Hi,
I am in market for a new Road Bike. Have a Merida 901 that I bought in 2009, and it has served me well so far.
I Ride about 75K on average every week and at times use it to commute locally as well.
I was wondering if Jamis from Anaconda, currently on 40% sale, and will cost me about $900 is a good buy.
Is there anything anything else in the market that represents a better value?
New Bicycle - Road Bike
Hunter80 on 26/12/2016 - 10:18
Comments
Specs and reviews look good. Is it a legit 40% off or the "fluid bike 40% off" aka normal price?
Well, price is 40% of the displayed ticket which is $899 from $1499.
$900 is cheap for a Road bike. I assume you mean the jamis Ventura? I've never seen or ridden one but from the spec sheet it is a low end aluminium framed bike. It has a Tiagra mix groupset and Alex Rims AT470 wheels. It looks pretty basic from the spec sheet.
If you are just after a basic road bike have a look at the many options here:
https://www.bikeexchange.com.au/s/road-bikes?sale-type-ids=0…
There are a load of options from the likes of reid, fuji, polygon.
For cheeaper $$ I would maybe go for something like this:
https://www.bikeexchange.com.au/a/road-bikes/cannondale/vic/…
It has a lower end groupset but probably a much better frame. I would then look on the facebook swap groups for 11 speed groupset bits. 105 bits come up regularly and arent too expensive.
If you wanted it setup straight away with the Tiagra groupset here it is for $50 more than you would pay for the Jamis: https://www.bikeexchange.com.au/a/road-bikes/cannondale/vic/…
Here is something very similar to the bike you are looking at for the same price. I would personally prefer this one as I would be buying it from a proper bike shop and not Anaconda. If you buy from a proper local bike shop (and there are Avanti Plus shops everywhere, its a franchise I think) the guys there would set you up with the right size, maybe give you a basic bike fit to get the poedals adjusted, stem length right, saddle height right etc. and probably help with servicing etc. Without selling the friendly bike dudes at Anaconda short, its probably likely that a local bike shop knows more about bikes. https://www.bikeexchange.com.au/a/road-bikes/avanti/vic/brun…
You could potentially get a higher end bike 2nd hand but there are pitfalls buying 2nd hand bikes, particularly 2nd hand carbon framed bikes. If you know your way around bikes and can tell the difference between a stone chip and a structural crack in a bike frame (and even most of the professionals need to use an x ray machine) then go ahead and chance your hand on the 2nd hand marketplace. Personally I buy a lot of parts 2nd hand but I am not sure how I would feel about taking my chances with a frame folding up underneath me down a hill somewhere at 85+km/hr. Other than that you would want to know about the structural integrity of other bits like carbon wheels, know how to measure the life left in things like stretched chains, worn cranksets and casettes or the life left in braking tracks on aluminium wheels. Additionally you would need to know exactly what size you need to fit your fit geometry. This might be as simple as knowing whether you need a small or medium frame but sometimes it can involve needing a longer stem, a setback seatpost etc etc. Friendly folks in a bikeshop should help with all of this.
I often get tempted with 2nd hand bikes. i bought one once, a 2nd hand Cervelo S3. I got a great deal but on the 2nd and 3rd rides the seatpost kept slipping. I took it to the local cervelo dealer and we both suspected that it had a hairline crack around the seatpost hole on the frame. If it was a new bike it would probably have been a warranty claim, as it was i was stuck ( mind you i paid a fraction of the cost of a new one to buy 2nd hand). In the end I crashed my other bike and got an insurance payout so in a complicated tangle of bike trading only insane cycling addicts would understand I ended up on-selling the cervelo and a bunch of bits to combine with my insurance payout on an even better bike. The point being if you are looking 2nd hand do your homewwork and be prepared.
Hope this helps.
I'm upgrading my commute bike this year, need something decent without blowing the bank. I ride typically 200k a week and don't know the brands/enough to not get ripped off in store. What's your pick for 1000-1500? New.
Currently on a chappelli 3speed. Hills suck.If you don't know, go to several bike shops and see what they have first. You will probably find that most 'bike' brands have a similar model in your price range. Some will be better at A, while some better at B. In the end the big bike brands compete in the same market so have competitive products, which effectively means it's hard to get ripped off if you shop around.
