Road bike recommendations

Now I want to jab the tubes on my ribble 7005 race frame and see if it does the coke can thing.

I'm assuming we're talking about the EM2.

Ribble Deda EM2
Dedacciai aluminium race tube set ideally suited for road racing or sportive riding.

Raw frame weight (average size) 1050g.
Low Torsion Profile tubes and Advanced Butt Technology has resulted in a super lightweight aluminium alloy frame of exceptional reliability. Integral head tube.

Whew

Wheels arrived today - nicely built and all a-OK as far as I can see. 3 days from order to delivery - impressive.

Spoke tension is good and they're true. Will see how they ride.

Good news. Hope they work out for you.

You'll be starting threads like Ved soon!

Ouch! Not in the face...

Ha, thanks Dov. I don't plan on dropping the wheels on my face.

Rode the wheels today - not a long ride but 30k of London potholes etc, seem completely true and solid. Very happy with them given how much they cost- will see me through winter. Should be getting my replacement Roval's in the next 2 weeks too. Job done.

Damn.

Only had my bike one month and I snapped a spoke on the way in this morning powering up a hill :(
I got to say those Shimano RS10 wheels it came with are shit and I'm not convinced these fancy 20 spoke things are much good for a 13 stone+ rider. That's £20 spent to fix it already and they reckon the wheel may be permanently off now as I had to ride 8 miles on it. You really notice a snapped spoke when there are so few. Give me a 32 spoke wheel any day :(

You were unlucky. I rode off road on R500s, which are the predecessor of RS10s, at 15st. and never had any problems.

Yeah nothing wrong with RS10s. Try and get wheel replaced under warranty?

I have decided to buy myself a steel framed bike that fits the winter / audax / commute / light tour brief. It seems to me that a nice frame with mid point groupset and sturdy wheels can perform a whole range of duties.

I am looking at things like a Mercian Audax Special, Bob Jackson Audax or End to End, Rourke Audax, Roberts Audax. Or perhaps Dave Yates or someone smaller again. All of these builders have plenty of experience in this kind of thing and seeing as I do not require custom geo, have some reasonable OTP frames.

All of the builders above start their pricing with a standard 631 build. Is it worth me paying the extra for 853 for this kind of bike? Seeing as I intend to buy a bike to use as a real all round workhorse, does it make sense? Or is 631 perfectly OK? Is there any benefit other than slightly lighter weight? I am not considering 953 as it is quite a bit more and for this kind of bike, I don't think it necessary.

I have seen some adverse comments about both Roberts and Bob Jackson, but these are not deafening. They seem to be more about mixed experiences. Any input of good / bad experiences would be most welcome. I know that in a sense, the best thing to do is to do and visit the shops and have a chat, but beyond Roberts, the others are a bigger investment of time.

Any input most welcome. Thanks

p.s I'm after a 58cm if you are looking to offload something nice!

Joe, I have a Bob Jackson Audax Club. Got the frame (£380) from BJ and bought a Veloce 2008 groupset and Ambrosio Excellence/Chorus wheels and put together the other bits as I went along. Whole shebang for about £900. Don't think you can can far wrong with this frame and it's cheaper that the others you mention. As a winter trainer I think you'll be fine in 631.

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That's a good deal you've had there. It's a nice looking bike in the picture. The Audax Club is a bit more now, but certainly affordable. The Audax End to End is the same price, but just with greater clearance.

Is it worth me paying the extra for 853

£125 is soon forgotten. Thinking you could have had something slightly nicer will be with you for as long as you keep the bike.

£125 is soon forgotten. Thinking you could have had something slightly nicer will be with you for as long as you keep the bike.

Sage advice MDCC, the £125 is the difference at Rourke, it is more at Mercian and BJ. Rourke seem to offer carbon forks on all their framesets, where as the others offer a more traditional steel. Is there heaps of difference?

Carbon forks are usually a good bit lighter while offering better handling and equal ride comfort to steel. Steel forks are only for retro poseurs and BSOs these days.

There is a very real weight difference, and carbon forks usually do a really good job of soaking up road buzz.

I had a 631 Bob Jackson built. It was charming but if I were to do it again I would have gone for a less retro design plumped for a Rourke (or maybe Lee Cooper) with a carbon fork.

Carbon forks are usually a good bit lighter while offering better handling and equal ride comfort to steel. Steel forks are only for retro poseurs and BSOs these days.

BSO?

Also, thanks Miro. I think a trip to the Potteries may be needed.

Bike Shaped Object- your bike is slim, vegan, with a calculator in it's back pocket

someone who works at brian rourke on here said that as far as he's concerned, 853 is the best material for building frames.

Bike Shaped Object- your bike is covered in slim, vegan, with a calculator in it's back pocket

Thanks Dammit, I don't get the second half of your post, but I am having a thick afternoon.

Probably Jason Rourke, who actually builds them these days. And I tend to agree - 853 seems to be very special. Not sure whether the wide range of tubes offered by Reynolds is what makes it special or whether Reynolds offer it in a wide choice of tube guages because it's special, but having several choices of tube diameter and wall thickness at each position certainly makes it highly adaptable.

Thanks Dammit, I don't get the second half of your post, but I am having a thick afternoon.

Probably not helped by it not making any sense- edit fail on my part.

BSO stands for bike shaped object, and there is a forum member called Object who is an unwilling accountant.

853 is no better or worse than deda eom* (or whatever the 'zero' labeled replacement is called) or columbus spirit but availability of tubesets and the euro/£ exchange rate are probably a factor.

*a freind has an eom-16 rourke, shaped oversize tubing and big triangular to round chain stays, it's lovely frame.

Steel forks are only for retro poseurs and BSOs these days.

Can you have a low trail carbon fork?