I don't know how many of you know about this amazing 2+ year thread of Anti-Bike Porn from the LFGSS forum.

There's some weird and wonderful machines lurking in the 180 odd pages and the various comments are often very funny.

Enjoy

As soon as I've got a bit of spare cash, I'm tooling my '05 Muirwoods up with these bad boys:-



£130 on ebay. Nice...

I don't know those wheels but £130 does seem very cheap even 2nd hand. Maybe even too cheap.

Seeing as I'm here what does everyone think about what I've boiled down to a straight choice regarding getting a new bike.

A Planet-X SL Pro with Ultegra and an upgrade to DuraAce carbon wheelset approx £1600

or

Cervelo Carbon S2 or R3 with carbon centaur groupset and Eason SL90 wheelset built up at Condor with a size fitting for approx £3000

Clearly I want the Cervelo. I've been riding Campag for 10 years and apart from holding back on the groupset it's a no compromise dream bike. I've also got the 3 grand to spend without going into debt.

BUT

I don't race and my ability doesn't really justify buying a £3k bike. That said, I do cycle a lot, 400-600km p/month excluding commutes, so whichever bike I go for it's going to get well used.

Which way to go? Should I go with my heart or my head?

Geezer makes them himself, I believe. Hence the price.
They come in lots of different colours too. The white ones are beautiful, but my bike is all matt black (the first one that was, before all the other bastards copied it) so they wouldn't go.

What's the make. What's the ebay link? I'll check them out

For the Cinellisti amongst us some lucky bastard is putting together a Laser Corsa.

They'er here amp.

I should explain, I really don't care about things on my bike being super-light etc. At the speeds I go and distances I do it really doesn't matter. What does matter is having a bike that looks mint.

Mountain bike???

Huh?

Why did no one tell me about the cinetica before?

I've gone weak at the knees at the sight of it.

hobbes wrote:
Huh?

The guy on eBay described them as mountain bike wheels. I was just surprised by that.

The Cinetica is striking, but almost certainly not UCI-compliant.

I was discussing bikes with David Cronenberg (CLANG!) today. Being Canadian, he's very fond of his Cervelo.

After about four years of viewing from afar I finally crumbled and bought the Rapha softshell jacket.
I feel dirty, grubby and slightly ashamed of myself but boy does it feel good on.

The guy on eBay described them as mountain bike wheels. I was just surprised by that.
Ah right, gotcha. They are, although I wouldn't use them on a downhill course (assuming I ever went on one!) And they're not light enough for racing wheels I'd imagine. They tend to be carbon fibre. They're 26"-ers which I think may be smaller that race-wheels are although that could be a complete fabrication.

Toro was the Cronenberg thing good?

It's cycle-scheme time chez moi and I'm looking to get a bike I think this year. Want to spend about £800 (ticket price), and have been reading the recommendations upthread with interest. Seems like I'm looking at a Bianchi or a Wilier if I want to stay away from the American makes; any other suggestions? What's the view on the entry-level Condors?

Quite like the look of this one for example, though it may be out of my range by the time I add on the essential extras (does frameset mean ex wheels, gears etc?).

Anyway, all advice and suggestions gratefully appreciated.

The Cinetica frame was designed by Cinelli and produced by Ferrari, or possibly designed by Ferrari and produced by Cinelli, I can't remember which way round. I think they are about 20 years old.

Fausto, my brother has the Rapha soft-shell, he loves it. Mind you he has Rapha everything, I'm sure he would sleep in Rapha P-J's if they made them.

Apparently the old Soviet cycling team was sponsored by Cinelli for a while. Deeply cool shirts.

Wow-that's great.

I get Cinelli newsletters, which are famously mistranslated in a charming way, and I know they had an ill-fated role in an Aussie-based team last season, but I'm always struck by how much of a backseat role some of the great names in bike manufacture take in team sponsorship.

There hasn't been a top team riding Cinellis for donkey's years; Colnago now sponsor a jersey after a period 'out' of the peloton altogether; Bianchi went from LIQUIGAS (a big/expensive team) to Barloworld (err, not) and are currently out, I believe.

Teams with a manufacturing main sponsor:

Colnago

Cervelo Test

BMC

2nd rank, i.e. 'Continental' rather than pro-tour teams

and that's it.

Non-sexist update:

the women's peloton incs Cervelo, but also Kuota and Giant teams

Mark Felt wrote:
Toro was the Cronenberg thing good?

It's cycle-scheme time chez moi and I'm looking to get a bike I think this year. Want to spend about £800 (ticket price), and have been reading the recommendations upthread with interest. Seems like I'm looking at a Bianchi or a Wilier if I want to stay away from the American makes; any other suggestions? What's the view on the entry-level Condors?

Quite like the look of this one for example, though it may be out of my range by the time I add on the essential extras (does frameset mean ex wheels, gears etc?).

Anyway, all advice and suggestions gratefully appreciated.


Frameset means just the frame & forks. Sometimes the seatpost and headset will also be included as part of the frameset but your assumption is correct - no wheels and no gears.

No Condor link? Know plenty of people with Condor frames and never hear any complaints. You also get a good after sale service on the frame - friend had a top end carbon bike and BB section broke - they replaced the whole bike with a Ti frame.

On Yer Bike have a whole range of 09 Cannondales on sale at the moment with a good 20% of the RRP. I think £800 would buy you an Alu Caad Cannondale but it sounds like you don't want an American bike.

The Boardman bikes get well reviewed and are well spec'd for the price. If you can stretch an extra £100 then you'd be able to get a carbon frame.

You don't say what type of riding you're looking to do on the bike. Is this for a commuter? If so maybe a sturdier cross bike might be a better bet? www2.primera-bournemouth.co.uk/Template.aspx?prodID=5582

If you're only commuting have you considered a single speed bike? There's a lot of choice now around the £500 mark from Specialised, Bianchi, Genesis, Charge, Felt, Fuji, Condor and others.

Hope this helps. Nobody replied to me when I asked. :(