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Hi all
Was looking at upgrading bike for the beach Road thing. Am lucky as I have been riding it only about 3 years and many paths for couple of years prior but that's another story. Anyway I want to go from the old Cro-moly or the aluminium/carbon bikes I have and speed things op but really am struggling with the which bike is faster lighter and better for speed/distance.
https://ivanhoecycles.com.au/bicycle-bi ... -Bike/6892
There was this above link but it says the Full carbon bike really isn't a race bike and would only be comparable to aluminium carbon bike?
https://www.reidcycles.com.au/falco-eli ... -bike.html
Then there is this reid Falco elite-above link. Anyway I went into a Reid store today and must say the bike seems very heavy for what it looks like but has the 11 speed 105 set up and on the Reid page it is a ready to race bike?
Anyway any help at all with these and if you ride a Aluminium or race one I would sure like the feedback.
Thanks

[mikgit]

yeah i don't think either of those bikes will "speed things up" over a steel or aluminium bike. Carbon doesn't magically make things amazing, it's just another material use dot make frames. A good steel or aluminium bike will be better than a cheap carbon one.

[4 1 3 0]

yeah i don't think either of those bikes will "speed things up" over a steel or aluminium bike. Carbon doesn't magically make things amazing, it's just another material use dot make frames. A good steel or aluminium bike will be better than a cheap carbon one.

Yep starting to think that myself. Problem I'm having is I'm speedy enough but I just run out of gears. Cro-mo has a 7 speed rear and aluminium 9. But I find at some point I'm just wildly spinning the cranks and that's just to much spent energy I'm afraid. I cant cheaply change the Cro-moly to say a 9 or the aluminium I have to 11 speed.

[koshari]

You say your spinning? What gearing do you have?

[mikgit]

yeah i don't think either of those bikes will "speed things up" over a steel or aluminium bike. Carbon doesn't magically make things amazing, it's just another material use dot make frames. A good steel or aluminium bike will be better than a cheap carbon one.

Yep starting to think that myself. Problem I'm having is I'm speedy enough but I just run out of gears. Cro-mo has a 7 speed rear and aluminium 9. But I find at some point I'm just wildly spinning the cranks and that's just to much spent energy I'm afraid. I cant cheaply change the Cro-moly to say a 9 or the aluminium I have to 11 speed.

yeah but you can probably buy a new cassette and get bigger chainrings, or new cranks with bigger rings.

Also of the 2 bikes you listed, the falco comes with compact cranks and a 12-25, the other thing has no specs but probably no different. Nothing against compact (thats what i use with 11-28) but it's probably not any bigger in the top end to what you're using now (Which you should probably try to figure out, so you know whats going on if you're spinning out all over the place).

[4 1 3 0]

yeah i don't think either of those bikes will "speed things up" over a steel or aluminium bike. Carbon doesn't magically make things amazing, it's just another material use dot make frames. A good steel or aluminium bike will be better than a cheap carbon one.

Yep starting to think that myself. Problem I'm having is I'm speedy enough but I just run out of gears. Cro-mo has a 7 speed rear and aluminium 9. But I find at some point I'm just wildly spinning the cranks and that's just to much spent energy I'm afraid. I cant cheaply change the Cro-moly to say a 9 or the aluminium I have to 11 speed.

yeah but you can probably buy a new cassette and get bigger chainrings, or new cranks with bigger rings.

Also of the 2 bikes you listed, the falco comes with compact cranks and a 12-25, the other thing has no specs but probably no different. Nothing against compact (thats what i use with 11-28) but it's probably not any bigger in the top end to what you're using now (Which you should probably try to figure out, so you know whats going on if you're spinning out all over the place).

Yep think you are right there, was also looking at one of these. Really lovely bike and well turned out.
http://www.amartsports.com.au/Product/B ... From=70104

[MattyK]

I have a Falco Elite in my house at the moment. It's currently only available in S and XS sizes. It's also very long in the frame - eg the XS is ~540mm ETT, which would be more typical of a Medium size frame... We had to fit a 60mm stem to bring it back to sensible fit geometry. The XS is about 9.5 kg, but weight won't make you any slower on Beach Rd (unless you're sprinting between lights/away from a pack). It runs 11-speed 5800 Shimano 105, which is really nice stuff, but the 12-25 cassette might limit you if you want to ride hills (An 11-28 would be a cheap addition). The head tube is very short, so you should be able to get low on the front, but then the bars have a very shallow drop...

