What kind of bike should I get?

[HLaB]

When I was in Spain I hired a Canyon bike, iirc they were doing 105 equipped bikes for under 1k Euros, seemed a lot more vfm than the bikes you get in the UK.

 

[vickster]

Orbea bikes are really pretty too - cheaper in Spain?

Ladies Tiagra road

http://www.orbea.com/gb-en/bicis/modelos/aqua_dama_ttg/

Or the Cyclocross

http://www.orbea.com/gb-en/bicis/modelos/terra_alu_ttg/

Just to note, it looks like the smallest Boardman CX is a 50cm frame http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/..._productId_777759_langId_-1_categoryId_165710

 

[fossyant]

Am I assuming it's your cash - if it's the third party, then you can and should be getting the same specification of bike, price rises or not.

 

[GrasB]

Yeah, the Boardman's are nice bikes, and I have considered a cross bike might be what I'm looking for, but Halfords only deliver within the UK, and I haven't got any way of getting it out here.

Wiggle do deliver to Spain & have the Boardman range
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/boardman

 

[lulubel]

Am I assuming it's your cash - if it's the third party, then you can and should be getting the same specification of bike, price rises or not.

It is my money, as it happens, but it isn't really any of your business. I was asking for opinions on bikes, not advice on my insurance claim.

 

[lulubel]

I'm not sure about Spanish bikes being cheaper in Spain. It's usually a case of anything foreign being more expensive here and Spanish brands being the same price as they are outside Spain, but we did get a couple of reasonably priced BH MTBs locally when we first moved here, so it's definitely worth dragging myself round the shops when I feel up to it - I'm still pretty sore at the moment, and don't want to risk driving to Malaga in case hobbling around leaves my legs too sore to drive back.

I'd also like to take a look at BH road bikes before I make a decision. I'd heard good things about them before I even came to Spain, and the MTBs we bought are nice bikes.

In the mean time, I have a few other things to investigate further, including Ribble (your wife's bike is very pretty, derrick).

 

[Scoosh]

I didn't realise that. Wiggle automatically defaults to UK for me until I log in, for some weird reason. I'm not totally sure about them, though. They all seem to be compact chainsets, and I don't think Wiggle stock small enough sizes for me. (Although I'd obviously try contacting them about sizes if I definitely wanted a Boardman.)

Boardman road bikes use SRAM Double-tap system shifters. I have SRAM Rival on my road bike and like it (the double-tap as well as the bike ) - but I had only used downtube shifters before .

SRAM double-tap only comes with a double chainring BUT ...

SRAM Apex comes with a 50/34 chainring and 11-32 cassette, so gives a lowest gear of 28 inches.

The Trek triple (50/39/30) with 12-30 gives a lowest gear of 26 inches.

Not much in it but it's your hills and your legs . Personally, I work on the principle that, if I can't get up a hill on 34/27, I shouldn't be riding it, so get off and walk !

[best to check my sums ! ]

HTH and GWS

 

[lulubel]

SRAM Apex comes with a 50/34 chainring and 11-32 cassette, so gives a lowest gear of 28 inches.

The Trek triple (50/39/30) with 12-30 gives a lowest gear of 26 inches.

According to Sheldon, my smallest gear on my old setup was 31.7in, so I get smaller gears either way.

More to think about. I think my problem is having too many choices!

 

[lulubel]

I've just discovered that my old bike was VERY small. I contacted Trek, and apparently the effective top tube length was only 49.4 (it's 50.9 on the equivalent new model). I don't think I'm going to find many bikes with a short enough reach for me - and my Trek already has an 80mm stem so there isn't much leeway there.

 

[vickster]

Need to get stretched on the rack

There are plenty of small women's bikes out there - what are the women's Specialized models like? In 2010, they had 44cm and 48cm frames

 

[lulubel]

Yes, the 44cm frame is small enough. Of course, I need the Dolce Elite to get the Tiagra shifters I want, so it's right at the top of my price range, unless I could find a 2011 model in a sale.

I think Ribble also do a frame that's small enough, which might work out a couple of hundred pounds cheaper.

 

[vickster]

Here you go - perfect - 44cm, 2011 Elite for £699 http://www.hargrovescycles.co.uk/products.asp?partno=40183

Plus £80 to deliver to Spain (I dk if that is ok?) http://www.hargrovescycles.co.uk/main.asp?sitepages=shipping#International Delivery

 

[lulubel]

Argh!!!

It would be perfect, and I was getting really excited about that one and ready to get my credit card out .... until looked at the shipping page ....

"However we are not able to ship Specialized or Cube products outside of the UK."

So typical.

There's a small possibility I could get it sent to my brother and he could send it on to me, but it depends a lot on how it's packaged. If the package is too big, it would get into volumetric weight and cost a fortune.

I've emailed Ribble with a few questions about their bike builder service, so I'll wait and see what they say, and then maybe email Hargroves and ask them the weight and dimensions of the packed bike. That's assuming it doesn't sell first, of course!

 

[vickster]

Oh booooo to that Hope it all works out for you

There are other UK sellers who'll deliver to Spain for about £80, e.g. Pedalon via TNT http://www.pedalon.co.uk (they have Cannondale, Scott, Giant) ...but then you may as well just buy in Spain I guess