Pedal Bike/Road bike questions

crankcall

crankcall

Well-known member
Site Supporter
Forum Sponsor
There is a lot of pedal bikers in here , I'm replacing a 20yr old Bianchi carbon / Campy chorus drivetrain bike. Its been delightful but is becoming vintage Ferrari in maintenence.
Ive sort of narrowed it down to two choices , Cervelo carbon/shimano105/decent wheels $4200ish , Legacy carbon/Shimano ultegra/Carbon wheels 3000ish

so my question is, Cervelo has hydraulic disc brakes , Legacy has rim brakes on carbon wheels. Ive never had discs and its becoming standard everywhere , the bike shop guy says its a never ending debate on disc/rim . For $1200 more is it worth it ? do I have better choices ?

I'm a strickley recreation fitness rider, no one from the tour is calling me. I have zero interest in spending over 5K , or learning bike mecahnics.

Discuss?
 
Definitely go for the discs, if you ever get caught in the rain you'll appreciate it. Discs also give you a wider tire choice (more room in the forks).
There are lots of choices out there for bikes, I personally would go for aluminum frame over carbon because it'll be less expensive and repairable.
If I need to save a few ounces I won't have the extra bagel in the morning. What part of town are you in ? There are lots of local bicycle shops and last time I looked most of them have inventory.
 
Interesting thanks , I can’t afford anything from the Mariposa catalogue. I like carbon, I find aluminum to jarring personally. I hope to never crash it and need repair , but that’s what everyone says .
I’m in Oakville , we have 5 shops within 15kms . Lot of choice but some brands I just don’t like . No reason at all except I never liked Norco as a name .


Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
 
I like discs on mtb. On road bikes, I am indifferent. I am not normally needing high braking effort in the rain. I do not like hydro brakes on bicycles. Too much maintenance (bleeding and fluid changes) for little benefit for me. My mtb has cable discs. They have less feel, they are a little harder to pull than hydro discs but meh. Enough power to lock everything up and can get away with replacing cables and housings every decade if you want.

You're not a dentist. I don't know if you should buy a cervelo or people may make incorrect assumptions about you.

I loved cervelo near the beginning. I have no love for what they have become after the investment group bought them and I would not pay any premium for the name.
 
GreyGhost said:
I like discs on mtb. On road bikes, I am indifferent. I am not normally needing high braking effort in the rain. I do not like hydro brakes on bicycles. Too much maintenance (bleeding and fluid changes) for little benefit for me. My mtb has cable discs. They have less feel, they are a little harder to pull than hydro discs but meh. Enough power to lock everything up and can get away with replacing cables and housings every decade if you want.

You're not a dentist. I don't know if you should buy a cervelo or people may make incorrect assumptions about you.

I loved cervelo near the beginning. I have no love for what they have become after the investment group bought them and I would not pay any premium for the name.
Click to expand...
I used to have hydraulics on my Heckler, when I hung it upside down in the garage for the winter, all the hydraulic fluid would ooze from the masters. I changed it over to cable / disc- perfect.
 
Go discs you wont regret it.
Rim brakes are nonstarters these days also how wide of tires are you planning to run? Rim brakes are limited to what 28?
 
TK4 said:
Specialized has some quality stuff that won't break the bank ?

www.specialized.com

Bikes - Specialized

50 years of innovation poured into your bike. Made by riders, for riders. Shop the best road bikes, electric bikes, and mountain bikes on the market.
www.specialized.com www.specialized.com
Click to expand...
My wife's urban ride is a Specialized Sirrus Carbon, it was less than $3k out the door including setup and fitting. It's been a great trouble-free bike.
 
Dirty Frank said:
Go discs you wont regret it.
Rim brakes are nonstarters these days also how wide of tires are you planning to run? Rim brakes are limited to what 28?
Click to expand...
No hard limit. If you really want to go wide, you could get vbrakes and they won't be your limiting factor. He'll on most road frames, your limit will be tire clearance near the bottom bracket junction.

Why would rim brakes be a non-starter? On a road bike, what are the major downsides? They have enough power. They do chew up your rims but I don't brake enough on a road bike for that to impact the longevity.
 
GreyGhost said:
No hard limit. If you really want to go wide, you could get vbrakes and they won't be your limiting factor. He'll on most road frames, your limit will be tire clearance near the bottom bracket junction.

