David Gelinas
10-07-2006, 03:07 PM
Hello all,
Other than my first post a few months back and a lot of lurking, I’m new to this board. I have a problem that I was hoping you all could help with. The long and the short of it is, now I need two Fierte Ti’s it appears.
About 3 months ago I started riding with a couple of friends after a 20 year hiatus. After a month of riding a borrowed bike I bought a very old Special Nova with a 600 groupo. Since then my brother (who has a very old Bottecchia) has gone and gotten himself and his wife a set of steel & carbon Orbea’s. Something about being true to Colunbus tubing and the ride of a steel frame or something like that. As a kid he came of age in a Coppi shop. Another friend got himself and his wife a set of carbon Orbea’s, for this friend (who’s ridden all of THREE times) it’s more about $$$ and looks. Back to the story.
Since all these other wives, 3 in all, have taken an interest in riding and because of me riding three days a week with my friends now my wife has also taken an interest. That’s a good thing, that’s actually a very good thing. She and I have started riding 2 – 3 mornings a week together. Granted she is only riding her AL Gary Fisher MTB but she is doing very well. Clocking her off of my computer she seems to be around 12 – 14 mph and spinning at about 70 - 85 over about an eight mile ride; I’m very proud of her.
Last Saturday we went shopping for new bicycles for ourselves. Keep in mind she has absolutely no experience with road bikes what-so-ever, none, nada, zip. Her one stipulation was, she wants to ride the same make of bike that I do. Let me go back to some of my brother’s reasoning for a second – don’t tell him I said this but I think there is some truth to it. For what it’s worth his idea is, a guy goes out and gets himself this totally rocking new bike and gets his wife something middle of the road. Then they go out riding together and he can’t figure out why she can’t keep up with him. Not to mention that she can clearly see that she’s slowing him down; not much fun for anyone involved. His idea is, if she is going to use it, put her on at least matched ride – ‘makes since to me. Are you starting to see why I need two Fierte’s?
Back to the shopping trip. We rode a couple of nice Serottas, actually there were two Nove’s; to much cabbage for me though at 4 & 6 grand respectively. Honestly, for myself, I didn’t really like the way they rode. We also rode a few other bikes as well. Out of everything I rode that day; I was completely blown away by how the Fierte Ti
rode, it was just like steel but way fast and snappy in the handling. Still at $3,700 X’s 2 --- back to the drawing board. We went shopping again. This time to the Orbea shop. We road a couple of carbon Orbeas in the neighborhood of 5 & 6 grand each, just didn’t like ‘em. Dead feel and too much vibration. Speaking of vibration, man what an annoying noise that is when cables rattle against carbon. Now I was very honest about all of this, I never said what I thought about something until she first said what she thought, I wanted her true feelings on it all. She liked the Orbeas but didn’t seem overly excited. We also rode a set of Colnagos, me on a C50 (nothing to sneeze at mind you) and she rode something that was new but older, Columbus with Campy Mirage. When I asked her how she liked it she said it was a much more comfortable ride then the carbon and that she really liked it. I also asked her if she noticed any difference between the Shimano stuff on the Orbea and the Campy stuff on the Colnago. She said , as expected, that the campy stuff was more precise and that she liked it more. COOL, it was half the price of the Orbea. The trouble was that although the C50 rode much nicer, it still rode like carbon and she wants matching bikes. Then for the heck of it, they had a Ti Merlin that was sized just in-between the two of us so I asked them to set it up for her and I’d take the C50 back out. The wheels in the old head were a turn’n. She immediately LOVED IT, there was no comparison. To bad it was $5,700 and it was the only one in stock. Once we got back in the shop and she had a chance to catch her breath I asked her to pick up the steel Colnago and then the Merlin – you already know how that went.
What that boils down to is that someone with no road bike experience at all; can plainly tell the difference between steel, carbon and titanium. And that they can tell the difference between Shimano and Campy components. And that I now need to find a good deal on a 52 and a 54 Fierte Ti with Veloce or better components.
