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Old 09-26-05, 01:03 PM
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stapfam
Time for a change.
 
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: 6 miles inland from the coast of Sussex, in the South East of England
Posts: 19,913

Bikes: Dale MT2000. Bianchi FS920 Kona Explosif. Giant TCR C. Boreas Ignis. Pinarello Fp Uno.

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Originally Posted by Spintogrin
Thanks for the feedback. Your idea about riding with a club makes a lot of sense but at this stage I am more than a little intimidated about riding with the local club. As I mentioned, on my best days I’m only averaging +/-15 mph on my rides – rolling hills with 1 mile grades. I am more than sure that I would not be able to keep up with the group. If they had a newbie night that might work. I'll have to look into this a bit more.

I was hoping that being the 50+ section of this forum that there would be quite a number of people who have gone through a number of bikes in their day and that they might share some insight as to what good test ride indicators of either good or poor fit might be.

One of the things that confuse me is that most manufacturers make frames in 1 to 2 cm intervals, to me that is a small jump from frame to frame when you consider the range of adjustment you can get out of a seat post and the plethora of stem sizes and angles available. It would seem to be a lot easier / cost efficient for them to make fewer frames and just get the fit right by varying the crank length, seat post, stem etc.. At what point is a frame not the right frame for a rider – i.e. how do you know on a test ride that swapping a component or two will or will not get you to that sweet spot we all crave?
Do not be intimidated by clubs. Most have enough foresight to realise that all of us have to start somewhere, and they may invite you to ride with a slow group of 50 year olds, on a gentle Sunday ride. The fast 50 year olds will be in the racing section or off doing a time trial. Point is, you will find someone to ride with.

I do not ride a hybrid, but I recently did a ride with some quite fit riders, a 60 miler across our rolling hills, plus the one big one that you have to be fit to attempt. There were 5 specialised sequoias on the ride, and one other that was a more expensive version of this. None of the riders was a youngster, and all were highly delighted with their bikes. 3 were newcomers to cycling within the past 2 years and the other 2 and the one on the more expensive version were ex-roadies that wanted a bit more comfort in their dotage. All of them stated that the bike was ideal, fitting was perfect, and all were in stock form except for saddles. 6 different saddles were used, but that is normal. They did offer to swop bikes at one point, but My Pilot on the Tandem tried one and said it was comfortable, had perfect road gearing,and flew along the road, so "Why can't I build a tandem to the same standard".

If you want a recommendation from hearsay- 6 riders (7 if you count my pilot) said it was the best bike for the purpose they had ridden, quality was high and the price was very sensible. On the sizing side of things- Fit is critical. If the shop you buy from has any savvie, they will set any bike up to you, and it will fit perfectly, but the size of the frame has a lot to do with this. My local LBS set my Bianchi up for me when I bought it, and I tried a 14.5", 15.5" 16" and a 17" They put me on the 15.5" and then swopped parts to get me comfortable. The 16 was just a shade too big so that is where the 2 cm difference does come in. I have never had a more comfortable bike, but the saddle got changed fairly quickly.
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