Cycling UK Forum

Oh, I am pleased that it is possible....now you just need to know if you WANT to do it!
BTW, whilst I know that Belgium has a reputation for being flat, I will let you in to a secret...it isn't true. Well, the west (Flemish) bit is, OK, but the section you will pass through, has gently rolling hills. Quite like loads of places in the UK....I mention this now, so you will not be surprised
If you need help with the train bookings or whether they will carry your bike, for sure, do let me know. I'll need dates and rough times, obviously. (Don't know how good your French is and I would want you to have two shocks whilst over here)

Is there an official route? The map on the link isn't great...

As requested, check this out -

https://www.b-europe.com/Voyager/Trains/InterCity

Check Euro and IC "intercity" trains. As I say, slower, but direct, via Bruxelles.
Just make sure they carry bikes, but here, bikes are everywhere and expected on trains. (At peak times, "normal" (not fold bikes) are allowed on all trians!!)

Hope this makes you reconsider and do the trip. It does look like a good one. May be I will do part of it (I live in Bruxelles)

Sounds great. You don't have to use a Thalys train. There are "normal" ones, slower of course, that go back to either Brussels or Paris.

Hello and Happy New Year.
Does anyone know anything about these frames??? Are they any good??? No one ever seems to recommend them. Dead silence...

http://www.fahrradmanufaktur.de/katalog ... uct_id=635

I note that they are made of "25 CrMo 4". What does this mean in English??? I am very familiar with Reynolds, so where do you think this fits in???
I also know that they are hardly available in the UK (a bad sign or saturated market?) although Chris's Bikes in Cambridge stock them.

Geos??? The sizes jump in 5cm increments. Goodness!!!

Any help with extra FRAME ONLY knowledge would be appreciated.

Cheers. John

SamSam
Your two choices are not available in Belgium but are at Evans Cycles - which happens to have a showroom at Gatwick - not too far from here (Bel) then... plus being a huge online retailer, you might see other stuff at the same time. Certainly worth a trip over.....
Spec wise, they seem fairly similar but the Genesis does have a 725 frame - excellent and is £125 cheaper. At the end of the day, components are important but the frame is king of the list of things to want to get right first time around.

SamSam - btw, if you find something you like but can not transport it to Belgium, let me know. I go back and forth all the time.
You can guess why - the clue is in my "name". Don't forget also that if you will cycle to work on it, the employer can pay a rate per km.

Sam
There is no cycle to work scheme in Belgium but employers can - and do! - pay per mile for you to commute in, which slowly but surely a similar thing!

For me the CdF has a better frame and slightly better components, so if they cost the same money, then it wins hands down. Little things like the spread of gears on the rear cassette, in the scheme of things, are minor.

Formula 1 hotels is a chain in France, dotted all over the place and they let you put your bike in the room with you.
They are also cheap and clean.

I tend to spread my money about...
Where I live there are a few bike shops, which clearly have different strengths and after trial and error, I play on that. One is much better for touring spares, another better for racing equipment, another excellent for on the spot issues. I have my own business so like to support other small business, however, it is also impossible for me to ignore some of the huge savings online sometimes. This comes with a warning though. A few months ago, my rear mech broke on the way into work. An on line replacement was £40. LBS £50 but they fitted it for free that day (they know me because I use them quite a bit!) so I could ride home again. With the online option I would have struggled to get into work for a few days (bus fare is £5 return, daily) and then I would have had to fit it.... so for me, in this case, there was no saving at all and more happy cycling.

Hello again. Firstly, I think you need to decide which frame material you like/prefer. The Ribble's are AL and AL does not get too many recommendations on this forum! The Reynolds stuff is all steel, in various forms, and 631 makes for a great Audax bike. Once this is established, you can then move on to things like components, tyres etc. If you look at ebay at the moment there are a couple of Dawes Audax 631 bikes (not all Dawes' are) and one or two might fit you (the dark grey, front/rear rack one may. I did LE-JoG on this model and it was fantastic). It also comes with a 105 groupset. (btw, I am not obsessed with this groupset!!!)

