Which Bike Should I Go With?

I sold my Bianchi road bike last night and have narrowed it down to four choices for my next bike:

1. mid 90's Cannondale R2.8 at consignment at local bike shop. Owned by older adult who gave up road bikes and went to a hybrid. It has 105 ergo shifters.
2. 94 Trek 1220 nearby found on Craigslist. Original owner is selling it. Price is $250. http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/bik/4543302796.html
3. 01 Trek 1000 Alpha found on Craigslist. Has new cassette and chain. Price is $160. Ad is deleted now.
4. Year unknown Shogun 1000 with 105 bar end shifters, Nitto bars and new big ring $250. Offered by someone who was interested in Bianchi.

Which of the four should I pursue? Any recommendations?

Intended use?

That Trek also has STI shifters ("Ergo" is Campagnolo shifter-levers; "105" is Shimano's STI version - was their lowest level at the time, but still decent).

Size? Size and fit is incredibly important on a road bike if you plan to ride it for any length of time.

Pretty sure that Trek is steel. The Cannondale will be aluminum. The Trek will probably ride smoother, the Cannondale will be lighter and stiffer. The trek will likely have better tire clearance if you want to run more "commuter-friendly" tires. Never heard of the Shogun. Might be a decent bike, but I'd have to look at it.

How tall are you? I have a Trek Alpha that's about two or three years old. I probably put less than 150 miles on it before deciding that I'm just more of a mountain biker.

I'm also coming to your area (Doylestown) in about a week to pick up a motorcycle. If you're interested, maybe we can work something out.

I am in the 5'5-5'6 range. The bike I just sold was about a 55 cm frame. This will be primarily for road riding. I just like to go out and ride pretty much. Woody you have pm.

Got it. You've got mail. Here's a photo.

92dxman wrote: I am in the 5'5-5'6 range. The bike I just sold was about a 55 cm frame. This will be primarily for road riding. I just like to go out and ride pretty much.

A 55 was way too big for you. Should be riding a 52 give or take a cm.

Why did you sell the Bianchi?

I put it up for sale due to an issue I was having with the front wheel. I kept blowing through tubes and tires on the front wheel. I had the wheel inspected numerous times and there was no burrs, rough patches or anything on it. I figured it was a good time to move on from the bike while its still in good shape and I can get a decent return on it. Also, I have bike add and I think I was itching to try something new. I sold the bike on Monday night. I had this bike for nearly four years which is a lifetime for me in this regard.

Ah... I see... I rarely sell bikes. I still have my Cannondale from 1993... my Indy Fab from '97... and I'm still riding my Yeti DH bike from '98 (although getting retired this year). Of course, when I "retire" a bike, it just moves to the attic... I have a hard time selling a bike for $500 that I spent over $3000 building... even if it was over a decade ago. I'd rather have it sit.

You probably don't want to know how much the new Intense Carbine enduro bike I'm building will cost... put it this way... I'm buying the '79 Spitfire over in the Open classifides forum... the bike will cost more. A LOT more. And that's even with heavy discounts though grassroots sponsorships. Having Ferrari tastes in cycling is expensive...

My last bike was a project bike and i'm not fancying that road again so I am trying to find something as turn key as possible and just ride the wheels off of it for the time being.

as mentioned... pick the one that fits you best... if they all fit then the one that you find rides best and is in the best condition

that being said the Trek models you mentioned are all ALU, it's if it has 4 digit places it'll be alu if its only 3 digits it's steel... outside of some carbon ones... I'm quite partial to the older steel lugged treks as they fit me quite well (25.5" ~ a 63-64cm in traditional road frame speak) as I'm tall and quite overweight (how many crit racing frames do you know to fit a 32mm tire? ;-)

anyway... all but maybe the shogun should have the modern 130mm rear hub spacing and the shogun being steel could easily fit the 130mm hub with no modifications even if it was made around the older 126mm hubs. The only other constructive thing I can say to your short list is that the cannondales of that era where known to be quite harsh but good power transfer...

Ian F wrote: Having Ferrari tastes in cycling is expensive...

yet it is still so much more achievable for the average person than a Ferrari :)...

and for some reason this reminds me... I always love looking at the $15k+ carbon Bianchi hanging in my old LBS... the owner of the bike was threatened by his wife that if he brought home another bike he'd be divorced and she knows bikes well enough that he couldn't just rotate one out... so the gorgeous bit of italian engineering just hangs, looking pretty on the lbs wall :(

donalson wrote: yet it is still so much more achievable for the average person than a Ferrari :)...

True... I have a hypothesis about this being the cause of the increasing number of $10K+ bikes being made (and sold!) these days. Guys my age and older can't afford or justify that $50K muscle car they really want, but in comparison, a $10K mtn bike doesn't look so frivolous. Especially when the idea of "exercise" is added. The number of uber-expensive bikes I saw at a race I did this past weekend would generally support this theory.

It also worries me how mtn biking is becoming such an "old-guy" sport... The 45+ age group was the largest class...

Ian F wrote:

donalson wrote: yet it is still so much more achievable for the average person than a Ferrari :)...

It also worries me how mtn biking is becoming such an "old-guy" sport... The 45+ age group was the largest class...

honestly if you think about it the age group makes a lot of sense... the 45+ age group is the same who where MTBing in their early 20's when it was first becoming the kewl thing to do in the late 80s/early 90s... and for the younger kewl crowd its much easier to ride a fixie out on the street then it is on the trail (although I do know a few guys who do lol)

In reply to donalson:

Oh, I totally get that... but it's still concerning for the future of the sport and local shops and riding areas. Right now it seems like the industry is enjoying a bit of a resurgence. There are tons of great bikes available and places to ride. This seems especially true for the DH/gravity oriented part of the sport - there are more places to ride DH now than when I was racing 15 years ago. Guys who were riding 20 years ago got married and had kids... now those kids are grown and/or they have better jobs and some disposable income to play with, so they're buying those expensive bikes they couldn't afford in their 20's. But I just don't see this lasting unless we can somehow get a larger percentage of the younger generations to start riding.

I figured that was where you where going with the line of thinking and I'd have to agree... but I do wonder... as you mentioned a lot of these guys who are racing now have kids, at least around here if I go into a LBS there is a section for kids bikes ranging from the pedal-less push/balance bikes, to the 16", 20" and 24" "grow with me" type kids MTBs and even a few full on road bikes with 24" wheels... my son is running around on one of them, a trek mt220 youth bikes that new would cost about $400 (yay Cragislist)... something I could only dream about riding at his age (I got stuck with "MTB" such as a huffy or roadmaster at that age lol. It might only be my area (houston has a TON of money) but I recall these sorts of bikes sitting in my LBS in Pensacola as well, so it may turn out that because dads have the $$$ and know how important a quality ride is, so that a few years down the road these same kids will be the ones really getting into riding.

I ended up buying another Bianchi earlier tonight. It is a late 90s steel frame road bike with Campy components.

In reply to 92dxman:

Cool. Probably similar vintage to my Colnago. Pics?

the real question is... is it Celeste?... I've always wanted a celeste bianchi... I love that color :)

It isn't Celeste :(. My previous one was. It got looks like nobody's business

Here it is..

not showing up

Ian F wrote:

donalson wrote: yet it is still so much more achievable for the average person than a Ferrari :)...

True... I have a hypothesis about this being the cause of the increasing number of $10K+ bikes being made (and sold!) these days. Guys my age and older can't afford or justify that $50K muscle car they really want, but in comparison, a $10K mtn bike doesn't look so frivolous. Especially when the idea of "exercise" is added. The number of uber-expensive bikes I saw at a race I did this past weekend would generally support this theory.

This kind of freaks me out as well, even in my C/B ride groups there are guys with massive $ in their bikes. I am happy as a clam on a CAD 9 even at B speeds say under 50 miles but you don't deep aero wheels and carbon everything to do 23-24 mph in a group for 50 miles.