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

[Cycling_Man]

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

Thanks for the info, I'm trying to think if I would struggle on the hills to and from work now haha. From my Strava data my commute to work is around 8-10k depending on route and around 150m of climbing so in total too and from 16-20k and 300m climbing.

[Cycling_Man]

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.

I've been looking for a bike for around 3 weeks or so and they are a little hard to ce by in my local area. Thanks for the insight on the bike, letting me know that you think it won't be the best. Maybe I'll pass this one, not sure.

For the record I'm 6'2" and around 70-72kg.

[Chris56]

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 ........

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)

150m each way? I assume that you meant to say 15km.

With regards gearing, its worth noting how many teeth are on each cog on your current bike, that way you will have a rough idea of what ratios you want to achieve on your new bike (once correcting for different tyre diameters). Many road bikes have a "compact chainset" - which means the 2 front cogs have 50 and 34 teeth. Common rear cassettes have between 11 and 28/32/34 teeth

[Chris56]

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

If you look at the stem in the classfied advert and then in the official photo of the bike you can see its been turned upside down in order to raise the handlebars. Rotating the bars has raised the levers further.

All these changes can be undone as it just allen bolts holding them in place.

[Chris56]

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?

They are narrower, which means they don't give as much comfort as 25mm or 28mm tyres that many new bikes are sold with

[Cycling_Man]

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 ........

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)

150m each way? I assume that you meant to say 15km.

With regards gearing, its worth noting how many teeth are on each cog on your current bike, that way you will have a rough idea of what ratios you want to achieve on your new bike (once correcting for different tyre diameters). Many road bikes have a "compact chainset" - which means the 2 front cogs have 50 and 34 teeth. Common rear cassettes have between 11 and 28/32/34 teeth

Hi. Sorry I wasn't to say it's around 8-10k each way with 150m of incline. So 16-20k there and back and 300m incline there and back in total. In terms of the gearing I am not sure. I am currently borrowing a Specialized Hard Rock Sport but not sure on the model/year. I'll have to get back to you on that unless you know.

Thanks for the advice, Cycling_Man

[Cycling_Man]

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

If you look at the stem in the classfied advert and then in the official photo of the bike you can see its been turned upside down in order to raise the handlebars. Rotating the bars has raised the levers further.

All these changes can be undone as it just allen bolts holding them in place.

Ah I see. Thanks for letting me know.

[Cycling_Man]

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?

They are narrower, which means they don't give as much comfort as 25mm or 28mm tyres that many new bikes are sold with

I see. Does that mean they would be quicker but less durable?

[Cycling_Man]

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?

They are narrower, which means they don't give as much comfort as 25mm or 28mm tyres that many new bikes are sold with

I see. Does that mean they would be quicker but less durable?

[mattsccm]

Less comfortable.
Some people here are still more than happy with 23mm, some feel that they are hard and uncomfortable.To some extent maybe less tough as well if riding very rough surfaces but unless you are ploughing through the biggest potholes that won't be an issue. Chances are it will have cheapish tyres fitted. They tend to be a bit more hefty and tough anyway. Andit may have wider tyres anyway. Good chance it won't take anything too much bigger as it's styled1 on a aero/timetrial/race type bike and from a few years ago when 23mm tyres were the norm. However you need to check I guess.
Bear in one small thing. Mny of us here have been riding forrdecades. We tend to have our own prejudcies. Regular commuters look down on any bike that isn't fully mudgaurded, capable of luggage carrying, with nice comfy tyres and the right spec. (Too cheap is poor quality, too expensive or high spec is regarded as posing/superficial so you can't win there). People forget that they started out on any old bike. My commuter is the opposite of many of the above. I use it every day so want it to be nippy, quick and light and I can survice a wet buttock in the summer so take the aguards off. You are not going far and not climbing much (which you will realise after a few weeks) and almost anything will do the job. Something nicer is just that, nicer.
I am not saying it's the best bike out there but I would consider that anything is better than nowt and if you wait much longer the demand will be higher still.

[Cycling_Man]

Less comfortable.
Some people here are still more than happy with 23mm, some feel that they are hard and uncomfortable.To some extent maybe less tough as well if riding very rough surfaces but unless you are ploughing through the biggest potholes that won't be an issue. Chances are it will have cheapish tyres fitted. They tend to be a bit more hefty and tough anyway. Andit may have wider tyres anyway. Good chance it won't take anything too much bigger as it's styled1 on a aero/timetrial/race type bike and from a few years ago when 23mm tyres were the norm. However you need to check I guess.
Bear in one small thing. Mny of us here have been riding forrdecades. We tend to have our own prejudcies. Regular commuters look down on any bike that isn't fully mudgaurded, capable of luggage carrying, with nice comfy tyres and the right spec. (Too cheap is poor quality, too expensive or high spec is regarded as posing/superficial so you can't win there). People forget that they started out on any old bike. My commuter is the opposite of many of the above. I use it every day so want it to be nippy, quick and light and I can survice a wet buttock in the summer so take the aguards off. You are not going far and not climbing much (which you will realise after a few weeks) and almost anything will do the job. Something nicer is just that, nicer.
I am not saying it's the best bike out there but I would consider that anything is better than nowt and if you wait much longer the demand will be higher still.

Thanks for the information on the tyres and for the heads up about the bias haha. I think I might skip this one. I think it might be a little expensive for what it is. I am not sure. I will probably wait till another deal comes up. I have never heard of the brand before which made me a little sceptical, I know that's not much coming from someone who doesn't cycle but I haven't even heard from them when doing research and what made me a little sceptical was the fact that there were not many reviews, not many articles, not many videos and not many listing (second hand) for the bike.

Thanks for your help and I will probably be seeing you as my journey to a bike isn't finished haha, Cycling_Man

[Chris56]

Its quite a lot of bike for the money, but given you will be using it for commuting and your budget is £500 I think theres more suitable ones out there so good call.

[gregoryoftours]

Yes it's a good bike for the money if you're after a bike to ride fast recreationally, and in the dry. I wouldn't recommend it as a day in, day out commuting bike. You want something sturdier and ideally with lower gears and mudguards to keep you dry and to prolong the life of the components. A good solid bike available new in your price range is one of the Halfords Carrera subway series, or something similar. I'd skip the subway 1, the components aren't great. The subway 2 is good though, and the all weather edition has lights, mudguards, hi Vis decals and heated handlebar grips . Plus you know all the components are unworn, and any initial problems you can get sorted out under guarantee. Do take advantage of any free post sale checkups, by the way.

[mattsccm]

See what I mean. Perfectly valid points just different opinions. You'll have to make your own but what ever, go and look at them.

[Jamesh]

If you want a commuter bike there is a voodoo limba on the bay at the moment.

Solid gravel bike, disc brakes. Opposite of the 13 above.

Not sure where you are.

Cheers James