one frames material and another is quite frustrating and time consuming to this point. I would like to know the actual apples to apples comparison of say trek 600 to 700 OCLV materials and also s-works materials , Pinarellos, looks, colnagos... I do not know how to quantify it and compare real world meaning of what the name on the bike equals to riding a bicycle of one name to compare let alone different names/companies bicycles to each other.
It reminds me of listening to most politicians at the end you feel like you have waisted your time.
Also 99% of the population, we do not have 9/10 of these high end bikes to ride, let alone in a side by side comparison.
 
FWIW. What you seem to be asking is best answered by simply suggesting that MOST of the time you get what you pay for ...

THAT, and bikes depreciate at an incredibly fast rate ...

So, buying a NOS bike may be your best-bet ...

By my observation, the model year ENDS at the end of June ...

And so, a 2015 (for example) bike was a year old on July 1st of 2015 and should cost only 80%-or-less of the MSRP.

A two year old NOS bike should probably be only about 70%-or-less of the MSRP.

A three year old NOS bike should probably be 60%-or-less of MSRP.

Et cetera.

YOU need to decide how you want to use the bike(s ... different bikes may be preferred for different riding situations IF one can afford it) AND how much you want to spend.

If you can afford a Colnago OR Pinarello, well, those may be the best choice for someone with deep pockets ...

While they would be great as a racing platform (unless it is CX and any falls will probably not be on pavement), if you aren't a sponsored rider then they will be a bit expensive to replace if you race-and-have-the-misfortune-to-crash.

Shimano components are still the standard ...

105-or-better is preferred by most people ...

Some people love SRAM components ...

However, I would generally avoid their products ...

Generally, FWIW, I prefer Campagnolo's components ...

IMO, the difference between Carbon Fiber & Aluminum (as far as the ride of most contemporary frames for most riders) is mostly weight & cost & (possibly) bragging rights.
 
I am also in search of my future bike but I am not in hurry. Threads like this is a big help in my gathering of data. However, I cannot understand some terms because I am not really well versed in the details of the bike. My only rule in acquiring a bike is the feel and the fit. If the saddle is comfortable and the balancing is not a problem then that is good enough for me. I had handled a bike that was too difficult to balance, I don't know why but I think it is the handlebars.
 
Trek OCLV numbers threw me off at one time.

When Trek makes a frame, the number has to do with how many voids are allowed in that area of material.

Like 600, so many voids (pits and air bubbles) allowed in 600 units of the tube. I forgot what 600 stands for, MM, cm etc?

So 700 means that they are only allowed so many voids allowed in 700 units of material. That is why the 700 is more expensive than the 600, same amount of voids in a bigger section of material making it higher quality stronger carbon tubes.
 
Mr. Beanz said:
Trek OCLV numbers threw me off at one time.

When Trek makes a frame, the number has to do with how many voids are allowed in that area of material.

Like 600, so many voids (pits and air bubbles) allowed in 600 units of the tube. I forgot what 600 stands for, MM, cm etc?

So 700 means that they are only allowed so many voids allowed in 700 units of material. That is why the 700 is more expensive than the 600, same amount of voids in a bigger section of material making it higher quality stronger carbon tubes.
I have no idea where you're getting this information, but I'm confident that your source is hardly authoritative.
 
oldbobcat said:
I have no idea where you're getting this information, but I'm confident that your source is hardly authoritative.

I was told by a Trek rep when they replaced my frame under warranty. He probably didn't know what he was talking about.
 
Corzhens said:
I am also in search of my future bike but I am not in hurry. Threads like this is a big help in my gathering of data. However, I cannot understand some terms because I am not really well versed in the details of the bike. My only rule in acquiring a bike is the feel and the fit. If the saddle is comfortable and the balancing is not a problem then that is good enough for me. I had handled a bike that was too difficult to balance, I don't know why but I think it is the handlebars.
FYI. If a bike is difficult to balance-or-steer, then it is likely the fork was damaged (it's not always easy to see) ...

While I think it may have been less likely (because it is generally easy to feel), it may simply have been the headset was loose ...

Also, even less likely (because it is easy to see) is that the rear wheel wasn't set in the frame properly OR the frame, itself, might have been bent.
 

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