Long story short: Rode a lot in grad school on my 2002 Specialized Allez (road, du, tri). Put a mix of Ultegra and 105 on it and rode it a ton in grad school and during my postdoc. Fast forward to now and that Allez is sitting around just begging to be ridden. After a long hiatus off the bike I actually have the opportunity to do one or two road rides a week these days and I'm curious what my next step should be: new bike frame/components, new frame built up with existing components, or just get the old bike serviced and ride it. I don't know much about how long the frame should last, so please excuse my ignorance if this is an idiotic question. Life has been busy and I haven't paid attention to the bike industry in a while. Trying to get back into it. Budget for anything new would be $700-800. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
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Re: New (or old) bike advice please [whineyass]
[ In reply to ]
I’m riding a trek carbon of similar vintage. New consumables (cables, brake pads, tires, bar tape) and you’ll be fine. Just make sure nothing is broken or about to break.
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Favourite Swim Sets:
2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly
Re: New (or old) bike advice please [whineyass]
[ In reply to ]
You won't be able to buy a decent new bike for $700-$800, and your components are likely so outdated that they won't work on a newer frame. I would start with servicing your existing bike and riding that for a while. It'll help you confirm that you want to continue cycling before you invest more money into the sport. It will also help you confirm the size of bike frame you need if you decide to get a new bike.
Since you haven't followed the bike industry for a while, bike manufacturers offer road bikes in the following basic categories: aero (thin and aggressive geometry), endurance (relaxed geometry), climbing (light weight), and gravel (relaxed geometry and ability to mount wide tires). These are generalizations, and many bikes bleed into multiple categories. For example, my wife's endurance road bike (Trek Domane) can fit 45 mm gravel tires. But I have found thinking about these categories useful when evaluating road bikes.
Since you haven't followed the bike industry for a while, bike manufacturers offer road bikes in the following basic categories: aero (thin and aggressive geometry), endurance (relaxed geometry), climbing (light weight), and gravel (relaxed geometry and ability to mount wide tires). These are generalizations, and many bikes bleed into multiple categories. For example, my wife's endurance road bike (Trek Domane) can fit 45 mm gravel tires. But I have found thinking about these categories useful when evaluating road bikes.
Re: New (or old) bike advice please [whineyass]
[ In reply to ]
I would just clean it up and ride it and replace stuff as it wears it fails. It's a good bike.
Re: New (or old) bike advice please [whineyass]
[ In reply to ]
what they said..
I'm riding a 1992 Schwinn PDG, and 1999 Trek 2500, both still ride just fine..
I'm riding a 1992 Schwinn PDG, and 1999 Trek 2500, both still ride just fine..
Whatever you can get for $800 wont be any better than that Allez anyhow, so like others have said, maybe some new cables and chain/cassette and enjoy the ride.