Road Frame

[-Adam-]

Well Paul, the thing is, when HM's Governemnet decided to rob us of £3000 a year for fees (which is a daylight bleedin' robbery given the quality of tuition i have experienced so far...). They also decided to give us the chance to apply for a maintenance loan. Now due to the income of my parents being over £37,500 i am only eligible for the least amount available.

However, its not all doom and gloom as my Parents have kindly offered to pay for my tuition fees for me, meaning i therefore just have to 'live'.

Now for those of you who dont know, i study building surveying. And thus, should get a very well paid job come graduation, and so the 'burdon' of student debt does not weigh so heavily on my mind as it does others. My best friend at Uni literally has to scrape the money together for uni, as she has no parents and the social services are obviously incompetent. Anyway i digress.

So basically, without working, i have an annual income of £3,303 thanks to tax payers like your and myself. give with one hand and take away with the other and all that. Then you have to take into account that i work part time in the Chalk Lane Hotel of Epsom (I highly recommend it by the way, weddings, funerals... the works). I have worked there for nearly 4 years and thus have a very close relationship with the management, especially as my best friend is the owner.

Added to this, i work almost every week i am not in uni as a trainee surveyor for a firm called CalfordSeaden. Thus, i do alrite for myself.

You must also bear in mind that i am not your typical student, i spend more money eating well than i do getting drunk. It would be a little counter productive wouldnt it.

Furthermore, i am not even 20 yet (well, almost anyway). Im single (its cheaper and way more fun), and i dont have children or any family to support, nor a mortgage to pay. just a run around car to maintain and tax and insure etc. so you see really, i probably have more disposable income than you may think. the apparent babyboom doesnt help some of you!

Thus, my passion is my bike, and while i am young and fit enough to make good use of top equipment, why the hell shouldnt i!!!??? Its much better than watching a fat 50something strain a ludicrously lightweight bike.

If it helps, i do plan what i spend, and seem to do very well. I have been at this cycling game for 3years now, in which time i have bought and paid for everything for my chosen sport. believe me, this is not an area where my parents help me out. not that they should, i am old enough to make and finance my own decisions. NO?

[-Adam-]

Wait for it...

[Marek]

Save your pennies, the building trade is cyclical, by the time you get out of university we will be hitting a recession and all the building jobs that are left will go to the poles. All the other building jobs will disappear as people don't want to build or buy houses when there is no money. Always look on the bright side, at least you will be fit.

Cheers

Marek...

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

Thanks for that educational lesson Adam. As I am currently supporting both Ian and Sarah through Uni, (Mark has already completed his degree), I am well versed in uni finances.

Also, I didn't say you shouldn't spend the cash, just that generally (from personal experience) students do not have money to spend.

I guess I almost qualify as the fat 50 something you had in mind, so perhape I'd better not treat myself?

Now, back to the thread....De Rosa, Ridley or Scott, Lightweight, Zipp??????

There is just too much choice.

Paul

[-Adam-]

Paul, you are certainly not a fat 50 something! when i finish ahead of you in a road race, then we'll talk! I was just making a general point.

I work my ass off to spend money on my bike. End Of.

[-Adam-]

Oh and marek, the whole economy is cyclical!

At least in surveying, i deal with all the sh!t that already exists in our built environment, and even by the time i retire, probably at least 70% of the current UK building stock will still be standing, thanks to people like me!

[Robh]

Cervelo R3 or R3 SL

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

Cervelo Soloist Carbon, if ££££££££'s were ££££££££££££££££££'s, but have to draw the line somewhere, not forgetting that lovely Record Groupset (duck)

303's or 404's -
There's a question.

Paul

[Graham O]

This all seems a little heated....

The only thing I would say is that times don't really change. I spent my first student loan on a diving dry suit and used it to go and dive some fantastic ship wrecks around the UK. I wouldn't change that for the world

Ps - also worked in crappy jobs through summers..

Think that the cervelo is interesting, but if I were spending 2 grand I would want to get more than 6 years out of it. I would get a litespeed vortex.

[Robh]

The Cervleo's have a life time warranty so if after 6 years it breaks your ok. Whereas the Scott only has a 5 year quarantee.

Buy the groupset online instead of a LBS much cheaper.

Zipp hubs arent too hot, not sure if they have been improved on recently. Lots of issues with play.

Wheels if you want some deep 50mm rims (tubs) similar to the 404 which are about 58mm you could try custom built M5 wheels which would work out cheaper and same weight. I heard a price quoted of 1080 euro's (£735).

Have a look at this link talks about the M5 rims :-

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/phpBB ... hp?t=28936

http://www.m5-ligfietsen.nl/site/EN/

Pic of a Cervelo R3:-
[img]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t209/sbc205/cervelor36250006dr1.jpg[/img]

Look 585 :-
[img]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t209/sbc205/Look585.jpg[/img]

Scott Addict :-
[img]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t209/sbc205/addictetscale001ia3.jpg[/img]

Colnago Extreme:-
[img]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t209/sbc205/Colnago.jpg[/img]

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

Rob,
Cool pics

the Cervelo is mouthwatering, (My wife likes the wall as the best background ) and the Scott must be under UCI weight with that kit. The Lightweights are sublime, but for my money, don't work with the look frame. Colnagos are nice, but a tad heavy in Kg and £

The M5's are of particular interest. i have cheched the website, but cannot find built wheels. Do you have any info you could send?

paul.tunnell@landg.com

Thanks
paul

[Andrew G]

Simple really Paul, go to Dauphin, Pearson's, Sigma, and GBs see what you like and take as many test rides as possible. For this money they should be falling over themselves to help you.

The Cervelo's are fantastic and I think the Alu Soloist is pretty light unless your dead set on carbon.

I guess you have a certain loyalty to Pearson's (great shop) but with the ACC discount GBs has got to be a strong contenter, particularly as they do Look, Pinerello, and Cervelo frames. Don't know if George's delay is the shop or Bianchi themselves.

Think you're right about the lightweights on the Look, ironically they make it look heavy.

[Marek]

Does anybody know the weight differential between the Alloy Cervelo Soloist and the Carbon Soloist?

Cheers

Marek...

[Robh]

Hi Paul,

I've dropped M5 an email about built wheels will let you know their reply.

Otherwise I will most probably buy the parts and get someone to build them up as I have a Powertap hub I need the rear rim built onto.

Rob

P.S The R3 looks good in flesh saw one in Dauphins last week. Also they have a SLC-SL there as well built up.

[Robh]

[quote="Marek"]Does anybody know the weight differential between the Alloy Cervelo Soloist and the Carbon Soloist?

Cheers

Marek...