New bike

[Paul on the Pearson]

Not been on the bike much of late, in fact its been so long I'll probably have to use stabilizers to get the hang of it again. In the last week have started a new job and moved from Brixton to the inner city ghettos of Grove Park where the phychotic, rabid pigeons have been replaced with flocks of dayglow green parrakeets and now have an address with the word Meadows in it. Right, to get to the point:- Its time for a new bike. Any advice would be greatfully recieved. Whats good or bad or best avoided etc. The budget is roughly 1600 ish quid at the most. A carbon frame seems a good idea as most of the riding I do, or rather did, is long distance so comfort is an issue. I would also like to avoid the usual suspects and ride out into the hills on something a little more esoteric than a Giant, Trek or Specialized although these are perfectly good bikes. The best bet value for money wise at the moment seems to be the Omega matrix with centaur groug set, I like the idea of Campag as opposed to Shimano although nothing is set in stone, at £1425 and could upgrade the wheels from zonda to SSC SL2 for an extra 200 quid. Or keep the zondas and get chorus. Any suggestions???
Thanks
Paul.

[virek]

Paul,

take a look at Pearsons (http://www.pearsoncycles.co.uk) they've got a nice bike for £1699. Its Shimano, but they're nice guys (no pun intended) and would do a deal on Campag.

I have their Carbon frame, the one used for this bike, and I can tell you it is fscking excellent. Its the eny of the Martinique Peleton I'm told!!

My 2 cents.

Matthew

[Marek]

Blimey, I never thought I would say this but that Carbon Omega looks like a really brilliant price. Omega are renowned for their budget Titanium frames, and I don't know too much about the quality of the carbon with this frame. You may want to take a look around for a review of the bike first, I seem to remember someone testing it recently but cannot remember who.

In your thread you ask what you should go for the wheel upgrade or go for Chorus. I think that a good pair of wheels is far more important than a slightly swankier groupset. What I would say is that the Chorus carbon ergo levers look great and do shift noticably better than the centaur ones, I have no idea why, maybe it is just that they look so good that you think they shift better.

On the wheels vs groupset upgrade I think that the wheel argument is based around better strength, aerodynamics and weight. I don't think that the difference between centaur and chorus is as much as the difference between the two sets of wheels you are looking at. I may be wrong so you can check that out.

If you can get them to upgrade the levers as well then you will have yourself a really fantastic bike which I think is a bargain at the price. They are based in Brighton so why don't you go and try one before you buy.

Cheers

Marek....

[Phil N]

Hi Paul,

I recently replaced my faithful old Yellow Battaglin with a Geoffry Butler Carbon 7
(see http://www.gbcycles.co.uk/eshop.asp?wci ... 7+FRAMESET ).

[img]http://www.gbcycles.co.uk/PIX/MAIN/f03gbc7-m.jpg[/img]

With Campag Veloce 10 speed groupset, ITM Millenium bars & Stem, handbuilt Open Pro CD wheels etc. All for a tad under £1300 a bargain I recon!

The frame is Aliminum with a complete carbon rear and fork, it rides well and is very comfortable compared to the solid Ali job I had previously, I am quite happy on it on long rides.

Worth a look surely!

I must admit it looks very similar to the Condor that Sean has suggested.

I am not out next weekend (18th) but will be back the weekend after if you want a look.

Good Luck!

Phil.

[Rob]

paul

whatever you buy, try get it from butlers!
not only will they do you a deal which will match the others....if you buy an inhouse frame, theyre all from the same factory anyway!

and remember the shop that stocks your kit, welcomes you after every ride, and gives untold discounts to every member in yellow!

[Paul on the Pearson]

Thanks for all of that. Will start by taking a trip to Pearsons to look at the omegas and their own carbon frame which always seem to get good reviews.

[AodanH]

For a custom made steel frame you could go to Roberts in Croydon and then take it to someplace like Butlers to get built up. I did this 3-4 years ago and got an Ultegra bike for a total of £1500.

It might be a bit heavier than an alu/carbon frame but it will be unique and will feel right when cycling. You can even chose your own colour. (The difference in weight is unlikely to be more than a 500ml water bottle, even less if he uses that new Colombus tubing.)