"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Good Entry Cat 5 bike?

i just put an 09 Allez on lay away till christmas. It has shimano sora and tiagra components. not the best i know but ill be a cat 5 so do you guys think it will be fine to start with.

i plan to upgrade the components all in one go to 105's in may for my birthday and hopefully by then ill have about 3-5k miles on it.
right now i ride about 200 miles a week on a sirrus sport so im sure it wont be that hard specially when it starts to warm up.

The Allez will work just fine. Its about you, not the bike. Don't schedule upgrades until you really need it.

Upgrade the engine first.

1) the bike will be fine.

2) it is grossly economic inefficient to upgrade the groupset on a 5 month old bike.

Either wait a little while and get the bike with the components you want, or buy what you can afford now and live with it.

thanks guys i appreciate the input. the engine is just trying to get use to the 40 mile rides everyday again lol. it'll be burning pretty efficiently come march lol.

No problem with Sora, but I'd at least get different shifters. A lot of people say the thumb shifters on Sora shifters is hard to reach from the drops.

Yeah, I don't think you can upshift from out of the saddle, in the drops with Sora. I actually think that wouldn't be a bad thing for a Cat 5 -- focus on spinning up to insane RPM rather than shifting, almost like junior gearing.

As Merlin suggests, you have to be careful upgrading so soon in ownership. If you're tight enough on cash that you can't afford it now, you need to be as efficient as possible. Used 105 9-speed brifters can be had on ebay for $75 pretty regularly, so that's not the end of the world. The rest of the Sora and Tiagra stuff is just fine -- no need to replace it unless the weight becomes a problem (it won't be a problem in the 5s).

its not that im tight on cash but im afraid to spend it and then end up needing it later. like if i were to be in a car accident as rarely as i get in my car lol. and the reason i would do it a few months in is because it would be my birthday and i dont have anything else i can think of right now.

i've raced on tiagra and sora. does just fine. i am only treating myself to SRAM force now out of luxury, not practicality.

a guess... you might need new tires in a few months. there is always something in this sport.

I have same setup but on an 06. Honestly if I do ANY upgrades at all in the next couple of months, it would be a wheelset for racing. Stock ones for training. But for now, I think I have too much ski stuff to buy.

105 does not get pluralized or posessive-ed. You don't have ultegras or dura ace's

105 does not get pluralized or posessive-ed. You don't have ultegras or dura ace's

not to be rude, actually yes to be rude. Is that all you could think of. what a sad, oh so sad, excuse of a post. Seeing as i was talking about multiple components i will refer to them in the plural for and there is nothing you can do about it to be honest with you.

Help not hinder that should be your goal.

You're going to need a tougher hide and a longer fuse if you plan on sticking around teh intarnets. Just a word of warning.

Anyway, yes the bike will be fine. But if you plan on upgrading anyway, I'd just get the 105 bike now. Or better yet get something with Rival.

This is Bike forums. True lovers of bicycles and cycling will result in friendly, kind and knowledgeable responses. Unfortunately most road riders, love themselves and their opinions more than riding. No worries, SpecialKO, can't please everyone all the time.

This is Bike forums. True lovers of bicycles and cycling will result in friendly, kind and knowledgeable responses. Unfortunately most road riders, love themselves and their opinions more than riding. No worries, SpecialKO, can't please everyone all the time.

HAHAHAHAA.

we love racing. i think i hate bikes. look at mine. it's dirty.

race what you got. you'll figure it out.

Run what ya brung and replace components as needed due to damage or wear.

You are better off investing in good pedals, shoes, gloves, saddle, and bibs at this point. Think about all of the points of contact between you and your bike.

Concentrate on those.

Run what ya brung and replace components as needed due to damage or wear.

You are better off investing in good pedals, shoes, gloves, saddle, and bibs at this point. Think about all of the points of contact between you and your bike.

Concentrate on those.

Good advice. I would only add make sure you have the right gears. Most races are criteriums and you live in Arkansas so I can assume it will be flat, so you will probably be best off with a very closely spaced cassette, 12-21 or 12-23. And get some good race tires in the 23mm-25mm range for good grip going around corners.

Forget about the bike...for now.
Learn how to ride...
Learn how to handle the bike in racing conditions...it is much more than you think.
Learn how to train.
Learn how to race.

It is quite simple but very difficult and takes time, hard work and patience.

I suggest that the upgrading the engine is the best advise. The Allez will be fine, and you can reach Sora shifters on the drops unless you've got short stumpy little thumbs or set them up so the brakes are looking at the sky. Which is basically how bikes roll their eyes in disgust at their mechanic, so don't do that. I won my first race on an Allez like that, and it was a crit, so you can't go too far wrong with it.

About upgrading the engine, doing 40 miles every day isn't necessarily going to make you an awesome rider. In fact, doing 3 60 mile rides a week might be better. And doing three or four rides of varying intensity and distance might be better still. Do you ride with a group yet? If not, please out of respect for others in the bunch, don't race until you've been doing group rides every week for at LEAST six months, maybe a year. I can't stress this enough. Riding in a pack is a skill that takes time to learn. If you don't do group rides yet, but want to start racing, do TT's in the coming year, and save road racing for 2011. Hurting other people and their bikes is very easily done if you are unskilled, and won't make you popular at all.

True lovers of bicycles and cycling will result in friendly, kind and knowledgeable responses. Unfortunately most road riders, love themselves and their opinions more than riding.

We're racers, not riders. Welcome to the "33"

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SxkXdcc639I/RsvM6_xwelI/AAAAAAAAAB8/57s_UVSfpyM/s1600/HTFU.jpg

Good advice. I would only add make sure you have the right gears. Most races are criteriums and you live in Arkansas so I can assume it will be flat, so you will probably be best off with a very closely spaced cassette, 12-21 or 12-23. And get some good race tires in the 23mm-25mm range for good grip going around corners..

Actually, depending on where he is at flatness may be hard to come by. Think Ozarks.

.

Actually, depending on where he is at flatness may be hard to come by. Think Ozarks.

Mt. Nebo. Mt. Magazine. Joe Martin. Some real climbs there.

Most races are criteriums and you live in Arkansas so I can assume it will be flat

The Ozarks are not flat.

(Added in edit: I'm third in because my wife called before I could hit the send button. Frack.)

Mt. Nebo. Mt. Magazine. Joe Martin. Some real climbs there.

I've done Magazine on the bike, on a MTB, and a KTM. The Arkansas Dirt Riders set a great course that year. I had tons of penalty points at each check.

Good times.