Road Cycling - Road bike for a mountain biker

Bear with me guys, this this is my first venture in to the roadie section of the site. I'm a mountain bike racer looking to get an edge by training on the road. I have been able to finagle my parents into buying me a road bike for my high school graduation present. I'm almost set on a Giant OCR 3 because it looks cool and has a great price. I am nervous about the Sora components though, I know I wouldn't be caught dead on a MTB with Acera or Altus components, is this the same deal here, or would Sora be like a Deore, not great but someone could get away with looking serious with them. Also the no name wheels bother me. I had some no names on my Giant Rainier and they lasted one ride. What would you suggest for upgrades right off the showroom floor? I know that the seat is gone, and I don't like the idea of an adjustable stem, it seems so newbie.


Color - Available in Pearl Silver or Red

Size - S, M, L, XL

Frame - Extra-light ALUXX butted aluminum, Compact Road Design, Integrated Forged Headtube with Aero Down Tube

Fork - Giant CrMo Aero Blade, 1"

Derailleur Front - Shimano Sora

Derailleur Rear - Shimano Sora

Shifters - Shimano Sora,STI, 8 speed

Cranks - FSA Alloy Triple, 30/42/52T

Pedals - Steel w/resin body, toe clips/straps (using my eggbeaters)

Handlebar - Alloy anatomic

Stem - Giant Compact adjustable, alloy (this is gone)

Headset - Integrated 1"

Brakes - Tektro Dual Pivot

Levers - Shimano Sora

Saddle - Giant OCR Dual density (NO WAY!)

Seatpost - Alloy micro adjust, 27.2

Rims - Alex, 32H, black (thinking about mavic cxp21)

Hubs - Alloy 32H, QR, cassette (thinking about 105)

Tires - Michelin Dynamic, 700x 25c

Cassette - Shimano HG50 12- 25T, 8 speed

Spokes - Stainless Steel, 14G


-Middi-zon

Here's the pic

I would not go below shimano 105, but that is my personal choice, if I remember correctly tiagra would be the equivelent to deore. Sora is the lowest down the line in Shimano road components. You could ask how much to swap out the components for 105..

i would at LEAST go with tiagra, the shift levers have a paddle down behind the brake lever rather then a little knob up on the inside of the sti body. i would also look for something with a 1 1/8th inch headtube.

I don't think a 1inch head tube vs a 1 1/8th is that big a deal.. there are ALOT of forks available 1 inch on road bikes so that should not be any real issue even in the future.

I have to agree. If you are planning on riding this scoot a bunch, and it sounds like you are, shoot for a better component group.

That's a great looking bike though!! :thumbup:

I have Tiagra and I'm more than happy with it. I'd love to go higher - but in reality Tiagra does everything I need it to.

I ride a fair bit with a guy who runs Sora. He seems very happy with it but I think if you're going to do lots of miles you'll want at least Tiagra.

Originally posted by Kev
I don't think a 1inch head tube vs a 1 1/8th is that big a deal.. there are ALOT of forks available 1 inch on road bikes so that should not be any real issue even in the future.
The problem is that this bike comes with an integrated, threaded headset. That can complicate fork selection quite a bit unless you're willing to replace the headset and stem also. When I was shopping for my road bike I looked at the Giants and this one thing was a deal killer for me.

have you considered building the bike yourself? at at least combining components.

i have not tried tiagra nor sora. i have 105 on my road.

if you are a serious mtbiker(if you are used to deore xt, deore lx quality), i think you will outgrow your sora gruppo easily.

i suggest you get at least tiagra for your sti levers and crankset. brakes are "almost" identical.

i guess you need to get new pedals too.

good luck.

oooooh I like that bike. :D Dump the Soras tho, I know someone that has a Trek 1000 with Soras and she's got problems after 2 years.

Thanks for the replies. I still have more questions though.

What about 105 shifters, rear dérailleur, and cassette, Tiagra everything else, would that jive together?

I saw on shimano's website that they have silver and black versions of the 105 gruppo, is this just a color preference or are they different?

How is this FSA crank?

Why does Giant put the coolest paint job on the lowest end bike?

This threaded/threadless thing concerns me, but I don't plan on upgrading the fork (I like the look of it, it's clean), but I do want a real stem, will this threaded headset mess that all up? What stem should I look for?

What about the Mavic CXP21/Shimano 105 wheels I'm thinking about?

