Does Anyone Know If This Is A Good Buy (Attempt 2). Cycling_Man's Journey To A Bike

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
Cycling_Man
Posts: 61
Joined: 7 Apr 2021, 12:41pm

Does Anyone Know If This Is A Good Buy (Attempt 2). Cycling_Man's Journey To A Bike

Post by Cycling_Man »

Hi Guys. Me Again. Attempt two here at looking for a second hand bike in my local area since the last one didn't go too well haha.

I have found found this bike listing titled "13 Intrisic B Mens Road Bike and it is priced at £250. From the bit of research I have done I think these are road bikes made by Halfords. I'm not sure if they are still making these as I don't see them on their website and I am also not sure what model it is. I found a website that talks about the bikes and has pictures of them, including this one, but not sure which model this one is called. Also I am unsure if this is a woman's road bike as some of the websites show the white version of this bike and call it a woman's road bike but I haven't seen any talk about the black one so maybe the black version is the men's version but they both look the same just in a different colour. For the record I am a man, hence the name "Cycling_Man" so would want a men's road bike.

Once again as someone who doesn't know much about bikes and is getting into it I want to seek the advice of you guys who seem to know much more than me. Is this a woman's bike? If not, is this a good buy or not.
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The Listing Description Is As Follows:

Frame: Lightweight triple butted aluminium - unsure of size but I’m 6’1 and it rides comfortably

Forks: Carbon fibre

Gears: 18 speed gears; Shimano Sora

Brakes: TRP T822/820 Aero brakes for the ultimate braking performance

Wheels: 700c hubs with Vittoria tyres, designed to help the wheels roll faster

Lights and speed/trip tracker included
----------------------------------------------------------

The Two Images Bellow Show The Images On The Listing
Image
Image

This Image Shows What I Think The Bike Is
Image
gregoryoftours
Posts: 2234
Joined: 22 May 2011, 7:14pm

Re: Does Anyone Know If This Is A Good Buy (Attempt 2). Cycling_Man's Journey To A Bike

Post by gregoryoftours »

13 bikes was Halfords' race oriented range and as such I think probably is designed to give a riding position that is more aggressive for speed at the expense of some comfort. I don't know but I imagine that it may have fairly quick 'twitchy' handling to match it's intended use. (Actually a review for the women's version of the bike, the intrinsic lambda, says otherwise: https://road.cc/content/review/169643-1 ... sic-lambda). This model is the intrinsic beta from I think 2015. It retailed at £750 so it's at the budget end of a bike designed for racing and speed over comfort. Some of the components are a bit better than the lambda reviewed above, the men's version of which is the alpha. You can see in the photo of the actual bike for sale that someone found the riding position a little too head down/aggressive so they've inverted the stem to make it the handlebars a bit higher and and also tilted the bar back a bit to raise the handlebars controls. It's a decent bike, and very good deal if it's in good condition and if it fits you. It's harder to guess if this one has been stolen or not without seeing the advert.
iandusud
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Joined: 26 Mar 2018, 1:35pm

Re: Does Anyone Know If This Is A Good Buy (Attempt 2). Cycling_Man's Journey To A Bike

Post by iandusud »

As Gregoryoftours has said it might not be the comfyest ride. Probably OK for up to a couple of hours. If it has been well looked after and not in need of lots of replacement parts then I think the price is fair. What is your budget and where do yo live?
Jamesh
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Joined: 2 Jan 2017, 5:56pm

Re: Does Anyone Know If This Is A Good Buy (Attempt 2). Cycling_Man's Journey To A Bike

Post by Jamesh »

Also the back brake is tucked under the chsinstsys exposed to all the crud off the road. Unless you are meticulous at cleaning it will seize up.

The front one is on the back of the fork and exposed to more dirt than it needs too.

Cheers James
mattsccm
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Joined: 28 Nov 2009, 9:44pm

Re: Does Anyone Know If This Is A Good Buy (Attempt 2). Cycling_Man's Journey To A Bike

Post by mattsccm »

If it all works ok I would say it would be work a go. The way things are going you will have to be quick and it may well be that it is worth taking a stab at something. Chances are you will be able to sell it on with the summer coming up anyway.
It has been owned by a novice cyclist, (Not a problem, indeed this may mean that it has little wear.) as can be seen by the tilted bars, flat pedals, reflectors still on it etc***.To me this would mean checking that al works well and hasn't been neglected. Ride it and make sure you can get all the gears and that the brakes work. Tyres may well be 23mm. No longer the fashion but they were fine for decades. Bigger will be more comfortable and you may have room to go uo to 25's or 28's. Not a deal breaker for the time being.
Those brakes were a stab at making things more aero.Valid on time trial bike but not especially here. Just check that the rear is not full of crud and actually works. Fussy but they do work if cleaned. May be a bit firm but that depends on you.
*** Alrights there will be millions of riders with hundreds of thousands of miles under their belts who say that they do all of this as well but it is a valid generalisation.
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Tigerbiten
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Joined: 29 Jun 2009, 6:49am