Any suggestions???
David Gelinas
Other than my first post a few months back and a lot of lurking, I’m new to this board. I have a problem that I was hoping you all could help with. The long and the short of it is, now I need two Fierte Ti’s it appears.
About 3 months ago I started riding with a couple of friends after a 20 year hiatus. After a month of riding a borrowed bike I bought a very old Special Nova with a 600 groupo. Since then my brother (who has a very old Bottecchia) has gone and gotten himself and his wife a set of steel & carbon Orbea’s. Something about being true to Colunbus tubing and the ride of a steel frame or something like that. As a kid he came of age in a Coppi shop. Another friend got himself and his wife a set of carbon Orbea’s, for this friend (who’s ridden all of THREE times) it’s more about $$$ and looks. Back to the story.
Since all these other wives, 3 in all, have taken an interest in riding and because of me riding three days a week with my friends now my wife has also taken an interest. That’s a good thing, that’s actually a very good thing. She and I have started riding 2 – 3 mornings a week together. Granted she is only riding her AL Gary Fisher MTB but she is doing very well. Clocking her off of my computer she seems to be around 12 – 14 mph and spinning at about 70 - 85 over about an eight mile ride; I’m very proud of her.
Last Saturday we went shopping for new bicycles for ourselves. Keep in mind she has absolutely no experience with road bikes what-so-ever, none, nada, zip. Her one stipulation was, she wants to ride the same make of bike that I do. Let me go back to some of my brother’s reasoning for a second – don’t tell him I said this but I think there is some truth to it. For what it’s worth his idea is, a guy goes out and gets himself this totally rocking new bike and gets his wife something middle of the road. Then they go out riding together and he can’t figure out why she can’t keep up with him. Not to mention that she can clearly see that she’s slowing him down; not much fun for anyone involved. His idea is, if she is going to use it, put her on at least matched ride – ‘makes since to me. Are you starting to see why I need two Fierte’s?
Back to the shopping trip. We rode a couple of nice Serottas, actually there were two Nove’s; to much cabbage for me though at 4 & 6 grand respectively. Honestly, for myself, I didn’t really like the way they rode. We also rode a few other bikes as well. Out of everything I rode that day; I was completely blown away by how the Fierte Ti
rode, it was just like steel but way fast and snappy in the handling. Still at $3,700 X’s 2 --- back to the drawing board. We went shopping again. This time to the Orbea shop. We road a couple of carbon Orbeas in the neighborhood of 5 & 6 grand each, just didn’t like ‘em. Dead feel and too much vibration. Speaking of vibration, man what an annoying noise that is when cables rattle against carbon. Now I was very honest about all of this, I never said what I thought about something until she first said what she thought, I wanted her true feelings on it all. She liked the Orbeas but didn’t seem overly excited. We also rode a set of Colnagos, me on a C50 (nothing to sneeze at mind you) and she rode something that was new but older, Columbus with Campy Mirage. When I asked her how she liked it she said it was a much more comfortable ride then the carbon and that she really liked it. I also asked her if she noticed any difference between the Shimano stuff on the Orbea and the Campy stuff on the Colnago. She said , as expected, that the campy stuff was more precise and that she liked it more. COOL, it was half the price of the Orbea. The trouble was that although the C50 rode much nicer, it still rode like carbon and she wants matching bikes. Then for the heck of it, they had a Ti Merlin that was sized just in-between the two of us so I asked them to set it up for her and I’d take the C50 back out. The wheels in the old head were a turn’n. She immediately LOVED IT, there was no comparison. To bad it was $5,700 and it was the only one in stock. Once we got back in the shop and she had a chance to catch her breath I asked her to pick up the steel Colnago and then the Merlin – you already know how that went.
What that boils down to is that someone with no road bike experience at all; can plainly tell the difference between steel, carbon and titanium. And that they can tell the difference between Shimano and Campy components. And that I now need to find a good deal on a 52 and a 54 Fierte Ti with Veloce or better components.
Any suggestions???
David Gelinas