Yeah, my ears pricked up too. Think he was just being nice to the chick



That also made me stand to attention, but I didn't wanna give anyone bad ideas. :) He basically gave us his address, then said he has a dozen expensive bikes in his garage

My road bike came with sora gear, app $900 alloy road bike, only used for commutting, 6117 kms this year, no gear problems, adjust when needed, though have had the wheels re spoked with stonger ones under warranty. Fitted gattor skin tyres.

I'm trying to talk my mate into buying a 2004, 105 equipped Gitane for $1500.

Seems reasonable to me.....but I don't know much about the new Gitanes.
Kinda sad what they put out now, considering they were one of THE "it" bikes to get in the 70s and 80s.

By what he can afford, it's easy to sucked into the "price creep"of bikes.Im jelious, id rather the better running gear but not for now Iv got a 20004 zeus road bike made by wholesalers and sold to hoever wants to market them.

Im from Perth, how many members are from over here?

G'day.

I can only think of about a dozen, but there's probably many more that don't post all that often

Jeez, a Zeus from the year 20,004 -- that's some effort :D

You're not wrong about "price creep", especially if you have bad 'friends' like me who say stuff like:
"come on, Sora is crap; you've gotta at least get 105." :D

I have another mate who I worked on, and I got him up from $1200 to $2200 :) , but he
ended up getting a nice, barely used, 2nd hand steel Pinarello with Campag Centaur
and Campag Proton wheels for $1700, and he's now happy I "encouraged" him to waste more money.

[QUOTE=531Aussie]Jeez, a Zeus from the year 20,004 -- that's some effort :D

You're not wrong about "price creep", especially if you have bad 'friends' like me who say stuff like:
"come on, Sora is crap; you've gotta at least get 105." :D

I have another mate who I worked on, and I got him up from $1200 to $2200 :) , but he
ended up getting a nice, barely used, 2nd hand steel Pinarello with Campag Centaur
and Campag Proton wheels for $1700, and he's now happy I "encouraged" him to waste more money.[/QUOTE/]
Had a quick look at s/h bikes at the bike shop,then thought if its new, it aint going to break. Your right thoe if you know the history of a s/h bike and your a bike guroo :D large savings can be had.Il be able to retro fit my bike with ultegra , latter, somthing newer will be on the maket by then. Get a bucket ready ; i was given a huffy wirless trip computer, candice, mxs ect $50 for the roady,.More complicated to opperate than the old cats eye.See how she goes .OH the zeus came with alloy wheels, stone was optional on the wheels and h'bars.

YOWZA

I'm just being stooopid.

It's just like "holy cow", or "by crikey"

Good price at $1500. They're getting harder to find though, so be quick. Also Oz variants differ from the French versions, so don't bother with the frog website for info.

After 3 hours of mucking about with my shiny new Mach 1800 I've found that the spokes are really light and will be replaced straight away with some nice Swiss. The rims rub on the brake pads when I corner. I reckon that the standard wheels are suitable for up to about 75kg (I'm 83).

I'm also sus of the brakes, they just don't seem to have stopping power. Again, I reckon I'm a bit on the heavy side of the bike's specs. I'll reserve judgement until the cables are stretched in though.

Very cramped for room for add-ons like mini-pump, Polar speed and cadence xmitters, and the like. I even had trouble fitting just a polar mount and light on the handlebars because of the brake cable routing. I guess that's just the way it is with modern bikes. I eventually solved all the mounting problems with a bit of lateral thinking (eg. I mounted the light upside down).

The seat is an absolute shocker and will be replaced very soon now.

Apart from that, a nice little bike. Well balanced, smooth, and light.

My mate just SMS'd me again -- he nearly bought one a couple of hours ago but
managed to exercise enough patience to wait 'til at least Wednesday.

So, the front end (steering) does everything it's supposed to? Stable enough?

Reckon you could ride no hands at good speed with confidence?

Is very stable, more than I had expected it to be (coming of a steelo). The front end 'feel' is obviously a lot lighter that a steelo, but it surprises you by doing everything that you ask of it.

I rolled around in the Sunday crit in C grade with just over an hour of familiarisation and it behaved very nicely for me. Couldn't do anything spectacular on it because it hasn't had time to settle in, but enjoyed it immensely.

I actually tested the 'no hands' bit specifically because of the light feel! It's fine and I had no trouble feeding.

I like the look of that new Avanti full carbon frame. Its real good lookin.

Have they hit the shop floors near you yet?

I assume you mean the 2005s? I haven't seem them

Bewdy, thanks

Comfortable enough for alooominum?

Dunno, never ridden anything but steel crate before. Felt fine to me, even over rough roads. Tyres only at 90lbs though, so not rock hard. LBS also said something about carbon forks... dampen... better... zzZZZzz

Yeah the 05's. I think its Avanti's first full carbon frame. From what I can see in the photos its nude carbon with a few material and frame names in the usual places. Understated... oohh baby.

Talked to the LBS about Avanti's today. Couldn't get anything in mine ($3k) or my mates ($1.5k) price range until next year. How ordinary is that?

Oh if you guys are talking about the Team Carbino, look at the horid pic in this link. http://www.avanti.co.nz/bikes_detail.asp?id=157&t=0

I swear that's a Specialized Roubaix. You can even see the inserts in the same place.

[edit] Actually, dumbarse here has the Avanti catalog next to me and it only has the inserts in the seatpost. The rest is different. Don't mind me.

Carbon forks are a bit over-hyped, I reckon. There's no doubt they can be
made super light (my Columbus Muscle is 380g), and there's plenty of testimonies refering
to their amazing strength (the good ones, at least), but I still reckon me old 531 forks
feel better; more springy and comfy, without being too flexy.

Look at yer name. Yer biased. ;)

Well, s'pose...but I've got a carbon on the Cervelo, another one on one of my
Kennedy alu frames, and I plan on getting another one, but.......I dunno......
I just don't reckon they whoop steel in EVERY aspect, only most.
This is probably stating the obvious, but in my opnion they don't bounce and spring over
rough roads like steel does.

However, it still amazes me that you can swap a 700 or 800g steel fork for a 380g (or less) carbon one.

Fair enough. Just giving you a ribbing. ;)

BTW, I know it's a bit povo but I really don't want to break my 3k budget. So you know what it looks like I'm going to get?

GASP! :eek:

Bag me now or forever hold your peace, as the deal will probably be done by the end of the week. ;)

Ah well, seems like a reasonalble price to me.....is it?

I'd probably go for a steel one, ( :p ) and i prefer the old stickers

Should be around $2.7k. For Ultegra 10 and carbon seat stays and chain stays, it's not to bad. Better value than the Trek 2000 anyway.

And nah, I'll try some Aluminium and CF. I can always ride my mountain bike (1991 Trek 920) when I want a steel fix. Talk about steel forks being the goods. Suspension is for *******. Nothing like holding on for dear life going down a rocky hill with only that steel fork damping the bumps to improve your grip strength. ;)