any thoughts, opinions, either good or bad on the guru line. in particular the guru crono.
I just moved from a 650c Litespeed Saber to a 700c Guru Trilite for my race bike. I am very pleased to say that the Guru is everything that I hoped it would be. Very responsive and the ride is very comfortable for an aluminum frame. I’m sure the carbon fiber seat and chain stays have a lot to do with that.
The crono is a great ride and if I had to pick a full aluminum race frame it’s the one I’d pick. Not as harsh as the others, although I haven’t ridden them all. I was more interested in comfort over long rides though.
I have no remorse going from a titanium Litespeed to an aluminum (or scandium) Guru.
I have a Guru flite (road), my first road bike and frame-wise I’m very happy. Stiff, great climbing, beautiful paint and no problems. Fit isn’t stellar but I’ve learned to live with it.
What I’ve heard from people with tri-lites are that they’re stiff, yet people are comfortable on their long rides. One of my club-mates was just telling me yesterday that at first he found it a little hairy in turns but now that he has it, he doesn’t regret not getting a road bike. I met another guy who races crits on his tri-lite/chrono. Says he finds it super-stiff in that the back-end slips out in corners but other than that he’s fine with it.
i was fortunate enough to be able to ride a custom guru crono last year. before that i had been riding a '00 litespeed blade. the crono is a great bike. first of all it is an eye catcher, beautiful craftsmanship and excellent paint job. the bike is very responsive and for me it was fast on the flats and rollers. it is a stiff bike, especially in the back end. i really enjoyed the bike. i went back to my blade this year and the ride is definitely smoother over the ruff stuff (same exact components)and for some reason i climb better on the blade?? who knows why? could be what i’m used to but for some reason this was my experience. (the position on the two bikes was virtually identical as both bikes were fit by the same bike fit professional).
my conclusion was guru was a great bike and great company to work with in terms of the custom geo. for some reason i just seem to be more comfortable on my blade and climb a touch better so i switched back. not sure if that helps but i have nothing but good things to say about my experience with guru. if i were to buy another bike i would definitely look at guru’s ti options as they were not available when i chose the crono in aluminum.
jay
I just completed a review of the Guru Cron-Aly which should be on our site (bikesportmichigan.com) early next week.
In general Guru is using materials no other tri manufacturer (of commensurate size) is suing. Their workmanship in terms of weld quality. frame alignment precision, resulting component performance and even paint finish is superior to anyone in the industry.
It is as though the best materials and assembly/building techniques have been borrowed frm the other areas of cycling and applied by Guru. They are very impressive. I have owned two and I really like them and we sell them quite well.
Many people visit our store intent on buying a Felt, Litespeed, Cervelo, etc and wind up wanting a guru becasue of their impressive workmanship.
Also- from a fit perspective it is refreshing to see some taller head tubes making fitting a little easier for some customers.
I have a Guru Crono and love it. I rode the Cervelo P3 and p2k, the Felt B2,QR Caliente and the litespeed blade. Money was not a concern for this purchase as I just wanted the best TT bike for me and for some reason I just liked the Crono the best. I also wanted the bike to have a rear wheel cut out…not sure why but it seemed like all the TT machines you see in Bike racing have that feature. The seat angle was not to extreme and I would venture to guess that the bike is manufactured with more attention to detail than any of the other bikes I rode. Anyway, I rode a Cannondale CAAD 5 with a laid back seat post before purchasing the Guru. The change in Geometry was tough and at first I had a lot of trouble getting comfortable and generating the watts on the bike that I could generate on my CDale. But after a few months on the trainer and riding the bike in the hills everything came together. My top end watts are still not as high on my TT bike but my sustainable wattage for a given HR is higher. I actually just rode 106 miles on it Sunday and it felt great.
However, it was a tough decision as all the advertising and Hype around the P3 and blade was hard to ignore. But once I narrowed it down to those 3 bikes there was no comparison in my mind. The guru was stiffer where it needed to be and could descend well. The P3 was a great bike but hit the rear brake going 40 on a twisty descent and you feel it. The blade was never really in the running. I just didn’t like the feel as it felt heavy and a little slow. All the bikes were fairly fast on flats But being a bigger rider 6’3"185lbs the machined bottom bracket really appealed to me. Not sure what type of aluminum the Guru is made out of but it feels more foregiving than cheaper aluminum bikes yet stiffer than titanium. The Guru was a good choice for me.
I ride a 2002 Guru Crono and absolutely love it. It’s plenty stiff, and fairly comfprtable as well. I think that this is mostly due to the custom geometry that Guru offers. I have never been a great climber, but I used my Crono in Madeira without a problem, and it positively flies on flat and rolling courses. It is a “no excuses” bike - it’s faster than I am. I also agree with the other poster’s comments regarding attention to detail, welds and paint.
mp