Would this be a bit silly?
Discussion
A bit over 6 months ago, I bought myself my first bike (as an adult), a Giant Seek Hybrid that was intended "for the sole purpose of riding to and from work." Inevitably, "just to and from work" has ended up turning into progressively longer weekend rides and detours from my normal commuting route. You all probably be familiar with the process 
The Seek is great for what it is and (to me, with no basis for comparison) seems to perform pretty well on longer rides. However, I am now starting to wonder what a proper road bike would do for me. The upright riding position of the hybrid is great in traffic, but I feel like a sail once I try to pedal into a long headwind, and it isn't the lightest thing on earth (12 kg)
So, that leads me to a potential n+1 situation - a roadbike to use on the weekends. Catch is, that I'm really not in a position to drop any sort of vaguely serious money on a weekend toy at the moment, so I have been idly perusing the local second hand market for something interesting and cheap. Today I found this:
It's a Giant CFR1, an older (90's) lugged carbon frame with alloy fork and all Shimano 600 componentry (8 speed). From what I can gather, they were a pretty high-end bike when new and are a fairly relaxed, comfortable ride - which is sort of what I'm after. It seems to be a pretty left-field choice, and would need a few changes to suit me (mainly a change to a compact crankset), but would it be totally unsuitable as a fair weather weekend thing to be used by someone who isn't too serious?
The Seek is great for what it is and (to me, with no basis for comparison) seems to perform pretty well on longer rides. However, I am now starting to wonder what a proper road bike would do for me. The upright riding position of the hybrid is great in traffic, but I feel like a sail once I try to pedal into a long headwind, and it isn't the lightest thing on earth (12 kg)
So, that leads me to a potential n+1 situation - a roadbike to use on the weekends. Catch is, that I'm really not in a position to drop any sort of vaguely serious money on a weekend toy at the moment, so I have been idly perusing the local second hand market for something interesting and cheap. Today I found this:
It's a Giant CFR1, an older (90's) lugged carbon frame with alloy fork and all Shimano 600 componentry (8 speed). From what I can gather, they were a pretty high-end bike when new and are a fairly relaxed, comfortable ride - which is sort of what I'm after. It seems to be a pretty left-field choice, and would need a few changes to suit me (mainly a change to a compact crankset), but would it be totally unsuitable as a fair weather weekend thing to be used by someone who isn't too serious?
paranoid airbag said:
Looks ace to me. Anything in particular worrying you?
There seems to be a prevailing opinion on the interwebs that "old carbon" can be prone to failure. However, it sounds like these ones are pretty robust. Otherwise, nothing really worries me unless you lot can think of anything I should be worried about?Bit of an update for this thread, should anyone be interested.
The original bike ended up selling for a bit more than I was willing to pay for it (and honestly, I think more than it was worth). However, very soon afterwards, I came across another one for a lot less money: same frame, but with a mixture of RX100 and 105 8-speed componentry, only missing a pair of wheels. So I bought that (NZ$200 = 100 pounds) and found a set of Rigida DP18s (which were what the bike was originally specced with) for another $60 (30 pounds). Living in a hilly area, a switch to a compact crankset was in order, and I managed to find an old Sugino 50/36 square taper crankset for $40.
The next step was to strip it back to the bare frame and completely clean/tidy all of the components, including cleaning and relubricating the STI levers. Then I hit Wiggle and spent another $260 on replacing pretty much all the consumable bits - new Rubino Pros, new chain, new cassette, new cables, pedals, bar tape etc etc. Put everything back together, and voila:
I've still yet to get the fit adjusted properly, but I did take it out for a first run around a 40km loop I do quite a bit. It was my first time on a road bike, so a bit of a new experience for me, but I managed a whole stack of PRs, including knocking over a minute off a climb that had previously taken me a consistent 11 minutes on the Hybrid.
Pretty pleased so far really
The original bike ended up selling for a bit more than I was willing to pay for it (and honestly, I think more than it was worth). However, very soon afterwards, I came across another one for a lot less money: same frame, but with a mixture of RX100 and 105 8-speed componentry, only missing a pair of wheels. So I bought that (NZ$200 = 100 pounds) and found a set of Rigida DP18s (which were what the bike was originally specced with) for another $60 (30 pounds). Living in a hilly area, a switch to a compact crankset was in order, and I managed to find an old Sugino 50/36 square taper crankset for $40.
The next step was to strip it back to the bare frame and completely clean/tidy all of the components, including cleaning and relubricating the STI levers. Then I hit Wiggle and spent another $260 on replacing pretty much all the consumable bits - new Rubino Pros, new chain, new cassette, new cables, pedals, bar tape etc etc. Put everything back together, and voila:
I've still yet to get the fit adjusted properly, but I did take it out for a first run around a 40km loop I do quite a bit. It was my first time on a road bike, so a bit of a new experience for me, but I managed a whole stack of PRs, including knocking over a minute off a climb that had previously taken me a consistent 11 minutes on the Hybrid.
Pretty pleased so far really
itsnotarace said:
IroningMan said:
Lovely, but you've got the levers mounted awfully high up.
Levers aren't too high, the bars just need to be angled down a fair bit. The drops should be parallel with the ground, e.g
Nice bike, by the way.
