Road bike recommendations

oh so its not possible to put a shimano crankset on there because of BB30?

There is an adaptor, but it throws away most of the benefits of BB30

Why would you want a 105 crankset on a bb30 frame?

Oops beaten to it.

yea fair enough : ) I am not updated on the BB30 front, I thought that was just another name for external cup BB .. So what are the options for nice BB30 Alu cranksets?

Return the bike and buy this?

http://www.ebay.de/itm/160864592093?redirect=mobile

^ I had a nicer Ti bike than that : )
Van Nicholas Chinook with full ultegra; dont ask me why I sold it :P

yea fair enough : ) I am not updated on the BB30 front, I thought that was just another name for external cup BB .. So what are the options for nice BB30 Alu cranksets?

You have the FSA gossamer right? It's not an awful crank although it is a bit fugly. To put it in perspective It's not really worth swapping it out for anything less than SRAM Red.

Look out for used cannondale Hollowgram SI cranks on eBay or the SiSl if you are feeling flush.

Rotor 3D+ is another bb30 compatible option.

Specialised also make a decent (carbon) bb30 crank.

cheers dude. I don't think I will be replacing the crank that soon then;
Will SRAM Crankset work with rest of the 105 assembly?

Amey, if the cranks feel fine and make no difference to your pedalling, I'd just leave it.

Unless you're one of those people who can actually feel the slight twist while climbing the Col du Pentonville.

nah I am going to leave it, just curious about this BB30 thing

And this looks nice: http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Sram-S950-Road-Chainset_40205.htm?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Product_Search&utm_campaign=Froogle02

Any pure bb30 crank should swap in fine as long as the rings and spacing are 10 speed. The rotor crank needs some spacers IIRC. SRAM Cranks will work fine with 105 mechs and chain.

But yeah put the money somewhere where you'll feel a difference - wheels :)

^ agreed

Hi. This isn't for me, my friend wants to get a road bike, he doesn't really cycle at the moment. He's got his heart set on the Wilier Escape Xenon which he can get for £700 on 0% finance now. Here's a link for specs, although I don't think he plans to get it from Evans:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/wilier/escape-2011-road-bike-ec026873#features

This review says it's pretty good for an entry-level bike and handles well:

http://road.cc/content/review/29926-wilier-escape-xenon

I'm don't know much about road bikes, I do think Wiliers look very nice but I worry that they are style over substance? I also worry that that's a lot of money for your first proper bike but maybe I'm just being tight. I myself am looking at road bikes so I know that while you can get an apparently OK one for around £500 the components might not be great, so maybe its not a lot of money and £700 is about right to avoid the crappest groupsets without going crazy.

I'd be interested to know what people think of Wiliers and if there might be better options at the £700 mark.

http://www.drakescycles.co.uk/m1b100s6p2870/CANNONDALE_CAAD8_105_2012/RS_GB/11706

Thats not bad if he/she can stretch the budget by £100

Xenon is a pretty ropey groupset IMHO. £700 is a sensible budget for a entry level road bike. At this time of year you can be lucky enough to pick a £1000 2012 bike on clearance. That would roughly mean....

Shinamo 105/ Sram Rival/ Campagnolo Centaur - groupset
Quality aluminium frame/ alu frame with carbon stays, with carbon fork.

So he should be looking for something like that.

As a entry level road bike this Canyon seems a good bet. The big Apex cassette will make life easier. Plus it looks like a solid kit list.

http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=2501

^ most sizes are out of stock though ..

Excellent, good tips, thank you.

I certainly will be looking to get a 2012 model on sale in the next few months, so the groupset advice will be very useful.

UDi2 for £1590

^^ 2 pages back is a link to a Willier La Trestina with Xenon for the same cash.

Excellent, good tips, thank you.

I certainly will be looking to get a 2012 model on sale in the next few months, so the groupset advice will be very useful.

I'd suggest Sram apex for the range. Plus its well priced on complete bikes. But basically look look for Sram Rival, or Shimano 105. They are very nice groupsets. I heart Campagnolo. But I cant, in honesty, recomend it to someone on a tight budget looking at complete bikes.

Indeed, especially when even the Centaur range now only does one downshift and three upshift instead of the previous five downshift and three upshift.

(Bit annoyed by that as I wanted to upgrade to the newer shaped levers with 10 speed).

who here has test ridden Canyon ultimate AL and CAAD 10?
Need to know how similar/different they are from each other, on paper the geometry doesent look too different

who here has test ridden Canyon ultimate AL and CAAD 10?
Need to know how similar/different they are from each other, on paper the geometry doesent look too different

Tempted by the Di2?

Thread summary

Oh the CAADs nice.........oh the Ultimate AL comes in electric.....repeat ad infinium.

Good luck with that decision ;)

not tempted by Di2 actually by the non electronic ultegra one .. how do they ride compared to CAAD?