And I thought being into cars was bad

[Dunk76]

I have an obsessive personality; I either do something completely, or not at all - which means any given hobby normally becomes expensive quite quickly.

Motorbikes is easy to be 'into' (or was when I was riding) - choice of four from the Far East, a couple of Italians, and one homegrown.

Cars - even easier; my taste for big heavy powerful saloons with nice interiors limits my interest to Northern European makes - just BMW, Volvo, and Mercedes really.

MTBs - not really being concerned with throwing myself up and down mountains I've not paid this area much attention, especially since I want a road bike.

And a road bike is a whole can of carbon fibre worms... the bloody choice available is staggering, and I'm still only on choosing the frame bit. I've decided to wait until I've actually bought a frame before immersing myself in the world of hubs, rims, spokes, tubes, and tyres...

It's not so much where do I start, as where do I finish? I had sort of 90% decided on a Planet-X frame, then happened across this;

http://www.principia.dk/sits/UK/revolution_pma_uk....

I feel like that old Fast Show character played by Whitehouse.

Oh Bugger.

Edited by Dunk76 on Monday 28th June 23:35

[itsnotarace]

Buy an entire bike, it will save you a bunch of cash. Replace individual parts with upgrades as they wear out

How much is the Principia frameset anyway? The benchmark alloy road frames are Cannondale CAAD9 and Cervelo S1

[Dunk76]

Oh I know it would, but building one myself has a certain appeal which supercedes the desire to save money

The Evolution PMA, the one down from above, is £800 with forks.

Off to look at the Cervelo and Cannondale now - ta.

[Raven Flyer]

I'm a bit the same Dunk in that I have flirted with biking for a few years and have been bumping around on my good but heavy original Gary Turner iDrive.

I have now got a Boardman Pro FS MTB and a carbon Boardman road bike. For the money, nothing came close to the weight and the spec of either. With a couple of cages, bottles and computers, I've spent the thick end of £3k but consider I have bikes for life.

Without youth and only a modicum of fitness (was once an international sportsman so my definition my be biased), they probably are for life.

The MTB is my favourite but then I have always been a trail rider. No fumes, no noise, just waffle prints and aching legs. Love it.

[Captain Beaky]

itsnotarace said:

Buy an entire bike, it will save you a bunch of cash. Replace individual parts with upgrades as they wear out

I agree - buy a whole bike and get out riding. Much better than spending the summer in the shed or dragging round bike shops or web sites for the perfect widgets; cheaper too.

Plenty of suppliers have long test ride periods if you're not sure about exactly what you want.

[LRdriver II]

From a Danes view.. Principia are but the name/shadow of their usual self. The company originated with a couple of geeky engineering types who working from a shed, knew exactly how to tweak alu to the extent they buildt some insanely good frames.. but as they were crap accountants, the company folded and after a few brand sales, somebody in the far east is throwing alot of principia branded stuff on the market.

Cannondale CAAD9 is still made in the US and is a light fast bike which is a strong contender for anybody.

[Dunk76]

This is Pistonheads isn't it? I wanted encouragement, not logic and sound advice!

Although, it must be said choosing an off the shelf sub £1500 road bike is probably a more difficult decision than building one up from scratch.

[Dunk76]

LRdriver II said:

From a Danes view.. Principia are but the name/shadow of their usual self. The company originated with a couple of geeky engineering types who working from a shed, knew exactly how to tweak alu to the extent they buildt some insanely good frames.. but as they were crap accountants, the company folded and after a few brand sales, somebody in the far east is throwing alot of principia branded stuff on the market.

Cannondale CAAD9 is still made in the US and is a light fast bike which is a strong contender for anybody.

Carsten - my thanks, precisely the info I wanted.

[Nick_F]

You will be pushed to better the value of the new Planet-X high-modulus carbon machine, but the CAAD-9 is a thing of beauty.

[Daveyraveygravey]

I like the Planet X too; and I see it as the main rival for the carbon Boardman. Ironic that one is a real specialist supplier with complicated fitting and build requirements, the other is from Halfords!

[Captain Beaky]

Dunk76 said:

This is Pistonheads isn't it? I wanted encouragement, not logic and sound advice!

Sorry, I forgot

FWIW I bought a Felt Z5 which I'm very happy with - might be worth a look for you.

[Roy Gardiner]

Dunk76 said:

LRdriver II said:

From a Danes view.. Principia are but the name/shadow of their usual self. The company originated with a couple of geeky engineering types who working from a shed, knew exactly how to tweak alu to the extent they buildt some insanely good frames.. but as they were crap accountants, the company folded and after a few brand sales, somebody in the far east is throwing alot of principia branded stuff on the market.

Cannondale CAAD9 is still made in the US and is a light fast bike which is a strong contender for anybody.

Carsten - my thanks, precisely the info I wanted.

Spot on from LRdriver.

I am primarily a cycling enthusiast, as well as keen on cars.

Bikes depreciate as much as cars, if not more. I strongly recommend that you find your local bike shop and/or cycling club and investigate a 2nd hand purchase.

[itsnotarace]

Top lurking!

[LRdriver II]

Yeah, regarding Principia, it saddens me that they have gone the way of so many other low volume high-end brands. Klein died like this with Trek eating them up, and I am quite proud of owning two principias buildt by guys in their sheds, Both Aluminium one being a revolution ProEllipse:



and the other a pro model buildt for the teams in a thinner alu for lighter weight but less life expectancy:


This one is still sitting in my shed unbuildt as I used the groupset elsewhere.

I really want a carbon Principia but just cant get excited by anything they make these days..

[CVP]

LRdriver II said:

Yeah, regarding Principia, it saddens me that they have gone the way of so many other low volume high-end brands.

Very tidy machines Mr Driver Another Principia user here. i've had my RS6 Pro 9 years now since Sigma Sport built it for me. Folks say aluminium frames go off over time but mine seems as good now as the day I got it. It's a real shame the original guys were not great business men.

I did have the itch recently and nearly persuaded myself to get a whole new machine but when it came to the crunch I simply couldn't do it to the old boy. It would have been like taking the old family labrador to the vet. So instead in true Pistonheads fashion I applied some "man maths" to the problem and had him rebuilt with...Di2. Now it's like I have a new puppy again

[Dunk76]

CVP said:

So instead in true Pistonheads fashion I applied some "man maths" to the problem and had him rebuilt with...Di2. Now it's like I have a new puppy again

Ah yes, Man Maths - where you must subtract an amount from the final figure for 'saving hassle' to achieve the sum you want. (A system first seen in the British Army in the 19th century where anything which made the budget look bad was labelled 'off-reckonings' and discarded from the books entirely.)

My Alpina had a huge amount of man maths in it's running costs.

[CVP]

Quick snap tonight to show how the install looks. I think overall it looks nice & clean.

[NitroNick]

CRC have a few principia frames from 2005 at hugely discounted rates (up to 70% off). As far as i'm aware these are from before the company went under.
I had an ex Linda Mccartney team Principia back a few years ago and it was sweet.
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Brands.aspx?Bra...
btw...I have no affiliation with CRC, just saw the frames for sale there.

[Dunk76]

Nice find Nick...

Any of our resident Principia anoraks able to verify that they are not the later cheapo stuff - a £2300 frame for £700 seems a bit too good to be true.

[CVP]

I thought they initially went under in 2004 but other will be more expert on the history of the company than me.