New bike: expensive frame with cheap components vs cheap frame with expensive components?

[AliShah2020]

🍻 This is my "urban road bike."

A bit overkill? Yes... A bit 80s? Well noticed!! I'm an 80s baby and this makes me feel like a kid again!!

This bike makes me feel like a neighbourhood hero! All that's missing is a cape because it flies!!! The tyres (WTB Thickslicks 650b x 2.25) just roll and roll and roll. It absolutely flies. The suspension is absolutely plush for unexpected bumps in the road, hopping on and off speed bumps, bombing downhill roads, park trails etc. It just does it all. Every commute is an adventure and makes me feel awestruck.

I absolutely love this forum I've learned an enormous amount within a few months. Thank you so much for all your input it means a lot and is really appreciated. 😎💟👍🏼

P. S noted about wife being a keeper. 😊😇

P. P. S I park her indoors, and she never leaves my sight unattended outdoors. 😎😁😀😏

 

[Blue Hills]

mm - ali -no real idea what that bike is - I definitely don't think you need that sus round london - if you leave it round london I fear it may end in tears.
I'd keep it for weekend adventures.
(and 650b doesn't sound very 80s to me)
(I favour 90s steel for locking in London)

 

[Pale Rider]

🍻 This is my "urban road bike."

A bit overkill? Yes... A bit 80s? Well noticed!! I'm an 80s baby and this makes me feel like a kid again!!

This bike makes me feel like a neighbourhood hero! All that's missing is a cape because it flies!!! The tyres (WTB Thickslicks 650b x 2.25) just roll and roll and roll. It absolutely flies. The suspension is absolutely plush for unexpected bumps in the road, hopping on and off speed bumps, bombing downhill roads, park trails etc. It just does it all. Every commute is an adventure and makes me feel awestruck.

I absolutely love this forum I've learned an enormous amount within a few months. Thank you so much for all your input it means a lot and is really appreciated. 😎💟👍🏼

P. S noted about wife being a keeper. 😊😇

P. P. S I park her indoors, and she never leaves my sight unattended outdoors. 😎😁😀😏

Good man.

Nice to hear from a proper cyclist instead of the usual poncey pro peloton wannabes who fart in their shorts because Marscapone from Team Mumbo Jumbo says it makes you go faster.

 

[weareHKR]

🍻 This is my "urban road bike."

A bit overkill? Yes... A bit 80s? Well noticed!! I'm an 80s baby and this makes me feel like a kid again!!

This bike makes me feel like a neighbourhood hero! All that's missing is a cape because it flies!!! The tyres (WTB Thickslicks 650b x 2.25) just roll and roll and roll. It absolutely flies. The suspension is absolutely plush for unexpected bumps in the road, hopping on and off speed bumps, bombing downhill roads, park trails etc. It just does it all. Every commute is an adventure and makes me feel awestruck.

That's a lovely looking bike, not a fan of the tire choice or the pedals, each to their own tho.
Aesthetically it looks the DB's, love the frame & the way she stands.
I'll have a look see if I can find one to play with...

 

[simongt]

Definitly a good frame. With two of my bikes, one frame is over forty years old and t'other twenty two years old. Both have had oodles of parts replaced as they've worn out, but the frames are still good. But they are chromoly - !

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Any frame that has survived the rigours of 30 or 40 years or use can probably be described as "good", even if it was at the cheaper end of the market when new. One inevitable consequence about the passage of time and the use of any mechanical contrivance, is it sorts out the wheat from the chaff. The badly fabricated bike frames fail and they get scraped. The car engine that embodied substandard quality components blows up and either it or the whole vehicle it powered, ends up as bean cans. There's a process of attrition at work, and the poor examples of any design fail early on, leaving the best ones to continue working for a very long time. In fact it's one of the advantages of running old secondhand stuff, someone else has done all the long term endurance testing for us. With the latest year models of modern bikes, no-one knows if the design is going to be a lemon, as the current owners are the testers and they will encounter any failures as they occur.

 

[AliShah2020]

@Blue Hills The bike is a Lapierre Edge AM 727 (designed by a French company, assembled by Raleigh UK). I don't lock it anywhere. I keep it with me and never leave it unattended. Even when I go to the barbers, he lets be put it in his shop! 😊

True, not a true 80s bike it's a lot of fun and takes me back to that era.

@weareHKR Hahaha thank you! I love it! I went for aftermarket pedals in "magenta" as I wanted something flash to go with the black frame and yellow decals. I could not think of any other colour that would stand out... Maybe purple pedals? Why don't you like the tyres? Have you tried WTB Thickslicks? They are seriously fun for urban roads!

 

[Pale Rider]

@Blue Hills The bike is a Lapierre Edge AM 727 (designed by a French company, assembled by Raleigh UK). I don't lock it anywhere. I keep it with me and never leave it unattended. Even when I go to the barbeshop, he lets be put it in his shop! 😊

True, not a true 80s bike it's a lot of fun and takes me but to that era.

@weareHKR Hahaha thank you! I love it! I went for aftermarket pedals in "magenta" as I wanted something flash to go with the black frame and yellow decals. I could not think of any other colour that would stand out... Maybe purple pedals? Why don't you like the tyres? Have you tried WTB Thickslicks? They are seriously fun for urban roads!