The brake levers are set so that the ends are just a fraction above level with the bottom of the drops. I did rotate the bars downwards sightly after taking the pic, but they could probably do with going a bit further.
It does feel very stretched out compared with the hybrid, but I have no idea how it is supposed to feel so it's difficult to work out where to adjust things to. My gut feeing is that it could do with a shorter stem (120mm on there now, thinking 100mm) as it feels more comfortable when I position my hands just behind the hoods. No idea if that's right or not though. May need to invest in a bike fit...
It does feel very stretched out compared with the hybrid, but I have no idea how it is supposed to feel so it's difficult to work out where to adjust things to. My gut feeing is that it could do with a shorter stem (120mm on there now, thinking 100mm) as it feels more comfortable when I position my hands just behind the hoods. No idea if that's right or not though. May need to invest in a bike fit...
uncinqsix said:
The brake levers are set so that the ends are just a fraction above level with the bottom of the drops. I did rotate the bars downwards sightly after taking the pic, but they could probably do with going a bit further.
It does feel very stretched out compared with the hybrid, but I have no idea how it is supposed to feel so it's difficult to work out where to adjust things to. My gut feeing is that it could do with a shorter stem (120mm on there now, thinking 100mm) as it feels more comfortable when I position my hands just behind the hoods. No idea if that's right or not though. May need to invest in a bike fit...
To be honest, if you're unused to drops then feeling comfortable an inch or so short of the hoods is OK. As you get used to it you'll settle into the position much better.It does feel very stretched out compared with the hybrid, but I have no idea how it is supposed to feel so it's difficult to work out where to adjust things to. My gut feeing is that it could do with a shorter stem (120mm on there now, thinking 100mm) as it feels more comfortable when I position my hands just behind the hoods. No idea if that's right or not though. May need to invest in a bike fit...
uncinqsix said:
My gut feeing is that it could do with a shorter stem (120mm on there now, thinking 100mm) as it feels more comfortable when I position my hands just behind the hoods. No idea if that's right or not though. May need to invest in a bike fit...
General rule of thumb is that the tops of the bars should block your view of the front hub when sitting in your usual position on the bikeNice bike.
I would check that frame extremely carefully for cracks.
A mate of mine had a Trek OCLV disintegrate at 40 kmh as he was going over a railway crossing recently.
I would point out that any frame material is susceptible to failure, but there is a school of thought that says carbon can fail somewhat more spectacularly.
I would check that frame extremely carefully for cracks.
A mate of mine had a Trek OCLV disintegrate at 40 kmh as he was going over a railway crossing recently.
I would point out that any frame material is susceptible to failure, but there is a school of thought that says carbon can fail somewhat more spectacularly.
Barchettaman said:
Nice bike.
I would check that frame extremely carefully for cracks.
A mate of mine had a Trek OCLV disintegrate at 40 kmh as he was going over a railway crossing recently.
I would point out that any frame material is susceptible to failure, but there is a school of thought that says carbon can fail somewhat more spectacularly.
I had the frame completely bare, which gave me a chance to give it a very thorough check: everything looks sound, and no signs of cracking or delamination. I would check that frame extremely carefully for cracks.
A mate of mine had a Trek OCLV disintegrate at 40 kmh as he was going over a railway crossing recently.
I would point out that any frame material is susceptible to failure, but there is a school of thought that says carbon can fail somewhat more spectacularly.
I had a play with the fit too - rotated the bars down further and moved the seat back slightly, and it's starting to feel a bit better. I'll take it for another decent ride this weekend and see how it goes.
I'm still having issues getting comfortable, especially with reach - it feels like I have to stretch too far to reach get my hands on the hoods comfortably, and when they're there it feels like there is too much weight on them. I had a go with the fit calculator on competitivecyclist.com, and the numbers that spat out were pretty close to what I had - saddle to bar length in particular was pretty much on the money.
However, I measured the bars that are on it, and the reach on them is 130mm. Looking at typical dimensions of bars out there, most seem to be in the 75-85mm range, and 95mm is considered to be at the longer end of the scale. So, despite the saddle-handlebar length being about right, the distance to the hoods is probably getting on for 40mm too long if the fit calculator is correct. Does this sound right?
ETA: Ignore that. I measured it wrong - the reach is nearer 100mm. I've spent the afternoon experimenting with different degrees of bar rotation, and I think I've found a happy medium. I think I had them rotated too far forward, and everything feels better balanced with the ramps a bit flatter. I did move the brakes a little further down the bars too, which has made it more comfortable to reach the brakes from the drops.
However, I measured the bars that are on it, and the reach on them is 130mm. Looking at typical dimensions of bars out there, most seem to be in the 75-85mm range, and 95mm is considered to be at the longer end of the scale. So, despite the saddle-handlebar length being about right, the distance to the hoods is probably getting on for 40mm too long if the fit calculator is correct. Does this sound right?
ETA: Ignore that. I measured it wrong - the reach is nearer 100mm. I've spent the afternoon experimenting with different degrees of bar rotation, and I think I've found a happy medium. I think I had them rotated too far forward, and everything feels better balanced with the ramps a bit flatter. I did move the brakes a little further down the bars too, which has made it more comfortable to reach the brakes from the drops.
Edited by uncinqsix on Sunday 8th December 04:38
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