Re: Does Anyone Know If This Is A Good Buy (Attempt 2). Cycling_Man's Journey To A Bike

Post by Tigerbiten »

As it's a road bike then the gears are probably biased towards the top end.
Which is fine if you like descending at ~30 mph.
But not so good if you're struggling to get up the same hill at ~4 mph.
Also to taking into account one of the most commonly asked questions is "How do I get lower gears ?" and how expensive it can be to do so.
How well do you think a top biased gear range will suit what you intend to ride over.

Luck ........ :D
Jdsk
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Joined: 5 Mar 2019, 5:42pm

Re: Does Anyone Know If This Is A Good Buy (Attempt 2). Cycling_Man's Journey To A Bike

Post by Jdsk »

iandusud wrote: 11 Apr 2021, 7:57amWhat is your budget and where do yo live?
Good questions, and unanswered in the other threads.

And do you, Cycling_Man, intend to do the maintenance and any changes yourself?

And where is this listed?

Thanks

Jonathan
Chris56
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Joined: 3 May 2020, 9:30pm

Re: Does Anyone Know If This Is A Good Buy (Attempt 2). Cycling_Man's Journey To A Bike

Post by Chris56 »

A friend of mine has the same bike but with the Claris gears and he speaks really highly of it. He used it when he was a Deliveroo rider and, despite the aggressive geometry, was ok with hills etc. Not 100% sure but I think it comes with a compact chainset and 11-28 cassette. Looking at the picture the rear mech has a medium cage and it should handle an 11-32 cassette if you need a lower climbing gear
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531colin
Posts: 16083
Joined: 4 Dec 2009, 6:56pm
Location: North Yorkshire

Re: Does Anyone Know If This Is A Good Buy (Attempt 2). Cycling_Man's Journey To A Bike

Post by 531colin »

Chris56 wrote: 11 Apr 2021, 9:07am A friend of mine has the same bike but with the Claris gears and he speaks really highly of it. He used it when he was a Deliveroo rider and, despite the aggressive geometry, was ok with hills etc. Not 100% sure but I think it comes with a compact chainset and 11-28 cassette. Looking at the picture the rear mech has a medium cage and it should handle an 11-32 cassette if you need a lower climbing gear
I was going to say it looks like the sort of bike which would be OK on a fine day with dry roads.
It looks completely impractical to me...no space for proper mudguards, both brakes positioned so they are certain to get sprayed with filthy water...and the F. mech. of course. Reduced spoke count wheels on a cheap bike are unlikely to be durable with a heavy rider. (I think the OP is 6'2", so unlikely to be lighter than me.
Cycling_Man
Posts: 61
Joined: 7 Apr 2021, 12:41pm

Re: Does Anyone Know If This Is A Good Buy (Attempt 2). Cycling_Man's Journey To A Bike

Post by Cycling_Man »

gregoryoftours wrote: 11 Apr 2021, 1:00am 13 bikes was Halfords' race oriented range and as such I think probably is designed to give a riding position that is more aggressive for speed at the expense of some comfort. I don't know but I imagine that it may have fairly quick 'twitchy' handling to match it's intended use. (Actually a review for the women's version of the bike, the intrinsic lambda, says otherwise: https://road.cc/content/review/169643-1 ... sic-lambda). This model is the intrinsic beta from I think 2015. It retailed at £750 so it's at the budget end of a bike designed for racing and speed over comfort. Some of the components are a bit better than the lambda reviewed above, the men's version of which is the alpha. You can see in the photo of the actual bike for sale that someone found the riding position a little too head down/aggressive so they've inverted the stem to make it the handlebars a bit higher and and also tilted the bar back a bit to raise the handlebars controls. It's a decent bike, and very good deal if it's in good condition and if it fits you. It's harder to guess if this one has been stolen or not without seeing the advert.
Thanks for giving me your I sight on the bike. I just wanted to ask what inverting the stem means and what you also mean whebbykj say, they tilted the bars back, do you mean they made the bars tilt towards the sky more? Are these changes reversible?