Why would rim brakes be a non-starter? On a road bike, what are the major downsides? They have enough power. They do chew up your rims but I don't brake enough on a road bike for that to impact the longevity.
Click to expand...
Wet braking with carbon rims and rim brakes will sketch you out. A bit of a delay then good bite not very linear at least that's my experience tried different pads (yes carbon specific) at no avail
The reason that i call rim brakes a nonstarter is rider perception (my brakes suck) and resale (hard sale with rim brakes now and only getting worse)
 
Dirty Frank said:
Wet braking with carbon rims and rim brakes will sketch you out. A bit of a delay then good bite not very linear at least that's my experience tried different pads (yes carbon specific) at no avail
The reason that i call rim brakes a nonstarter is rider perception (my brakes suck) and resale (hard sale with rim brakes now and only getting worse)
Click to expand...
I'm not baller enough for carbon rims. I used to ride with a 65 yo on a late 90's road bike that would practice emergency braking and could stop from TT speed in just over 10'. That was aluminum rims, not sure when mortals could buy carbon rims.

I dont sell bikes so resale doesnt matter to me.
 
I think if i get the right bike I will have it a long time so resale is little consequence. The Legacy has rims that 5yr ago would have cost what the whole bike does now . I have never had discs yet , I hear very good things . The Cervelo certainly does have the dentist /lawyer market in Oakville .


Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
 
When I lived in Vancouver, it rains a lot there, I had wood rims and leather pads for rainy days. I could do stoppies in the rain on 3/4" wide tires (You had to get the brake pads wet or they would just smoke).

OP: If the frame isn't a problem, why not just change components?
 
bitzz said:
When I lived in Vancouver, it rains a lot there, I had wood rims and leather pads for rainy days. I could do stoppies in the rain on 3/4" wide tires (You had to get the brake pads wet or they would just smoke).

OP: If the frame isn't a problem, why not just change components?
Click to expand...
Unless someone like fmj wants to donate some time and surplus parts, it wont be much cheaper. Sure you dont need to buy a new frame but you have moved many hours of labour from offshore to domestic.

I used to have a bike with steel rims and crap single pivot brakes. When wet, it was barely worth wasting the effort to pull them. You could barely get the wheels to lockup on ice.
 
If you don't want to go disc, maybe consider a cyclocross frame with centre pull mountain bike type rim brakes.
Tires are cheaper and easier to change out than components if you don't like them.
 
Well set up decent rim brakes on aluminum rims with good pads are not an issue IMO. Disk is better of course....

On carbon rims I would pass on rim brakes. Expensive rims to wear out the braking surface and not as good stopping IMO. The disk can be replaced when it is done not the entire rim!

My bikes/brakes...

Mountain (Bianchi Reparto Corse): Hydraulic Magura disk
Gravel (Vintage Bianchi Project MTB converted to gravel): Mechanical Tekrto mini-V brakes rim
Fixie (Vintage Bianchi): Vintage Dia-Compe mechanical side pull rim <-- even these flexi bastards are good when set-up.
Road (Giant TCR): Dura Ace mechanical rim

All give me as much stop as I would ever want.
*****
As for your current bike are you sure the Bianchi can't be set up better to be more reliable? Also, unless you are in great shape you may end up over biked with your choices....not an issue of course just not going to make you faster (but it will make you more of a baller).
 
I dont do any group cycling so baller status would only kick in at stoplights. I'm not super fit but do want to be faster, ands i do get a big happy grin with anything that performs well.
I didnt really think about carbon rims wearing, I guess if it ever got to a point of concern I could put another wearlayer around the surface ( I can work with carbonfibre) , but I'd rather not.
@bitzz , excellent point about swapping out the components and yes that is a possibility. Another Campy setup is the price of a new complete bike from another manuf and I'm about a grand for a box of all new Shimano105 , which is 2-3K less than the bikes I'm looking at.

I can say looking at used bikes on the market , folks seem to want 85% of what they spent in return. That seems like a lot.
 
All rims wear out eventually with rim brakes. I have a few sets of aluminum hoops that are done for the road. Some end up as wheels for the trainer, some I rebuilt with new rims, some just get used for spare parts or decoration. Some rims even have wear indicators... Most riders never get there to see it.... Pretty sure adding a layer of carbon fibre will not work BTW...

It is one advantage of disks that rarely gets talked about. When the brake disk is done just replace it, not the entire rim or wheel.

The used bike market went crazy with COVID, it is a supply and demand thing. IMO used bikes are selling in the double to triple pre-COVID used bike value range. Buying new can also be hard as inventory can be scarce. BTW, that will be good for you if you sell your Bianchi....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom