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yeah its not a true tour de france carbon kevlar hyperelite shimano 98xfrszdehaag special.



Speaking of, I should buy a bike next summer.

that bike is so comfy to ride! I did about 15 miles today with my gf. I feel so fit!

Been in Japan for 3 weeks

Road tripped up to Sweden for a week, stayed in Stockholm

Going to Ireland later

And I might go to France in September.

I was in Amsterdam for 1 hour today. Took a piss in a bathroom, it said it would flush automatically.

It didn't.

it probably broke because of us.

Sweden!?

Yes, did you not get the pm I send you on the TW Forums? I spend two nights in Malmo (1 on the way up to Stockholm and 1 on the way back home) and I found an awesome pizza place! (well found, I mean... it's in a busy area so I'm sure I didn't "discover" it. But still, good pizza.

Also Bram, I've been looking into buying a real racing bike, but in total that will set me back about 1500 (say 1200-1300 for the bike, 200-300 for all the other stuff needed) and that will make quite a dent in my financials so I'm still doubting.

if u need options on good buys/bad buys let me know!

also have u owned a racing bike before? if not, starting with a very good second hand (marktplaats works wonderfully for this) is usually the best advice! a very good second hand can be 1/3th-1/4th of the price of an 'equally good' new one, and by the time you're sure this is what you want to do/spend your moneys one, you can buy a new one just as easy!

I always like getting new stuff, not second hand stuff. But yeah that's definitely something to look into.

I just went to Meerkerk, there is a store there specialized in racing bikes and asked for some info on the bikes. I already forgot most of what he talked about. But basically the difference is between complete carbon bike or aluminium bike and carbon front fork, and the type of dérailleur you get (or whatever that entire system is called), that's where the big price differences come from.

I'll have to spend some more time thinking about it.

almost all bikes these days have a carbon front fork. if it's your first bike i wouldn't pay extra moneys just to be able to say you have a carbon frame. cheap carbon frames aren't any better (probably worse) than a good alu-frame, and everyone knows this, and they'll just look at what wheels+group you have on your bike.

because what's most important is what wheelset you have. a lot of 'standard' bikes come with the crappiest of crappy wheelsets (sometimes even when they're getting you to pay 1500+euros), however almost always it's optional to pay a little bit extra and get much better wheels. this is 10x times more important than having a carbon/alu frame. what's also important is the group that's put on your bike (usually the brakes/crank/chains/gears etc are from the same system), with shimano you don't want to buy below 105 series (NEVER buy Sora, and i'd advise against Tiagra), that is unless you're really just going to tour and never put your bike to any test.
Second-hand 105 shouldn't cost more than 400-500E, however i know several ppl who've been able to buy ultegra-sl second hand for just 450-600 euros! new ultegra can be a bit expensive as first buy (dura-ace you shouldn't even be looking at yet).
As for campagnolo (the other main producer, as you probably won't run into SRAM as quickly), start with centaur, just don't go for mirage, veloce probably neither (tho it's a bit better than shimano tiagra)!

Gonna rescue my croissants, I'll give advise on what wheels NEVER to buy, which are often standard (to fuck with new buyers)

The shop I went to in Meerkerk for some info is specialized and he basically told me the same thing. He was talking about those groups and the differences and for a new bike with good wheels (he talked a lot about the wheels too) I would be out like 1200 and that is without all the best stuff, but I believe that Shimano 105, or one higher, alu-frame, bike custom made (height and steering wheel, preferred pedals, etc.). Problem if I would buy a second hand bike is height of the bike, I have no clue what frame height is good for me.

He was talking about wheels (I forgot the name) that where all the rage for a while and pretty expensive, but where basically bullshit wheels. Thing with me is, I always like having new things, I should look into second hand bikes but I need to know more about the bikes themselves, especially what is the good height and stuff. And the pedals, aren't they very dependent on the kind of shoes you buy?

yeah, but when you have no shoes yet, and you have certain pedals on your (second hand) bike, you can just buy the shoes that fit to the pedals.. it's not like one type of pedal/shoe is far better than the other, esp not at the price range you should be looking at, unless you had plans to buy shoes that are half the price of your bike.

second-hand and frame-size is often confusing. two things you can do to get a pretty accurate indication:
1) do this: http://www.wielersportinfo.nl/fietsafstelling.htm it's usually very accurate.
2) go to a cycling shop, say you might be interested in buying a bike. if u did 1) tell them what framesize you think you are, they might correct you immediately, or get you to a few bikes of that size. just ask if you can sit on it to get a feel, and ask simple things like 'how is my position on this one', 'is it okay or too big/small', if that's the case you could probably try out another bigger/smaller frame. afterwards just say you need to think about it (which is normal because it's a fairly big purchase and you've never owned a racing bike before). then go home knowing what framesize is good for you, and you know what to look for with second hand bikes.

what you'll still be missing out on is getting your bike properly prepared for you. however most of the time (especially if it's your first bike) it's just bullshit. if the guy at the bikeshop doesn't know you, he can never put the saddle / steer at the good height/position for you, because a) he doesn't really know, b) doesn't really care THAT much about u (esp not if u r a new costumer who clearly knows squadouche about bikes). they just have an average standard for this that they use. where i bought my bike he put the saddle AWFULLY low (i mean i raised it at least 5cm since). I used it on the height he set it on for a year (without getting any physical problems), till too many people kept saying 'shouldn't you raise it', now I've been raising it with 1cm for months, and I still feel I could put it a little higher to get a more comfortable/deeper sit..

So yeah...

Only thing is with a second hand bike, it can be a little more annoying when something breaks down, because you'll feel a little bit uncomfortable finding a bikeshop, most of these guys are grade A assholes when you want them to fix a bike for you that you didn't buy in their store..

Will I ever be able to type short messages when it comes to bicycles? I think not.

Ok cool thanks. I'll have a look at that and some second hand bikes. I know I want a bike, just still not sure cost wise. Even a second hand, because I tend to spend money rather easily while maybe I should just be saving the money I have right now instead of spending it all (I mean second hand will still run me at least 500 and that's a low estimate, bike + all the stuff I need). I have the money, even for a new one, I should just probably save it.

Still doubting it, but thanks very much for the info, much appreciated.