As for tyre width, yes this is important, like all components are but once we start to discuss the differences between 23 and 25mm width, we quickly find ourselves entering into the world of the connoisseur....

An audax is basically a long ride, 100, 150, 200 km in a day, not as a race but you do need to be a certain points within a certain time frame. So, you can not go too fast or too slow. For them, you need a comfy bike and I think you still need mudguards to "enter" one. The bikes tend to have rack mountings too but are lighter than full on touring bikes, so they fall between racing bikes and tourers. They are perfect for commuting because they have a good balance between speed and carrying stuff for work.

Regarding clip on mudguards, I had some once and they tended to move about a bit, then rub on the wheel.... they are OK but not great in my experience.

I would always buy a decent second hand, now half price, originally excellent bike than a Triban 3.

Hello again. I was not necessarily suggesting buying THIS bike but I would certainly keep it in mind, after your job situation is clear. You can "watch" it on ebay and go back to the seller if it fails to sell. It is best to ignore the S,M,L sizes. Go onto Charge's website and look at the numbers/measurements instead.

For me, £400 for a steel, very comfy, tough framed and 105 specced bike is tricky to beat. Plus, with the dollar exchange rate, bikes are going up and up in price and down and down in spec! So, ones which are a few years older will tend to have better specs - however, they will have more miles on them. This example is therefore the sort of thing to be aiming for.

The blue Thorn, above, is lovely too but it will not go for any where near £400 you are happy to art with on any website. Thorns consistently go for top money relative to their original price. They are excellent investments (not that we should be thinking about this really)

When I decide to buy a second hand bike, I research thoroughly a few different bikes and then sit tight waiting for one to pop up. Bike radar does useful reviews, or at least, they offer another opinion. Concentrate on the frame - the spec is often easy to change either immediately or as things die. The frame isn't! The research, you will discover, is mostly great fun. The fleabay bidding is the miserable part.

As for 631 and 520 tubing , oh that is a big question and it will be best for you if you look at other threads in order to completely confuse yourself over this rather large subject.

I have a Tange steel Charge Juicer Hi which weighs 9.9kg. I use it in the winter and bought it so as not to destroy my other decent bikes. I had quite a few options on my list and this one happened to come up first, on ebay, and I won the auction. I have no idea why they do not seem to re-sell well, on the second hand market, because they are very comfy, robust, tough, light and not flashy... When I will finally destroy it, I will, for sure buy another one (although they have stopped making it now). I am more than happy with it.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Charge-Juicer ... 1c386c2b9a

This is currently £380, (no bids) looks like it is in great shape and comes with a good 105 groupset. It looks like your size but best to check this.

The only fly in the ointment - and there always is one! - is that there are no rack mounts. However, I simply use the mudguard hole and have bought a clip that neatly wraps around the tube for the upper screw. No problems at all.

I can also vouch for Dawes Audax bikes. The 631 tubed ones are excellent and are well equipped. The 520 ones heavy and not so.

If it helps, I know that my Charge Juicer High 105 is 9.9kg, as an off the peg job....
I didn't mention earlier that the joins - welding - on my Juicer are very well done. It has been clearly been made well.
Whilst I can understand that for what ever reason you want to avoid Shinamo, you are paying a high price for the principle.

Ive not ridden a plug 5 but do have its, in effect, predecessor, the Juicer High. The frame is just lovely. Perfectly stiff in all the right places, but not overly so, giving a smooth and pleasant ride. The paint job is fantastic - mine has a hard winter life and it is difficult to scratch. I have often found myself opting to ride this bike, when I have other fancier things...

Just one point though. The 5 costs £1599, the 4 £1099. In my view, £500 well wasted. The frames are the same, 105 is fairly similar to Sram Rival, the wheels are the same. OK the brakes are better on the 5. I would pay a max £100 for that!

Whilst I know that you want to have a base, a wild card suggestion would be to do Lands End to John O'Groats. This would take, say 2 weeks. That way you would get to see from the bottom to the top of the country, you could make the route bend a bit to cover some more interesting stuff, you would see mostly what has been mentioned by various people above, you would have a goal for the time here plus you would get very fit, making a race in the final few days a walk in the park !