pweller

I learned a lot by reading this forum, so I figured I'd make a post on my new purchase. I had been out of cycling for about 8 years, and had an old Colnago from the 80's. I did a post on the 'what's it worth' section of this site, and got some good feedback on the Colnago, and sold it for $750 locally.

I was looking around for a new bike, for about $1000 or so, and ended up with this GT / GTR-3. It's aluminum with a carbon fork and mostly Tiagra components. I got it for about $700 from www.bikeshopwarehouse.com.



Here's what it looked like on arrival:



I went around to a few local LBSs, and basically re-learned what everyone said on this site, which is that if you are handy you're better off with bikesdirect or another such site. Someone else on here also linked to a Condor SRAM bike on bikeshopwarehouse, and that is how I found their site and evenutally this bike.

I looked at Giants, Specialized, and Trek and found that a very similar bike would cost me about $500 more when you included tax.

I also did some searching on craigslist, but found too many overpriced bikes. Saw one guy with a Scott Speedster who bought it new a year ago for $1250 and was trying to sell it used for $1000. Stupid.

Anyway, their service was excellent, shipped the bike the next day, and everything arrived OK. I had bought the Park Tools service book, which came in handy for adjusting the derailleurs. I thought the Shimano literature that came with it was somewhat unclear, the procedure in the Park book was the best. I think the Park book is better than the Bicycling Magazine book in terms of pure mechanical technique.

I took it out for a ride and it is very nice, and shifts really well (much better than the down-tube friction shifters on the Colnago). I ordered a shorter stem, as the reach is a bit long. I also flipped this stem after I took the photo as there is a bit too much drop to the bars.

I was suprised to learn that GT Bikes is part of the Cannondale Group, which are under the same corporate umbrella as Schwinn and Sugoi (Dorel Industries). The GT is made in Taiwan like all the others, but it's a nice bike, and is nicely finished. (the GT logo appears 20 times on my bike )

I'd recommend this basic route for anyone who is a decent mechanic because you get the best value for your dollar. I'd do it again.

Reeses

Nice, I like the color scheme You plan on replacing the bars though right?

a1penguin

Thanks for the report and the pics, pweller. That's a nice looking bike. Love the orange and grey! I'm sure the STI shifters are a huge improvement over the downtube shifters. I really like the horizontal (or nearly horizontal) top tube on that geometry. Congrats on putting it together and getting it adjusted properly. Congrats!

TrojanHorse

Craigs List and unreasonable expectations of worth go hand in hand... you'll see the same price difference on 10 year old bikes if you watch long enough.

todayilearned

Damn, wish I had seen your Colnago on CL.

Thumbs up for another Tucsonan!

Zei

I've seen SRAM Apex equipped GTs like this one before, and that is a really nice aluminum frame. Not sure how it is performance-wise, but it's quite light and sexy. Pretty unique shape.

Congrats on going the build-it-up-yourself route.
Working at a bike shop before its grand opening, we had 2 or 3 weeks to build up and stock the store, including putting together 140 bikes that come boxed up like yours. Also, for the next few weeks, there was always a rush to keep building bikes, so everyone got a lot of hands on experience doing it. Ended up building about 20 of them myself, good experience.

Dan333SP

That's a nice looking bike! Looks like a solid frame to gradually upgrade over time as well. Next time you have a chance to save $300-400, put that towards a set of nice wheels and you'll really start to love riding it. That said, what sort of 20+ year old Colnago goes for $750?? Must have been pristine!

DEK

Very nice looking GT. Love the color scheme. So, you got a new ride and made $50? What a deal.

pweller

Here's the Colnago, if you're interested. It wasn't pristine, as I had ridden it for quite a while, but it wasn't beat.

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...=#post13914176

I'm hesistant to do many upgrades on this bike yet, as I sort of feel that I have to 'earn' the need to upgrade. That is, I should be able to ride well enough to justify the upgrades. I don't want someone to point at me and ask 'hey, who's that slow guy sucking wind on that expensive bike!'. I don't want to be 'that guy'.

I think the high spoke count wheels on the bike currently should be pretty durable, and not need much truing. I still haven't figured out if all of the radial spokes/low counts are just because they look cool and people want that, or if they are a better solution overall. I don't want something that requires a lot of maintenance. I'm not heavy (155 lbs), so it may not be a problem for me.

FujiKid

Whats the difference between my series 2, and this series 3? Mine has Apex as well...

himespau 

Congrats, that's a nice looking bike.

pweller

Your series 2 is a more expensive bike. Mine doesn't have Apex, it has Shimano Tiagra with a Sora front. I think there is also a series 4, which is less expensive still.

gadabout007

2 is race geometry, 3 is relaxed.
The 2 has a carbon steerer, tapered headtube, forged bb, and a slightly better wheelset.

Carloswithac

I like the colors!

pallen

Great looking bike! Nice to see some tasteful color on a modern road bike.

Capecodder

Awesome bike, congrats!!!! I pick mine up tomorrow after work I'm really stoked now after seeing yours.

mprelaw

The series 4 has a mix of Sora/Microshift components for 2012. Same basic frame as the 3 and 5. I think the series 2 has a better grade frame, as well as 105 components.

Mike F

Sweet looking ride! Like others I do love the colors.