NOOB Windsor Knight
 

Hi there. First of all ive been lurking for a while and thought I would jump into my first post for some advise.

I have been riding now for a couple months on my Dads old Bianchi steel bike. Its a 10 speed and a little big, 60cm and I am just over 6'. With my feet on the ground the top tube is pretty high in the groin area almost uncomfortable.

The area I live in, SF Bay, has a fair amount of hills and climbs that can be pretty taxing with that bike and gear a ratio.

In my search for a new bike I came across the Windsor Knight and had a a few questions/ opinion probes.

1)Would this be a good first bike for someone at my level?

2) At just over 6' what size would the current owners recommend?

3) Can anybody take a guess at what a stock steel 1980's bianchi frame weighs, just so I can reference?

Any other issues/ advise about the Windsor Knight or cycling in general would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,


CCH

I actually find the BD website more "straight-up" than most other bike websites, in that you can find most of the component specs very quickly on the main page. Most bike pages require you to do a bit of digging to find what the BB, etc. are.

Although I do agree it's a bit over-marketing to call a bike with 1/4 ultegra components an ultegra-class bike. And on the other coin, in their defense, they sell plenty of aggressively priced true all-ultegra bikes that you can clearly see are all-ultegra on the spec.

The Knight is a fine bike for the price. There might be comparable deals out there. I have the Windsor Fens which is the next model down.
I'm 6'1/2" and all of my bikes have 60cm frames with no problems. The 60cm refers to the seat tube length from the center of the bottom bracket to either the centerline or the top of the top tube.

An older high quality Bianchi steel frame will weigh about two kilos and the fork will weigh about 800 grams. The Knight should be several pounds lighter than the Bianchi, and come in at about 19 lbs.

Windsor Knight
 

Sced thanks for the reply and info.

Do you think you could give some other options at that price point?

Also I am almost 6' exactly, what would the benefits be of having a 58cm frame vs a 60cm frame?

How about the Fens vs the knight?

Thanks again this is a great resource,

CCH

Can't speak for others, but my theory is that BD bikes can be real bargains. It pays to read the specs carefully, but if you can live with the component mix, there are fine values to be had from BD.

you can't use someone elses measurement to fit your bike. i'm 5'11 and 3/4. basically 6 feet and ride a 56.

If you can get the Knight for $550 in like-new condition, I'd go for it. The 60cm is likely to be just fine for you. The worst thing I can imagine is that you have to change out the stem.

To some extent frame size these days seems to be as much a matter of fashion as it is a practical matter. Biggish people ride smaller frames than people their size used to, but of course they jack the seat post up high and use long stems. The same with seat-to-bar drop.

FWIW, here's a picture of my Fens. It's a 60cm and as you can see I have the post up high and I also replaced the 110mm stem with one of 130mm. My legs and torso aren't long for my 6'1/2" height but I do have long arms. I think that the Knight uses the same frame as the Fens.

http://i832.photobucket.com/albums/z...sorFens-50.jpg

The same can be said about paying 3K for 1K bike! Which end would you rather be on ?

+1 Tell them to drop the price by $50 for your cost of fuel to get out there.