Show your Bicycles.....

strtdv

The Canyons seem to have been hit by the exchange rate, mine is £500 more now than when I bought it. They don't really do anything disc for under £2k either.
They're fantastic bikes though, and decent value even at the higher price.

I went back to CRC to have a look at both the alloy and carbon Cube Agree Disc.
I don't love the colour of the carbon one in person, it's very flat/matt and the black on the alloy one with green pinstriping looks much smarter.
A band on front derailleur on a carbon frame strikes me as odd too.


I've up to about £1k earmarked for a bike now, but ideally would spend a bit less than that.
I reckon I'll buy one of the two. I'll just hold out a couple more weeks to see if either gets reduced further.
If the alloy Attain went under £750 I'd buy it straight away, and similarly if the Attain GTC hit the £900 mark I'd buy it straight away.
I guess it's a waiting game for 3 weeks.

Niallmo

Yeah, I'm waiting for my current scheme to end, watching 2016 bikes go out of stock, however there should be some good 2017 deals after xmas.  Evans have a 2016 BMC Team Machine alloy ALR with part 105 for just under £1k and they have the Sora Carbon SLR for the same although it's in a weird green colour. I was tracking an alloy Colnago Zero but OOS in my size now. I'll probably end up with a B'Twin.

Dan86

Latest build.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20852209/IMG_2399s.jpg

strtdv

The Cube Attain still hasn't gone on sale. I'm holding out though, I reckon it will in the next week or two, so no point in rushing to buy now, particularly as everywhere seems to have plenty of stock.

I almost bought a Vitus Zenium SL Disc at £699 (RRP £1299), but the TRP mechanical disc brakes put me off. They're probably as good as mechanical disc brakes can be, but in my view mechanical disc brakes are a dead end.

Niallmo

Great ride today, did a bit of exploring on some trails and tracks, fun with 25c Gatorskins. Crud Road Racer 3's fitted. 

Has definitely put put me towards an Adveture bike rather than just Road.  Need to put some CX knoblies back on the 29'er but not full on 2.2 inch tyres. Still want a bit of road use from it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/Niallmo/Bicyles/7382068C-EFA5-4E25-A014-26F94B4E85B9_zpsrkwxk40s.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/Niallmo/Bicyles/36EC5CE0-6889-4054-A3B1-C73DAE6BB83C_zpsq4iobhaw.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v375/Niallmo/Bicyles/3BC56271-A622-4E6E-99F6-4AD939C231C3_zpsjhr60f06.jpg

strtdv

Dan86 said:

Latest build.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20852209/IMG_2399s.jpg

As a roadie, I have no idea what I'm looking at, but it looks very sharp and the 1x setup appeals a lot.

I see Shimano have brought out an XT Di2 system which can work on either a 2x or a 1x with a single shifter.




I still have £1k burning a hole in my pocket, but waiting until Friday

The 2017 Giant Defy Advanced 2 has me lusting over it somewhat. It's a fair bit more expensive than last years model, but does have hydraulic brakes and a 105 crankset rather than a non-series one. Looks great too, and the Defy is an excellent bike.
It's way over budget though, and I reckon the Cube should be 99% as good (both weigh about 9kg as well, not lightweight but not the worst I guess).

Niallmo

I still reckon the GT Grade X is still in the lead followed by the Cube Attain GTC. My only concern is why do I need the Charge Cooker 29'er if I get the GT?  They'd be for exactly the same thing....

maidenfan

Dan86 said:

Latest build.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20852209/IMG_2399s.jpg

Is that a remedy frame? I'd be interested to know what else you did to it, and why?

strtdv

@Niallmo have you seen the Felt V55 on sale at Wiggle? Clearance for 40c tyres, Ultegra groupset with RS505 brakes, £950 (down from about £1700). I was pretty tempted but in the end decided I didn't need the big tyre clearance and wanted carbon and thru axles.

I bought the GTC today, it'll hopefully be here by the mid/end of next week. I've also ordered the cubeguard mudguards for it, which apparently fit 28c.
I was also looking at a Cannondale Synapse Alloy Adventure Disc which was rather nice and very good value at £840 for Rival groupset including hydraulic brakes, but the mudguards can only fit 25c, 

TTBZ

Where's everyone based, any mtb'ers in the east midlands looking for some riding buddies? I could do with some motivation to get out riding mine more as I tend to stick to roads! I mostly just ride at Woburn Sands on the DH trails but looking to get more xc miles in these days as well as new dh stuff! 

Niallmo

@strtdv yes, seen the V55. Tempting. I have a wish list at Wiggle with that, the Felt Z5 and the GT. I did see the Synapse too but similarly I'd want to go 28c minimum and I'm just not sure about the colour.  Plenty of really good bikes about at <£1k including the Cube and I'm sure whatever I get will be pretty damn good.  Confirmed with work that I can apply for a new Cycletowork plan on the 15th December.

Black Friday got me. Castelli Gabba 2 in Drive Blue with matching Evoluzione bib shorts for £105.

im also very impressed with the LED lights I got for a fiver in Aldi. USB charging and VERY BRIGHT!

