The Official DMF Bicycle Thread

[stateprez]

If anyone wants a tutorial on bunny hopping barriers, I can help.....

[kopfjäger]

Did ya stick the landing?

[stateprez]

Negative.  Landed on my back.  Cleared them during practice, then the next 4 laps, though.

I crash well...years of practice.

[triangleforge]

 

As for me, bunny-hopping is a pretty one-off skill; I never had the guts to try it in a race where I had to get it right many times in succession - and when I was completely knackered by the end.

[El Matador]

Hey guys, some advice.

I'm torn between an Orbea Onix with the 105 or a Bianchi Vertigo Veloce,
Anyone have experience with any of these bikes?

I'll mostly be using it for tri training and the occasional century benefit ride. I'm looking for something more comfortable than race oriented.

[stateprez]

The shop I ride for is a Bianchi dealer.  I'm probably going to be riding a Sempre 105 or Ultegra for crits next year.  Great bikes.

I'd love a Campy bike to roll around on, but I'd only race with Shimano.  Way cheaper, way more available parts, way more reliable. 

That being said- if you're not traveling for rides, and have a good local shop that stocks Campy parts, I guess I could be persuaded. 

[triangleforge]

You mentioned tri-training; will you be riding the bike with aero bars or with the standard drops? I looked briefly online at the geometry of the two bikes (having not ridden either - if you have the opportunity, you should before plunking down your cash). I looked at the 57cm seat tube versions, since that's probably about what I'd ride. The main thing I noted was a slightly longer effective top tube &  more upright seat tube angle on the Orbea, which might be a shade more appropriate for aero-bar riding. But the geometry of both bikes - more relaxed that a race-dedicated road or tri bike, which sounds like exactly what you're after -  is close enough that you could set up identical positions on either, aero or drop bar. Close enough that if it were my money and there wasn't a clear favorite after a test ride that I'd go with which ever one is cheaper. Or prettier.

And +1 on what Stateprez said vis a vis Campy vs. Shimano - pretty much all the heavily used , beat to crap stuff on my bikes is Shimano, much of the pretty stuff I have around to someday build up (most of which I tried unsuccessfully to unload at a recent bike swap) on a bike is Campy.

[d3vi@nt]

I'm torn between an Orbea Onix with the 105 or a Bianchi Vertigo Veloce,

SRAM versus Campy, correct?  I don't like the SRAM ergo's and prefer Campy for my hands. But it's a lot like moto's -you just have to try them both and see what feels best. Geometry seems close between the two.  Bikes being equal (if they actually are) some shops here give free tunes for life, which works out well if you don't do your own maintenance.

Both look like good bikes, though.

[stateprez]

SRAM versus Campy, correct?  I don't like the SRAM ergo's and prefer Campy for my hands. But it's a lot like moto's -you just have to try them both and see what feels best. Geometry seems close between the two.  Bikes being equal (if they actually are) some shops here give free tunes for life, which works out well if you don't do your own maintenance.

Both look like good bikes, though.

105 is Shimano, not SRAM.  SRAM's equivalent would be Rival.

I don't like Sram double tap, and I don't think their front derailleurs shift well either.

[Pedro-bot]

Hey guys, some advice.

I'm torn between an Orbea Onix with the 105 or a Bianchi Vertigo Veloce,
Anyone have experience with any of these bikes?

I'll mostly be using it for tri training and the occasional century benefit ride. I'm looking for something more comfortable than race oriented.

Bianchi's website has the vertigo description as using the same frame geometry as the C2C model. My brother has the C2C with ksyrium wheels and aero bars. He does exactly what your looking to do, tri training and long distance rides.
His bike rides smooth and is very light. We ride on weekends out by Boerne in the bill country and he always seems to glide up those hills.
We've swapped bikes before and although he's the more skilled rider, the Bianchi light weight carbon frame most definitely helps. The frame is stiff enough to handle sprinting up hills without too much flex. So the power gets from the wheel to the ground.
It's also  compliant enough to kill most of the road buzz and feel smooth over rough roads.

I don't have any experience with Orbea bikes. I've read Orbea bike reviews on roadbikereview.com is that the paint is not of great quality and chips easily. But that may be far and few reviews.

Definitely ride both in your riding gear, just like the others have suggested.

Just to throw something out there, the Scott foil comes in at a lower price point and is stupid light. I test rode one a few weeks back and that thing was slick!! Felt better than the Bianchi, speed pickup was quick!

Best of luck and let us know which one you go with.

[El Matador]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Im leaning heavily towards the bianchi. Even though it's a couple f hundred more expensive, the italophile in me gets excited by it. I'm trying both out this weekend, ultimately I'll go with whichever feels better.

Thanks again!

[somegirl]

I have an 2007 Orbea Onix and love it, I've put a lot of miles on it, no issues.

Test rides are the way to go.

[rsoffar]

anyone have any experience with Roval wheels? I ride Bontrager race lites right now but managed to get a pair of the Roval fusee sl 25s for 200 bucks and with a claimed weight of 1540g that seemed like a good upgrade from the bontragers (1780g) for the price. I read a little about them having issues with breaking spokes but at that price i figured id just give em a go and see for myself because Im a pretty small guy (145ish) so weight limits on wheels hasnt really ever been an issue. The bontragers will stay the training wheels.
I was trying not to buy a new wheelset as my buddies shop is about to become a mavic dealer and mavic wheels at cost sounds sooo good haha but I also obviously couldnt pass up the 1500g wheelset for 200 bucks with barely any miles on em

[kopfjäger]

[Pedro-bot]

I like this one better.   

http://gopro.com/videos/bike/red-bull-rampage-2012/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=vow-newsletter-videoimage-go&utm_campaign=vow-newsletter-bike-rheeder-mccaul-semenuk-berrecloth