Carbon Fibre & Electronic Gears? They're Just Too Fragile, Mate
- Thread starter Smokin Joe
- Start date
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Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Waiting until Windows 17 is released.
Jameshow
Veteran
My bike Cannondale six carbon cost me £300 a decade ago and is bomb proof.
Done lejog and c2c and loads of centuries on it.
HMS_Dave
Grand Old Lady
I'm clearly biased but there is no chance id trust it though, especially when I was 25 stone and just starting out.
OP
OP
Smokin Joe
Squire
- Location
- Bare headed cyclist, Smoker
I wouldn't try it on a steel bike from Argos either.
HMS_Dave
Grand Old Lady
Good point!
JD_bike_rider
Member
- Location
- UK
I like SRAM AXS but carrying 2-3 spare batteries and a charger seems a bit silly for this type of trip, vs old school cable gears.
Ian H
Ancient randonneur
There's nothing wrong with Argos cycles https://argoscycles.com/
Rusty Nails
We remember
- Location
- Living in the slow lane
Pretty certain that financial support from SRAM (and Specialized) would have helped in the decision about bike and gears.
My 91 year old brother has just had his car serviced at a cost of around £500, comes out the same every year, his insurance with Saga is £980 a year, his mileage last year was 180 miles, all driven for him by hs neighbour as he is not able to drive at the moment due to eyesight problems. Its a 2009 Mazda 3 worth maybe a couple of grand. The one person he never listens to for advice is his little business minded street wise brother.
StuAff
Silencing his legs regularly
- Location
- Portsmouth
Nowhere near £20,000. The Roubaix is only available as a frameset in the top of the line S-Works version. £4,750 in the UK. According to BikeRadar, however, the bike might have been the lower spec frame used on the other versions- a bit more weight but possibly more durable (this is not confirmed). Specialized, I imagine, will have supplied her with a frameset at cost price regardless. The 105 version of the 'ordinary' frame' is £3k. SRAM Red: £3k list price, including a Hammerhead Karoo. 303 Firecrests: less than £2k. And the rest of the build wasn't extraordinary spec either.
Most ultradistance riders these days are using electronic shifting- I met Matthew Falconer (veteran of multiple TCRs, including a podium) waiting for the ferry at Dieppe a few months back. Running AXS and had a few spare batteries with him. He was very happy with it. Lael was staying in hotels at least every other night, so charging no problem. As for servicing, no cables to stretch or break and there were numerous visits to LBSs in any case, given the need for replacement chains, cassettes, tyres….
- Location
- The TerrorVortex
In all fairness, my last two tours I had to charge batteries every night.
That's bike touring for you...
That's bike touring for you...
There's also the argument that electronic gears are far less fatiguing than mechanical gears, it's obviously not an issue when doing a single day's ride but when you are doing hundreds of miles a day I can see that it would add up. It's the same reason that I would prefer full hydraulic brakes for longer rides - even if the braking isn't actually better than rim or mechanical discs, it's just less tiring to use hydraulics for the same braking performance.
HMS_Dave
Grand Old Lady
I've since learned she was sponsored for the journey regardless and her bike was supplied by SRAM and was put together by the technical director at SRAM. Cost in this instance becomes irrelevant as far as the average consumer is concerned. I'm more naively underestimating that all such record attempts are sponsored to some degree anyway.
