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1st new road bike since 1984

by Spunkymonkey
Thu, Oct 09, 2014 16:21
6

I have been teetering on the edge of buying my 1st new road bike since 1984 as I am still riding the one my parents bought me for my 15th birthday (you should now be able to work out how old I am). I have been hesitant so far due to an impending double carpal tunnel operation but I now have dates for that and have worked out that I should be back in the saddle by March. Having spent the last couple of months hunting the internet for a suitable steed I think I've narrowed it down to: Giant Defy Advanced 3 vs b'Twin Mach 700. I've sat on the b'Twin and it felt great but the possibility of having disc brakes on the Giant really floats my boat. Does anybody know if it will be possible to upgrade to hydraulic discs on the Giant in the future when the tech becomes a little more affordable? I don't want to buy on the net without at least sitting on, and preferably riding, the candidates so after spending a fair bit of time on the Ribble & Dolan websites I have decided to rule them out. Does anybody know anything about the Planet X RT58? There is a Planet X showroom in Edinburgh so a trip through there wouldn't be out of the question.
Any input/opinions from anybody with a more up to date knowledge of current roadie tech than me is greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Eric

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6 comments

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giobox | 10 years ago
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Upgrading to hydraulic discs at a later date won't be possible without replacing the shifters too, getting the Shimano Hydraulic brifters onto this bike would be a pretty expensive job, relative to the cost of the bike itself. There are also some cable to hydraulic conversion systems, but these too are not cheap options. Worth also noting that for the time being at least, discs severely limit your choice of wheels, at least when compared to the enormous range of options for standard road wheels. In my opinion we're still at the early adopter phase for discs on road bikes. For me, I'd wait until the range of options has reached parity with rim brakes, and the standards settled down - thru-axle or not? 160 or 140mm rotors? etc etc.

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PhillBrown | 10 years ago
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Age:45... 10 points?

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Spunkymonkey | 10 years ago
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Thanks for your input chaps, think I'm going to go with the giant as the allure of disc brakes is just too tempting!

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Spunkymonkey | 10 years ago
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Thanks for your input chaps, think I'm going to go with the giant as the allure of disc brakes is just too tempting!

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backflipbedlem | 10 years ago
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Cant speak for the alu frame, but I got a Planet X Pro Carbon at the beginning of the year! Bit of a gamble as hadn't tried the bike first as nowhere near the showroom, but had correct geometry values, and it fitted like a dream!

So pleased with it, super light, super fast, looks amazing!
Planet X offer great bikes, at a really competitive prices! Would defo recommend, and you can customise most components on the bike.

Looked at Ribble and Dolan, but when you do a side by side comparison of components and cost, they were both alot more expensive than Planet X.
For the same price i paid, i would of got an alu frame Tiagra, ended up with a full carbon SRAM RIVAL! nearly an Ultegra 6800, but that is a different story!

Ultimately Very Chuffed!

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Vejnemojnen | 10 years ago
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what about these?
http://www.canyon.com/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3577

http://www.canyon.com/outlet/list.html?type=race&serie=&size=&state=&sor...

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