However, you can find good value bikes from some of the up and coming brands from local bike shops importing and marketing their own gear, like Cell or Reid. These bikes will be almost identical to the big bike brands, but wont have the 'label tax' where you pay more because it is a big brand name. The recent Aldi road bike was a good case, apparently a brilliant piece of gear for the price and would have cost twice as much in a brand name.
The vast majority of good quality bicycle frames come out of a few factories worldwide then have different stickers applied at the end. The important components, like derailleur and shifters are largely the same across all brands (Shimano or SRAM) and only the model varies. Less important parts like seatpost, bars, pedal are where some of the brands skimp and it is not as critical to performance of the bike.
In summary: go to some shops, try some bikes for size and buy one that fits you (and your budget). Don't go back to a shop that says a $1k bike is no good you need to spend more. A $1k bike is more than enough for the majority of riders.
By commuting I am assuming you mean inner city bikepaths or cycle lanes, predominantly flat or flat-ish roads most of the time? 200K a week is good for commuting, well done!
I've seen a few Chapellis, nice bikes, kind of fit the whole stylish retro fixie market. A fixie or 3 speed is going to struggle big time on hills but by the same token, if you arent smashing out 3000m of climbing, training for 3 peaks or hammering up the back side of Falls Creek regularly then perhaps you dont need a long cage rear derailleur and an 11-32 cassette either (the opposite extreme).
What type of riding can you see yourself doing? Bikepaths and cycle lanes but maybe with a few more gears for hills? Do you want an upright riding position with flat handlebars or would some drop bars be OK? Do you ride the occasional dirt/gravel path or need something robust to take a few cracked or potholed pavements. Do you leave your bike somewhere secure or would something shiny and vulnerable be a liability to get stolen. I commute from time to time and there is no way I would bring my best bike to work for fear of something happening to it or someone stealing it.
As Euphemistic says below, I dont think there are any of the major brands that are 'Bad'. You will find some people that love Giant bikes or Specialized or Trek but in reality most of the bike makers have a few categories of bike that they compete in, I am not aware of any brands that aer known to be 'bad'. What I would say though is that the 'name' brand bikes hold their value better if you might like to upgrade to a different bike in a few years. You will get more back when it comes time to sell from your used Trek, Giant, Cervelo, Specialized, Focus or Felt than you will from a Reid, Azzuri or Polygon bike. Commuting is not a complicated or high-end part of the market. Normally commuters are lower end bikes as people generally dont want to pay exorbitant sums of money for a lower drag coefficient or a 200g lighter frame or a stiffer carbon layup. You should be able to get a very decent commuter for your range.
If you have some riding to do over some dodgy roads or gravel paths you might consider a 'Gravel' bike. These are normally Cyclocross-esque bikes based on racing bikes but made a bit tougher for dodgy surfaces. They normally have a road bike groupset so plenty of gears for climbing.
Here are some bikes that looked interesting to me in your range:
An aluminium Gravel bike:
https://www.bikeexchange.com.au/a/hybrid-bikes/giant/vic/hei…
More like a Mountainbike with larger 29" wheels but built for commuting, as it is based on a MTB it has the more upright riding position. i would be areful with a MTB for commuting. Things like suspension might be great on the trails but is rarely needed for commuting and realistically is just another weight and energy sapping waste for most roads commuting:
https://www.bikeexchange.com.au/a/cyclocross-bikes/giant/qld…
Lower end cheaper commuting bike but with drop bars and more gears for getting up the hills:
https://www.bikeexchange.com.au/a/road-bikes/giant/vic/sunbu…
Another Gravel bike, looks cool:
https://www.bikeexchange.com.au/a/cyclocross-bikes/kona/vic/…
At the limit of your budget but this is a 'last years model' bike. Focus have a good reputation, this is one of their aluminium bikes but has disc brakes and something I personally like 'internal cable routing':
https://www.bikeexchange.com.au/a/touring-bikes/focus/vic/po…
My commuter is a 2nd hand aluminium Giant Defy frame that I bought on the Facebook swap groups for $100 I think. I then bought a 105 groupset on one of Ribble's sales, some wheels in another sale somewhere and the various other bits (pedals, handlebars, finishing kit, seatpost etc) I had lying around. Essentially it is an aluminium frame road bike. I would love one of those gravel bikes but the S-1 rule combined with the credit card balance is keeping me in check at the moment!
From my experience, the used bicycle market is so vast that it's really best to buy used.