Niallmo

Really like that Zenium too...

strtdv

Yeah there's loads around for sub £1k at the moment. To be honest, I spent a little more than I ideally would have, I was hoping for more like £900, but decided the internal cable/brake line routing and nicer frame probably justified the extra £100.
I can see myself getting a nice set of Hunt wheels in a couple of years for the GTC, whereas for the alloy SL I couldn't really.

The Zenium is great value for full Ultegra, although I deliberately stuck with 105 as the drivetrain is going to be getting lots of grit and salt on it, so wearing quicker than on the summer bike, and I wanted to keep replacement parts cheap.

Niallmo

Had an email to say my Cyclescheme is finished and I can apply again! The day after Wiggle have put up the price of the GT Grade over the £1k limit!

Anyway. I'll go back through all the options today and maybe order something tonight.

BigMonka

A couple of my recent cycling photos:

57Deluxe

fancy one of these Volts... the off road version that does 23mph though...

http://www.voltbikes.co.uk/images/e-bikes/bigfoot-fat-tyre-electric-bike-diagonal.jpg

Niallmo

I appear to have ordered a Felt Z5. Don't know wether work will authorise yet as much last salary deduction for the 29'er is the 15th.

8.3 kg worth of carbon, full shimano 105.

Niallmo

http://www.wigglestatic.com/product-media/5360108764/Felt-Z5-2016-Road-Bikes-Carbon-White-806372209.jpg?w=1600&h=1600&a=7

strtdv

Looks good! They attempted delivery of my Cube today but sadly didn't leave it with the neighbour (unlike every other delivery service I've ever used). Might have to wait in tomorrow for it as TNT will only attempt twice!

strtdv

Cube arrived! Have put it together, got the matching mudguards on and had a quick spin on it.

Compared to my Canyon it's much more endurance focused whereas the Canyon is really more of a comfy race bike. The Cube is a good 30mm taller at the front, definitely more of an upright position. The Cube also has very slightly flared drops and pretty wide tyre clearance and will probably work as a gravel bike with some larger tyres.

First impressions:

The good:
-Build quality seems very good
-Comfortable but stiff frame, rides really well
-105 groupset good as expected, really doesn't feel like much of a step down from Ultegra
-Disc brakes are great, powerful but good modulation. In the dry the modulation isn't quite as good as Ultegra rim brakes but in the wet they're much better
-Hoods may look a bit odd but they're very comfortable
-Once up to speed you don't really notice the weight at all
-Plenty of stability from the relatively long wheelbase but still turns sharply enough

The bad:
-RS505 shifters aren't as good as 105, can only shift up 2 at a time rather than 3, and shifting feel isn't as good (although seems perfectly reliable)
-Wheels are heavy and slow to spin up, may change them for some Hunt 4 Season wheels eventually
-Alloy seatpost is heavy and stiff, I'll probably change it for a more flexible carbon one. Not a big deal but it wouldn't be a big stretch to expect a carbon seatpost on a £1500 carbon bike

Other thoughts:
If anyone is looking at a Cube be aware their sizing is odd. They seem to use the actual top tube measurement as the frame size rather than the effective top tube length. I bought a 58, and the effective top tube length is very slightly over 56cm, so you may need a size bigger than you think.

Also, through axles are the way forward with discs. The axles are really only minimally heavier than QR skewers but really stiffen the fork.

I'll get some photos up later

Update:
Went for a short 35 minute ride this afternoon. I've not been on the bike in exactly 1 month, and only done a little running and some strength training in that time, so I'm definitely deconditioned a bit!
It's definitely not as fast flat out as the Canyon (although my legs aren't at their best after the month break!), I'd say you find yourself using a gear easier, probably due mostly to wind resistance from the more upright position, and maybe a little rolling resistance from the cheaper tyres. It's comfy though, and the Cube saddle is good and grippy on your bib tights. I was going to put my Fizik Alliante VS on it but I think I'll leave the cube saddle there for the time being.

The brakes are really excellent, they just get better as they bed in. You can go harder as you have the confidence to know you'll be able to stop in a hurry. I locked the rear wheel once, but even doing that you can confidently just release a bit and get it to the limit of grip. I'm very impressed, and won't be going back to using rim brakes in the wet.

At 9kg it's not a featherweight, although not bad either for a disc brake road bike, but a lot of the weight seems to be coming from the stock wheels. The Fulcrum wheels are nearly 2kg for a pair, so shaving 500g off that shouldn't be too hard, Hunt do several disc wheelsets at around the 1500g mark that aren't too expensive (£350-450). That would take the bike down to more like 8.5kg, which is comparable to something like a Felt VR3 or Cannondale Synapse Disc Ultegra, so not bad at all for about £1400 all in.

New tyres and upgrading the chainset, derailleurs and cassette to Ultegra, and the seatpost and bars to carbon ones and going tubeless would save about another 500g but you're really getting into diminishing returns at that point.