A hard tail MTB has to be the most versatile bike you can get.

Most of the budget ones have plenty of mounts for guards and carriers, and there's always loads of clearance for different tyres.

Gear range is usually wide, plenty of bottom end and high enough at the top for all but the fastest riders.

Wang some shallow tread or slick tyres on as you've done, and you have a capable town bike.

The sus fork will add weight, but that will only really be felt on restarts and climbs.

Not much climbing in central London, although I would probably put a £100 rigid fork on the front, particularly if my commute involved a lot of junctions and traffic lights.

A fork swap is usually a simple enough job, which is another example of the MTB's versatility.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

The sus fork will add weight, but that will only really be felt on restarts and climbs.

Not much climbing in central London, although I would probably put a £100 rigid fork on the front, particularly if my commute involved a lot of junctions and traffic lights.

A fork swap is usually a simple enough job, which is another example of the MTB's versatility.

Why buy a suspension bike though, and then replace the fork with a rigid one at more expense? If you want a rigid frame, then buy a rigid frame in the first place and save yourself the extra work and costs.

 

[Reynard]

I love MTB's I find them to be gorgeous, and so damn versatile. You can ride them anywhere and they just seem to be unbreakable. If you think there is a better bike for the city, what would it be? A hybrid? A road bike? Any links/names/suggestions please? Truth be told the next bike purchase is for my wife (but likely to be shared among the teenage boys too)... I am lucky, she is the type of woman to be happy with whatever I buy her and trusts I will buy her the best within the price range.

I've just built me this:

Late 90s cromoly MTB frame & forks (Raleigh Max), 8-speed on the back, a Spa Cycles touring triple up front, trigger shifters, Ergon GP2 grips, Schwalbe Road Cruiser tyres. The project included a full strip and re-build, including a new wheelset to take the upgraded drivetrain.

P.S. I'm undertall, so this is a 15 inch frame on 24 inch wheels. Bigger frames can be had. If you're mechanically savvy, this might be a fun way to get a bike tailored to suit.

But my do-it-all bike is a Wiggins Chartres 26 - a well-thought out hybrid that's set up as a tourer / commuter.

I also have a road bike (Wiggins Rouen 650c) which is brilliant fun, but the hybrid is my go-to bike for the bulk of my riding.

 

[AliShah2020]

Good man.

Nice to hear from a proper cyclist instead of the usual poncey pro peloton wannabes who fart in their shorts because Marscapone from Team Mumbo Jumbo says it makes you go faster.

@Pale Rider I've returned to cycling ithis year during the lockdown after a 22 year lay off. I last rode a bike when I was 16 years old and thought: "What bike would I have wanted if I was 16 again?"

As you rightly said no bike is more capable than a good hardtail. That was my starting point, then I did research on getting the best bang for my buck in terms of components vs needs vs value for money. I also ride it like I'm 17 again. No care in the world. Just tearing it up. I get a lot of admiring looks on the bike and I feel great. I've really really missed cycling for over twenty years. 😎😏😀🔥👏👏👏

 

[AliShah2020]

Why buy a suspension bike though, and then replace the fork with a rigid one at more expense? If you want a rigid frame, then buy a rigid frame in the first place and save yourself the extra work and costs.

I could not find a good looking rigid fork MTB. Its as if they have been deliberately phased out by the manufacturers, and or perhaps the general public demand bikes with front suspension and therefor they sell better. I did look high and low and could not find a MTB with a rigid fork. In the end I settled for a hard tail with front suspension. It definitely comes in handy on the rougher terrain and it's the first time I've ever had a bike with suspension so definitely wanted to try the experience. Bikes have come a very very long way since the 1990s. Back when I was a kid front suspension was a new thing and I never got to own one.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Rigid MTB frames are a rarity now, as are British built steel frames in general. This is why I only buy old bikes, not brand new ones. None of the mainstream stuff being made today appeals to me in the slightest. I just look for what I want secondhand, sort out anything that needs doing on them, and keep riding the same sort of bikes that were around when I was a youngster. They did the job back then, they still do the job today but with the benefit of much better tyres that get a lot less punctures than they used to.
Cycling is one of those activities which has fundamentally changed very little over the years. You still have to deal with the vagaries of the weather, the often poor surfaces, and all the other road users you encounter. Same shoot different decade.

 

[weareHKR]

I've just built me this:

View attachment 552855

Late 90s cromoly MTB frame & forks (Raleigh Max)

Nice work, what size is the first chainring (Number of teeth?)
Cheers!

 

[Pale Rider]

This year my family has gotten into cycling all at the same time. I'm looking to buy a third new bike... We are really big into hard tail MTB's as we live in London City and consider MTB's to be the most fun, robust, all rounder urban bike out there.

If you are persuaded by the rigid fork argument, you could look at the Pinnacle Lithium range from Evans.

They have a rufty tufty MTB frame with lots of bosses and clearance, but with a rigid fork.

The tyres on the one I had were an inch and a bit with a shallow tread - just the job for urban riding.

If gear range is important, some of the Lithiums still have a mountain triple.

Bugger, having written this post it looks like Evans have all but dropped the Lithium model range, or it may have gone the journey temporarily due to Covid.

Worth checking the site occasionally if you are in no rush to buy.