How are the stock brakes? I'll be going back and forth between this and my avid discs, so they have to be pretty powerful so it's not such a drastic change. I can see it now, riding on the road in the morning, then go head out on the MTB, grab a handful of brake that would stop the road bike, and go right over the handle bars.

Would this be a OCR 1.5 on a 3 frame? ;)

Thanks for the input guys!

-Middi-zon

Have you looked at the Felt F65? It has a full 105 group and carbon fork. If I'm not mistaken the OCR3 comes with a steel fork. When I was looking for a new bike I priced out the Felts and if I remember correctly this model should be about the same price as the Giant ($1000+/-). I think you could get more value for your money and not have to worry about upgrades if you took a look at this bike instead,

I'm not sure about US bike pricing but I'd look for the following component types.

1) The OCR frame is ok for training on but I think that since you're an XC racer it may be a bit 'soft' for yur needs.
2) get aframe with a 1&1/8th steerer, threadless
3) At least Shimano Tiagra components but I'd be inclined to go for the Campagnolo Veloce or Mirage. Better quality and lower long ter cost because you can replace individual parts in the shifters and brake i anything wears or breaks.
4) The CXP21 rims are an excellent choice. A bit heavy but very strong.
5) FSA cranks are excellent.

The rest is really up to you, but remeber that if you go Campagnlo you can't have Shimano in there as well. Perhaps with the BB and Cranks it won't be an issue, but with the shifters, hubs, cluster, brakes it will.

Also not sure what your budget is bt maybe wise to hold out for a month, get a part time job to help pay the difference and go for a better machine with the elements mentioned above.

I agree about the FSA cranks, I have the FSA carbon cranks and they have been excellent. I missed the part about the threaded fork, but due to that fork being steel it will last forever. As for having a real stem, the only way you could do that is to get a quill to stem adapter, they are between $15-20. I just picked up one on e-bay for $8 last week so I could use a regular stem on my old road bike. My current bike has a 1 inch fork, and I can honestly say I have not noticed any real difference from having a 1 1/8th fork on my older bike. Alot of new bikes come with 1 inch forks it is not that unusual.

Here is something I found on the net about 1 inch vs 1 1/8 inch at habcyles.
--
Why still design road frames for a 1" fork?
With seemingly the rest of the world rushing toward the "new" (hardly) inch and 1/8 spec, one has to ask "why are those retrogrouches at Habanero not getting on board with the new, improved spec?". Simple - it's not really "new and improved". Let's look at the reasoning behind the move to the "MTB spec" inch and 1/8 steer tubes in road bikes.
Claim: By making the steer tube bigger, we can use less material and the fork will still be just as strong.

Not necessarily. Certainly making a tube's diameter bigger makes it stiffer - but you can't necessarily shrink the walls on a fork's steer tube without disastrous results. Also, it's been suggested that an "over-stiff" steer tube concentrates stresses at the ends, rather than distributing along the entire length as well as a 1" steer tube might. And after all, the ends are where steer tubes will break, not in the middle.

For comparison's sake, let's look at the difference in weight between typical 1" and inch and 1/8 models of the same fork, all based on an uncut steer tube.

The Time Millenium Club fork comes with a 330mm aluminum steer tube in inch and 1/8 format at 542g, and with a 300mm steel 1" steer tube that weighs in at 505g. Add 30mm of steer tube to the 1" CrMo steer tube, and the weight increases to 526g - actually lighter than the inch and 1/8 fork, and steel (with its better fatigue characteristics).

The Profile Design forks with their aluminum steer tubes all weigh in within 10 grams (that's a little over 1/3 of an ounce) of each other when comparing 1" and inch and 1/8 (with the lighter forks being the 1").

The Reynolds Ouzo Pro fork with its carbon fiber steer tube weighs a svelte 370g in 1" format, and 445g in inch and 1/8 format. Advantage, 75g to the 1" fork.

On the other end of the scale are the Kinesis forks. The Carbon Wedge model comes with a 300mm aluminum steer tube and weighs 433g, compared to the 564g steel 1" steer tube (a whopping 131g - or 4.6oz difference). This is of course, and apples and oranges comparison, since the steer tube material is different, but it does provide one data point where there seems to be an advantage to fatter steer tubes.

So, based on a 200mm final trimmed steer tube length, the difference in fork weight will be between 50g in favor of 1" to 87g in favor of the inch and 1/8 fork.