The XDS - I have a workmate with one (think it's that model). By the photos it has the older 10-speed 5700 Shimano 105, which is nowhere near as slick as the 5800 series. They are saying it's less suited for racing I assume because of the geometry - probably taller at the front, more suited for distance/comfort than head-down racing - not because of any intrinsic properties of the frame material.

So both of those options have their compromises. I'm not quite understanding your priorities though - do you want a more aggressive race bike or a bike that can comfortably be ridden all day?

As always, the best advice is to test ride both and see what you prefer.

But, if you have an idea of what geometry you need, one of these might do well:
https://www.bicyclesonline.com.au/2017- ... speed-road

[4 1 3 0]

I have a Falco Elite in my house at the moment. It's currently only available in S and XS sizes. It's also very long in the frame - eg the XS is ~540mm ETT, which would be more typical of a Medium size frame... We had to fit a 60mm stem to bring it back to sensible fit geometry. The XS is about 9.5 kg, but weight won't make you any slower on Beach Rd (unless you're sprinting between lights/away from a pack). It runs 11-speed 5800 Shimano 105, which is really nice stuff, but the 12-25 cassette might limit you if you want to ride hills (An 11-28 would be a cheap addition). The head tube is very short, so you should be able to get low on the front, but then the bars have a very shallow drop...

The XDS - I have a workmate with one (think it's that model). By the photos it has the older 10-speed 5700 Shimano 105, which is nowhere near as slick as the 5800 series. They are saying it's less suited for racing I assume because of the geometry - probably taller at the front, more suited for distance/comfort than head-down racing - not because of any intrinsic properties of the frame material.

So both of those options have their compromises. I'm not quite understanding your priorities though - do you want a more aggressive race bike or a bike that can comfortably be ridden all day?

As always, the best advice is to test ride both and see what you prefer.

But, if you have an idea of what geometry you need, one of these might do well:
https://www.bicyclesonline.com.au/2017- ... speed-road

I think I must explain the bike that I'm riding is for a distance of 40 to 50 klms is only on most Saturdays and Sundays sometimes during week. Its a lovely old thing that weight wise comes in at just under ten kilos that I thinks fine and comfortable for it age Cro-moly and is a gorgeous old thing. Its all original except seat/spd pedals and handlebar tape. I think the head set is not those shown in Specs. Anyway the specs are shown in link below. I was putting off putting a slightly larger chainset because it then is not original-Anyway.
http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/Bike ... =Kronos+GS
Also I already have an aluminium/carbon bike so I may look into a cassette for the rear on that instead. Only couple of years old so would rather do the work on that. Thanks for advice and help.

[mikgit]

ah yeah so if specs are correct your top is 48x14, that's pretty low.
In theory something liek this could work (on the assumption it fits) and give ou a bit more top end
http://www.this link is broken.au/shimano-cs-hg5 ... 7&curr=AUD



but what is the alu bike? Do you find it better or the same with regards to what your doing?

[4 1 3 0]

ah yeah so if specs are correct your top is 48x14, that's pretty low.
In theory something liek this could work (on the assumption it fits) and give ou a bit more top end
http://www.this link is broken.au/shimano-cs-hg5 ... 7&curr=AUD



but what is the alu bike? Do you find it better or the same with regards to what your doing?

Its no probs I'll be using the alu bike for those long runs I'm guessing. I'm close to using up all the gears in some spots on the long rides. Got one of these its the older version few years old but same specs.
https://www.reidcycles.com.au/2016-ospr ... -bike.html

[mikgit]

ah so it's just an aluminium frame, not an aluminium frame with carbon stays or anything like that. And yeah that bike has the same gearing as he 2 bikes you originally linked, so no bigger gears.