orbea questions...
 

I think I have finally decided which bike/s I like best and I finally have the money to start building my bike within the next 2 weeks. I want to decide on a bike now before I change my mind again :p . Anyways, I was originally only going to go for the 1500$ price range but after riding some higher end bikes, I decided I am really going to take the plunge. I talked to my local dealer and this is what Ive found I can do:

the have a 2003 Mitis frame in my size (originally 1000$) on sale for 700$. The weight of the frame is 1360g (2.9lbs). With that I could get a 105 10-spd component set for 670$ and that would bring me up to a little under 1400$. I want to stay under 2300$ so i was thinking about a set of cane creek or mavic aksiums for training and then buying a set of kyseriums, campy, or rolf wheels that fall under 900$ for race wheels. I know that puts me over my budget, but I would wait a bit to buy the race wheels. In addition to the frame discount, my LBS said I could get a significant discount on some ultegra or speedplay pedals. He said he would throw in a set of ultegra pedals for free or discount some of the more expensive speedplays. I am leaning towards speedplays.

Here is where the question lies: The Mitis is the heaviest of the framesets available from Orbea. Would I be better off waiting and saving more and shaving off an additional 110-120 grams and go with the Onix or Lobular? The lobular is 1240 and the Onix is 1250g. To me, that seems like a lot to pay for knocking off 100g. Does anyone know how stiff the Mitis is? I have ridden these frames but Im not sure I know enough about that to tell if a bike is significantly stiffer than another. All the orbeas have felt quick to me and have not felt noodly. I dont see how shaving off 100 grams will really help me all that much. I was looking more at spending that money on buying a nice set of race wheels and also a set of speedplays since they are also very light. It seems that rotational parts would be the main area that it is necesarry to save weight. My strength is climbing and I live in a hilly area so I don't know if that makes a difference. Any help would be appreciated. Also, I like the 2003 mitis look better anyways.
~Nick

You can get an Ultegra group for just over $600 from probikekit.com. That doesn't include hubs or headset, but it might save you as much or more weight than the difference in the frames. That way you could buy the Mitis frame, save the weight with the Ultegra vs. 105 group, and still have some money left over for those high-zoot wheels.

Just my $0.02.

Cheers.

Thanks for the info...I will check them out! I gotta figure out how much the whole bike would weigh after build up. I was gonna try for under 18lbs with race wheels but I dont know that it is that big of a deal. Anybody have any word on whether or not the Mitis is significantly more/less stiff than the onix or lobular?
~Nick

you can do a rough weight check with a small seletion of components on the Orbea website's cutom build program. It's fun. A little too fun actually.

http://www.orbea-usa.com/mto/fly.aspx

Awesome. I don't know why I had not already noticed that. With 105 it looks like I would be lookin at 19lbs even and prob around 18.75 w/ ultegra. I don't think that is bad at all. I don't know that weight is all that important but my coach seems to harp on it, although he agrees that it is most important on rotational components (wheels, pedal, etc).
~Nick

Taking a quick look around the net (and likely this forum as well) will find you a myriad of articles about the importance of weight when choosing a bike. The bottom line is that it's not near as important as people think. In flat lands, the speed difference between a 20lb. bike and a 15lb bike is negligible. Only once you start climbing does it really come into play and even then, major gains (10+ seconds between two riders putting out the same power) will only happen on longer muli-mile climbs. If you're not regularly riding and racing in that kind of terrain, why shell out the extra $2-$3k for a 15lb bike compared to a 20lb one. Besides the psychological advantage of the light bike, the real advantages in terms of efficiency can be gained via improved aerodynamics and bike fit. You'll feel more comfortable on the bike and therefore will be able to go harder, longer and even slight changes in aerodynamics (i.e a skinsuit) will make a more significant improvement in the average 40k TT or road race than a few pounds off your bike. Moreover, rarely are cyclists in the position where their body is at it's optimal weight. If this is not the case, then losing weight off of your body is the obvious cheaper and more effective solution (as irregardless of the actual weight savings, your body will be more efficient without the extra pounds). I look for a bike that that both fits correctly and allows me to maintain an aerodynamic position. Regarding weight, i would look for a frame that is not outrageously light (i.e. Orbea Arin) as common sense tells us that a frame like this will not be as durable as a more reasonable frame (i.e. Orbea Lobular or Mitis).