I want a bike that gives me greater comfort and climbs well. What do I get?
By comfort, I mean lower back comfort. Climbing well - well, that basically means stiff and light. My current position is this: I have a steel-frame "everyday" bike. I've had a lot of use of out this, and basically there's nothing wrong with it. It's pretty quick in a straight line, but it's quite heavy, and I've noticed more recently that I get a lot of "a$$-kicking" coming up through the frame. And lately that's been showing up as lower back discomfort post riding: a feeling of compression of the verbetrae around the lower lumbar/saecrum (although this could be symptomatic of old age: who knows?). As well as training, I use this bike for commuting (approx 30 mins e/way, through traffic - lots of slowing and speeding up) on badly potted roads.
I also have a Rocketwing, which is sooooo comfortable it's unreal. But it's all tricked up into a tt/tri position, so not suitable for everyday riding in traffic. It's also geared at 53/42 at the front, so it is (or I am?) disadvantaged even more when the road turns very hilly.
I have a third bike which I keep away from home in an area which is properly hilly. It's a Giant OCR Composite 2: full carbon, and I love it. Comfort is up there with the Softie. And it climbs really nicely. But I'm sceptical that's it's got the same straight line speed on the flat that the other two have.
So, I'm thinking of buying a new frame/fork, stripping the steel frame and putting the components from that bike on the new frame fork. This bike has to (a) provide comfort - ie no a$$ kicking; (b) be durable - ie cope with a daily commute of stop/start riding and chasing down other riders; (c) cope with training rides at the weekend; (d) climb well.
So far I've id'd the following:
1. A scnadium bike with a carbon back end, plus a carbon fork & carbon seat post. I have one in mind made by a local manufacturer which fits this bill.
2. A Cervelo Soloist. Not sure why I think this is a good idea, but I do.
3. A Giant TCR composite frame & fork. All carbon, and surprisingly affordable. Giant's carbon frame have a lifetime warranty, but I don't know enough about their longevity to know if everyday use & training is going to make this bike suffer.
4. A titanium frame, maybe with carbon rear end, seatpost & fork. A friend who bikes a lot recommended this set up for my specific gripe.
Who's got any ideas?
By comfort, I mean lower back comfort. Climbing well - well, that basically means stiff and light. My current position is this: I have a steel-frame "everyday" bike. I've had a lot of use of out this, and basically there's nothing wrong with it. It's pretty quick in a straight line, but it's quite heavy, and I've noticed more recently that I get a lot of "a$$-kicking" coming up through the frame. And lately that's been showing up as lower back discomfort post riding: a feeling of compression of the verbetrae around the lower lumbar/saecrum (although this could be symptomatic of old age: who knows?). As well as training, I use this bike for commuting (approx 30 mins e/way, through traffic - lots of slowing and speeding up) on badly potted roads.
I also have a Rocketwing, which is sooooo comfortable it's unreal. But it's all tricked up into a tt/tri position, so not suitable for everyday riding in traffic. It's also geared at 53/42 at the front, so it is (or I am?) disadvantaged even more when the road turns very hilly.
I have a third bike which I keep away from home in an area which is properly hilly. It's a Giant OCR Composite 2: full carbon, and I love it. Comfort is up there with the Softie. And it climbs really nicely. But I'm sceptical that's it's got the same straight line speed on the flat that the other two have.
So, I'm thinking of buying a new frame/fork, stripping the steel frame and putting the components from that bike on the new frame fork. This bike has to (a) provide comfort - ie no a$$ kicking; (b) be durable - ie cope with a daily commute of stop/start riding and chasing down other riders; (c) cope with training rides at the weekend; (d) climb well.
So far I've id'd the following:
1. A scnadium bike with a carbon back end, plus a carbon fork & carbon seat post. I have one in mind made by a local manufacturer which fits this bill.
2. A Cervelo Soloist. Not sure why I think this is a good idea, but I do.
3. A Giant TCR composite frame & fork. All carbon, and surprisingly affordable. Giant's carbon frame have a lifetime warranty, but I don't know enough about their longevity to know if everyday use & training is going to make this bike suffer.
4. A titanium frame, maybe with carbon rear end, seatpost & fork. A friend who bikes a lot recommended this set up for my specific gripe.
Who's got any ideas?