What to buy?? $5000 limit



M

Michael Day

Guest
OK want carbon. There are quite a few options. Haven't been riding long enough to know all the ins
and outs and would appreciate some help. $5000 is the budget - not even 1 dollar over.

thanks in anticipation
 
Sorry mate to spend more than your budget , but I got a 2004 Giant TCR Composite 0 for $5600 with full durace 2004 & Mavic Ksyrium SLL.

You could go for the 2004 Giant TCR Composite 1 which comes with ultegra and Mavic Ksyrium - this should be well under 5k


or phone around your local giant bike shops and see if you could get hold of a 2003 Giant TCR Composite 0 - should get a good deal on that model
 
"Michael Day" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> OK want carbon. There are quite a few options. Haven't been riding long enough to know all the ins
> and outs and would appreciate some help. $5000
is
> the budget - not even 1 dollar over.

Why the carbon lust? Don't get me wrong, I'd love a carbon machine, if only to test it out, just
curious...

Here's one: http://www.flyingfurniture.com.au/picture_m5carbon.html

;-)

$5k is a lot to drop if you haven't been riding long. You didn't actually say, but I assume you mean
road bike and not mtb or something?

Giant, Trek, Cervelo, Fondriest, Colnago, Look, and many many others all make nice carbon bikes,
Giant and Trek being the most common by far and easiest to actually buy.

http://www.cbdcycles.com.au/shop/Shop/bikes/Giant2003Road
http://www.fraserscycles.com.au/Road_Bikes_Trek.htm

I think you might need to think about this a little more and post with more details of what type of
riding you do and more specifics on what you want?

Do you have existing parts that could be used on a new frame?

hippy
 
Originally posted by Michael Day
OK want carbon. There are quite a few options. Haven't been riding long enough to know all the ins
and outs and would appreciate some help. $5000 is the budget - not even 1 dollar over.

thanks in anticipation


G'day,

$5k all up, probably doesn't give you too many choices in Carbon. Off hand, the 'Hyundai' Giant TCR (is it 1?), Ultegra spec?. Probably a Trek, maybe the 5200, again with an Ultegra Spec. RU married to carbon?. With 'only' $5k to spend you are probably better off looking at a different frame & thus have soemthing extra to spend on the 'go faster' components, like wheels & gruppo. You racing it? What level RU at?,

cheers,

Hitchy
 
Originally posted by Michael Day
OK want carbon. There are quite a few options. Haven't been riding long enough to know all the ins
and outs and would appreciate some help. $5000 is the budget - not even 1 dollar over.

thanks in anticipation

not sure if they do a full carbon but definetely do a dual Alu/Carbon - ORBEA. beautiful handpainted frames and VERY price competitive
 
Originally posted by Michael Day
OK want carbon. There are quite a few options. Haven't been riding long enough to know all the ins
and outs and would appreciate some help. $5000 is the budget - not even 1 dollar over.

thanks in anticipation

not sure if they do a full carbon but definetely do a dual Alu/Carbon - ORBEA. beautiful handpainted frames and VERY price competitive (and not EVERY joe has em!)
 
"Hitchy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> $5k all up, probably doesn't give you too many choices in Carbon. Off hand, the 'Hyundai' Giant
> TCR (is it 1?), Ultegra spec?. Probably a Trek, maybe the 5200, again with an Ultegra Spec. RU
> married to
carbon?.
> With 'only' $5k to spend you are probably better off looking at a different frame & thus have
> soemthing extra to spend on the 'go
faster'
> components, like wheels & gruppo. You racing it? What level RU at?,

Yeah, I just had a quick skim around.. there's not much in the way of 'cheap' carbon bikes out
there! I thought they'd be MUCH cheaper nowadays with the higher volumes being produced and their
popularity (e.g. Trek and Lance). I'd like to test ride one of the Giants...

hippy Steel is real, but so is Al and Ti and carbon and Mg and Scandium and Beryllium and wood and
fibreglass and all combinations of the above... ;-)
 
You could just buy a frame and sit on the couch with it and place a fan blowing in your face to imagine how fast you would be going:D :D :D
 
Originally posted by flyingdutch
not sure if they do a full carbon but definetely do a dual Alu/Carbon - ORBEA. beautiful handpainted frames and VERY price competitive (and not EVERY joe has em!)

They do a full carbon model called the Orca. I prefer the Alu/Carbon frames. They start with Mitis which is their own inhouse tubing but comes with the full warranty that all the others have. Then there's Mitis with carbon stays. Everything else is Columbus tubing. They're very nice frames and have a very sweet ride. Totally comfortable. The paint work is fantastic although the 2004 models have reduced the range of colours available. You can basically build a bike up with these frames for a fraction of what others would cost.
 
Originally posted by Paul J
They do a full carbon model called the Orca. I prefer the Alu/Carbon frames. They start with Mitis which is their own inhouse tubing but comes with the full warranty that all the others have. Then there's Mitis with carbon stays. Everything else is Columbus tubing. They're very nice frames and have a very sweet ride. Totally comfortable. The paint work is fantastic although the 2004 models have reduced the range of colours available. You can basically build a bike up with these frames for a fraction of what others would cost.

think i saw an 'orca' last night at the kew crits. Is it orange/blue?

looked weally nice
 
On Wed, 3 Mar 2004 18:11:44 +1100, "Michael Day" <[email protected]> wrote:

>OK want carbon. There are quite a few options. Haven't been riding long enough to know all the ins
>and outs and would appreciate some help. $5000 is the budget - not even 1 dollar over.
>
>thanks in anticipation

The Giant TCR1 is awesome value for what you get. Full carbon frame, Ksyrium SSC SL, FSA Carbon
crank, Full Ultegra, Easton oversize bars etc. The latest edition of Ride had a writeup in the back.

I reckon no other carbon pricepoint can beat it. A Trek 5200 might come close dollarwise if you
can haggle.

davidp.
--
David Pascoe, [email protected], Western Australia
 
Thanks for all the replies. Ride with a fairly good group at about B-C grade level. Doing about 300km p/week so want something substancially better than the anvil I'm lugging around at the moment.

Seems that the Giant 04 Composite 1 or 0 at 4k and 5.7K respectively might be the best buys around. Looking forward to any further comments though!
 
I think you will find that the Giant TCR 1 'only' comes with the Mavic Ksyrium Elite wheel set
 
Can you carry over any components from your old bike to keep costs down?
Or do you want a whole new bike?
If the latter, you are restricted to the Giant; I am pretty sure the Trek 5200 is over $5K.
If the former, you could get the Trek 5200, Bianchi XL, Look KG 361 or 461, Kestrel Talon or others as a frameset and build up from there. the Bianchi has the advantage (?) of being monocoque.
 
I have just gone through a similar situation to yourself but was looking at the $4000 - $4500 range
for a carbon fibre bike. I only compared the Giant TCR1 Composite and Trek 5200 (looked at the TCR0
too but more than I wanted to pay), and chose the TCR1 on price and features, and the write-ups were
good. I am not a racer, just enjoy riding and do alot of it and wanted a fairly decent bike.

Remember to factor in additional items such as pedals, speedo, bidon cages, shoes etc to the total
price, and also remember, never ever pay retail! You should be able to purchase the total package
for a 10% - 15% discount on retail by knowing what you want before you enter the shop, haggling, and
being prepared to purchase on the spot if given a deal you are happy with.

"Michael Day" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> OK want carbon. There are quite a few options. Haven't been riding long enough to know all the ins
> and outs and would appreciate some help. $5000
is
> the budget - not even 1 dollar over.
>
> thanks in anticipation