Now let's look at the rest of the bike (unless of course, you just want to buy a fork to admire by itself, in which case you can stop reading now). Bigger headsets are heavier. The difference between the 1" and inch and 1/8 format for some common headsets: Cane Creek C-2, 20g; Chris King NoThreadSet, 18g; FSA Orbit XL-II, 26g. How about stems? Again, bigger stems are heavier - though direct comparisons are more difficult since no one seems to make the "same stem" in both sizes. Add in the additional material required to make the head tube larger and it's easy to see that at best you MAY shave a few grams with a inch and 1/8 fork and frame, but chances are you're adding even more weight by choosing the "new improved spec", not losing it.

Then there's the subjective matter of "looks". Everyone's free to determine which looks better on a road bike, but I'll take the cleaner lines of the 1" headset and stem any time I can get it. It's easy to imagine that the smaller head tube is more aerodynamic (read, faster) but since I don't have a wind tunnel to test that theory I'll leave it as an unsupported hunch (for now).

And for my fellow retrogrouches (those of us who still prefer threaded stems because of their ease and range of adjustability without the need to reset the preload of the headset, and since they are easily removed or twisted for shipping) there are still a good number of stems and headsets available to outfit your 1" threaded fork - not so with inch and 1/8.

PErsonally, as a guy looking for just a 1" threadless fork to replace his old threaded one, I can say that the trend is to go for the larger diameter. I'm not at all saying that 1" is going away, you're just limiting yourself a bit anymore, even on the road.

But the fact that it's a threaded headset would bother me. Threaded headsets, in my experience, are more trouble than they're worth. And I agree with all that have suggested you go at least one level up from Sora. If you're going to be training on the bike, I'd look at 105. Probably the best bang for the buck group in Shimano's line.

YOu can get a lot more bike for not a lot more money. Giant does cut some corners with their entry level bikes, especially, IMHO. While you will get some of the ride of a good steel fork, you're not getting a really good steel fork from them unless they spec someone else's fork on the bike. If it's a Giant made fork, you'll wonder what the big deal is about steel forks.

I'm with georgesnatcher, check out Felt's line of bikes I think the web address is feltracing.com. I picked up the F75 (same frame as the F65) 105 derailluers, tiagra shifters, Mavic cpx 22's, carbon fork...in all an excellent bike for the $800.00 I shelled out for it.

As for brakes, I think that the stock ones will be fine. true, you will not have the power of your discs, but in road biking, you use the brakes very little, and when you do, it is usually a very light touch, feathering the brakes so you don't run into the guy in front of you. Riding my myself, I almost never brake unless I plan on stopping, and that is not very often on a road bike.

Originally posted by Phatman
As for brakes, I think that the stock ones will be fine. true, you will not have the power of your discs, but in road biking, you use the brakes very little, and when you do, it is usually a very light touch, feathering the brakes so you don't run into the guy in front of you. Riding my myself, I almost never brake unless I plan on stopping, and that is not very often on a road bike.
You never brake unless you plan on stopping? Really? Me too! I don't use brakes unless I have to stop. For all the times when I have to slow down I just drag the sole of my shoe against the road, does the job. Brakes? Who needs brakes???

This is my limited experience....

I'm not sure if OCR 3 is "integrated" or "internal"

the higher end Giant TCR frames are all 1 and 1/8 internal... with stock FSA headsets that could be replaced...

becareful about the 1 inch integrated... as far as I know... to get a new headset from FSA, Chris King.. you'll need one that is 1 and 1/8.

good luck

For what it's worth, I was in exactly the same situation... I've ridden Mtn bikes for a few years and want a road bike... decided I didn't want to spend too much at the moment (if I find I'm using it enough then I'll upgrade a year or two down the line)...

Went to a (not so) local bike shop at the weekend and tried a few bikes, including the Giant OCR 3...

Really liked the feel (though I can't help thinking Carbon forks would help the road chatter) but the Sora components really felt cheap. Shifts didn't feel exact enough, particularly at the front, there was a lot of noise, not just when changing gear but almost all the time..

Tried the OCR2 and was sold.... for the extra £100 it was well worth the money.

Originally posted by Chuvak
You never brake unless you plan on stopping? Really? Me too! I don't use brakes unless I have to stop. For all the times when I have to slow down I just drag the sole of my shoe against the road, does the job. Brakes? Who needs brakes???

I think you misunderstand. or maybe not. I don't brake unless coming to a full stop. Otherwise, I don't really try and slow down...thats against the purpose of road biking!