minor damascus road experience.

I've not been doing much in the way of cycling so far this year, last year I was backwards and forwards to work on a fairly regular basis, but what with work and home commitments there just never seemed the opportunity. I have however over the last few months updated my 531pro Bob Jackson from a 7 to 8 speed set up, still on down tube shifters, but a couple of extra gears can't hurt when you're knocking on 46! (and quite unfit ).

So, Sunday afternoon the weather's good and I had a bit of free time so I popped out for a 12 mile spin on nearby back roads just to see if I'd got it set up right, bit of fettling on the front mech and all seemed well, so back in the shed ready for a ride into work in the near future.

Today I thought I'd give my other winter project a run out, just to see what it was like. It's a cheap 12+ year old 'buy it now' Carrera that I initially bought for the Ultegra groupset, but when it turned up it looked in fairly good nick, its intense green ugliness kinda appealed so I stripped it, rebuilt it and put it to one side, not really knowing what to do with it.

The route I took was the same 12 miles but in reverse, again just to make sure that everything was working, and to be honest I'm a bit shocked, it's light, stiff and feels fast, to be honest I enjoyed the ride more than my steel bike and it's got me thinking. I'm hoping to spend more time riding this year, whisper it, but maybe even join the local cycling club once I get my mileage up that is!.

So my thoughts are, should I be looking at losing the Bob Jackson and using the funds to build a light modern bike that'll make me want to get out more, cos if a 12 year old magnesium frame and carbon fork set up can surprise me, what will an even more modern all carbon set up feel like?.

What do you guys think?, are you 'all retro all the time', or do you have a modern ride and just go old school on high days and holidays.

Your thoughts will be welcomed, also suggestions for half decent carbon framesets to look out for on ebay! .

Cheers Matt

Hi Matt
I did used to sort of feel strange about this sort of thing myself but in the end its what ever makes you want to go out and ride. I believe if it makes you want to go and ride more than it doesn't matter what it is, just ride it. You will come back to the BJ some time, maybe to resurrect it or maybe just for the odd commute.
Life's too short to ride second best

Jamie

Jamie's right. Also there is a big difference between a bike that's nice to ride for a 20 mile thrash compared to 100 miles. The BJ would doubtless excel at that.

Re:

Thanks for your thoughts guys, you make a couple of good points, trouble is space is at a premium and I'm not really one for having unused stuff hanging about getting in the way.

I tend towards being able to justify having 3 bikes, a mountain bike on road-ish tyres for summer evening rides with my better half (these are rare! ), a road bike for everything else and a unicorn (in my case a late 70's example of classy British framebuilding).

So the thinking is put the 9 speed Ultegra set up on a modern-ish carbon frameset that is user-friendly enough for both the 20 mile round trip to work and something a bit longer at the weekends.

I'm never likely to be able to afford a brand new carbon road bike, they appear to cost the sort of money I pay for my cars!. I've always had steel bikes up to now, so any thoughts on a good quality carbon frame and forks from the last decade or so that I can keep a look out for will be appreciated.

Cheers Matt

So the carbon frame might be 400g lighter, however we all do better with 400g off ourselves (cough). Much of the rest of it is upgrade-itis I suspect.

While carbon is a fantastic technology, it does have the same trade-off between lightness and robustness like any other material. For a commuter you might end up writing-off the frame if you end up decking it - something that a steel frame would shrug off with a couple of ugly scratches.

I was offered a medium Look KG586 at a very reasonable price recently. It's gorgeous, but at the same time the clearances are tightish, it's not easy to fit mudguards etc. and it has a seat mast. As a result it is a lot less flexible than a metal frame with round seatpost. In the end I opted to stick with my 22 year old Litespeed frame which is more versatile...even if 500g heavier for frame and forks. Bike geometry has changed little and frankly I doubt if you can tell the difference between frame materials in the dark.

You pays your money and takes your pick.

One other point - wheels have the biggest effect. It would be interesting if you put the Carrera's wheels onto the BJ as an experiment...

I ride a mix of retro and relatively modern bikes and enjoy them both. That being said I would be cautious about making the move to carbon as I found my recent exploration of carbon framed bikes quite disappointing. I actually ended up acquiring a modern titanium bike instead as I found the carbon to be unforgivingly stiff and quite dead to ride whereas the titanium maintains much of the snap of my favourite steel frames while being lighter and firmer in the BB. I commute on a relatively modern aluminium frame with carbon fork and enjoy that as well.

I say ride what you enjoy, just don't leave it on a shelf gathering dust!

Just to say have you tried riding the circuit in the same direction as you did on the Bob Jackson? Might be faster one way. Enjoy which ever bike you choose to keep.

Re:

I did just that yesterday, ended up adding a few extra miles on the end because I was enjoying myself, which has got to be a good sign. Using it for the run to work and back tomorrow.

Re:

I will probably be burnt in effigy here but I was faced with a similar choice myself a couple of years back. I found that my modern Alu / carbon Bianchi was faster, lighter and more comfortable [not to mention being a better climber] than my steel Bianchi.

Taking the plunge they were replaced with a carbon Madone, easily my best road bike ride so far.

It took a long while for me to accept that my all carbon XC race 29er mountain bike was the best of all for me on all day rides. It climbs, brakes and descends perfectly, easily dealing with holes, bumps and gravel on the road.

Best of all there's no more hand, back and neck ache. Do I miss the other bikes ? Yes, would I ride them? Probably not if I'm honest with myself.

As others have said on here - ride what you like best.