Thanks for commenting, Cycling_Man
Cycling_Man
Posts: 61
Joined: 7 Apr 2021, 12:41pm

Re: Does Anyone Know If This Is A Good Buy (Attempt 2). Cycling_Man's Journey To A Bike

Post by Cycling_Man »

iandusud wrote: 11 Apr 2021, 7:57am As Gregoryoftours has said it might not be the comfyest ride. Probably OK for up to a couple of hours. If it has been well looked after and not in need of lots of replacement parts then I think the price is fair. What is your budget and where do yo live?
My budget is around £500 and live kinda in the middle of nowhere so bikes are somewhat hard to come by haha.

Thanks, Cycling_Man
Cycling_Man
Posts: 61
Joined: 7 Apr 2021, 12:41pm

Re: Does Anyone Know If This Is A Good Buy (Attempt 2). Cycling_Man's Journey To A Bike

Post by Cycling_Man »

Jamesh wrote: 11 Apr 2021, 8:00am Also the back brake is tucked under the chsinstsys exposed to all the crud off the road. Unless you are meticulous at cleaning it will seize up.

The front one is on the back of the fork and exposed to more dirt than it needs too.

Cheers James
Ok thanks for the insight. If I get the bike I'm sure I will be able to find a video on how to clean them.

Thank you, Cycling_Man
Cycling_Man
Posts: 61
Joined: 7 Apr 2021, 12:41pm

Re: Does Anyone Know If This Is A Good Buy (Attempt 2). Cycling_Man's Journey To A Bike

Post by Cycling_Man »

mattsccm wrote: 11 Apr 2021, 8:14am If it all works ok I would say it would be work a go. The way things are going you will have to be quick and it may well be that it is worth taking a stab at something. Chances are you will be able to sell it on with the summer coming up anyway.
It has been owned by a novice cyclist, (Not a problem, indeed this may mean that it has little wear.) as can be seen by the tilted bars, flat pedals, reflectors still on it etc***.To me this would mean checking that al works well and hasn't been neglected. Ride it and make sure you can get all the gears and that the brakes work. Tyres may well be 23mm. No longer the fashion but they were fine for decades. Bigger will be more comfortable and you may have room to go uo to 25's or 28's. Not a deal breaker for the time being.
Those brakes were a stab at making things more aero.Valid on time trial bike but not especially here. Just check that the rear is not full of crud and actually works. Fussy but they do work if cleaned. May be a bit firm but that depends on you.
*** Alrights there will be millions of riders with hundreds of thousands of miles under their belts who say that they do all of this as well but it is a valid generalisation.
Hi thanks for commenting, I just have a question.

What do you mean when you say 23mm tyres are out of fashion, does that mean they are smaller or bigger than the average nowadays?
Cycling_Man
Posts: 61
Joined: 7 Apr 2021, 12:41pm

Re: Does Anyone Know If This Is A Good Buy (Attempt 2). Cycling_Man's Journey To A Bike

Post by Cycling_Man »

Tigerbiten wrote: 11 Apr 2021, 8:16am As it's a road bike then the gears are probably biased towards the top end.
Which is fine if you like descending at ~30 mph.
But not so good if you're struggling to get up the same hill at ~4 mph.
Also to taking into account one of the most commonly asked questions is "How do I get lower gears ?" and how expensive it can be to do so.
How well do you think a top biased gear range will suit what you intend to ride over.

Luck ........ :D
My cycle to work according to the Strava data I have collected is around 150m each way. I love in a fairly hilly area and there are a few on the commute. This probably ain't jsuefukl in anyway but I currently ride a mountain bike which is too small for me with 3 gears at the front and 8 in the rear. I'm not a knowledgeable cyclist so don't as me the ratios asbi don't know haha but k usually get up the hills in gear 2 on the front and use the gears 1-6 in the rear (6 if I'm standing up and around 3 if I'm sitting, 1/2 if tired haha)
Cycling_Man
Posts: 61
Joined: 7 Apr 2021, 12:41pm

Re: Does Anyone Know If This Is A Good Buy (Attempt 2). Cycling_Man's Journey To A Bike

Post by Cycling_Man »

Jdsk wrote: 11 Apr 2021, 8:33am
iandusud wrote: 11 Apr 2021, 7:57amWhat is your budget and where do yo live?
Good questions, and unanswered in the other threads.

And do you, Cycling_Man, intend to do the maintenance and any changes yourself?

And where is this listed?

Thanks

Jonathan
The bike is listed on Facebook Marketplace and I do not no. I'm new to cycling and don't know anything about it so I would most likely not be doing anything too technical but can surely find some videos on how to do some simple maintenance haha.
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