Good entry level road bike? Budget? Clubs?

Recreation Cycling
21

That hasn’t been my experience at all. Either there is some weird cultural propensity toward an extreme race fit, or they want to move whatever they have in stock, but I’ve always been recommended a small in most of my shopping here. Only the better factory Giant shops have given me proper fit advice and even then it’s only been some employees. If they were going by the specs, they would recommend an M like Giant does online.

I’m 5’10 with longish arms and legs so I absolutely do not fit on a small. I’d say I’m at the upper end of medium. I’d also imagine that the M is not suitable for Tomas’ 6’+ frame unless he is rather flexible and athletic.

Being 5’7, you likely haven’t encountered this issue because yes, you are in fact a size small. But I’m glad you haven’t had to go through all of the fit drama that I have!

22

That hasn’t been my experience at all. Either there is some weird cultural propensity toward an extreme race fit, or they want to move whatever they have in stock, but I’ve always been recommended a small in most of my shopping here. Only the better factory Giant shops have given me proper fit advice and even then it’s only been some employees. If they were going by the specs, they would recommend an M like Giant does online.

I’m 5’10 with longish arms and legs so I absolutely do not fit on a small. I’d say I’m at the upper end of medium. I’d also imagine that the M is not suitable for Tomas’ 6’+ frame unless he is rather flexible and athletic.

Being 5’7, you likely haven’t encountered this issue because yes, you are in fact a size small. But I’m glad you haven’t had to go through all of the fit drama that I have![/quote]

+1 … Taiwanese bike shops in general only stock up to M size. If you’re too big for an M they’ll just tell you to adjust the seat back or put your name down for next years model and wait. I’m 5 11 and rode an M for a year before getting an L. The difference is substantial. On an M you’ll be too squashed to ride in the drops for more than a minute.

23

[quote=“PaddyB”]
That hasn’t been my experience at all. Either there is some weird cultural propensity toward an extreme race fit, or they want to move whatever they have in stock, but I’ve always been recommended a small in most of my shopping here. Only the better factory Giant shops have given me proper fit advice and even then it’s only been some employees. If they were going by the specs, they would recommend an M like Giant does online. [/quote]

That’s poor form if they are just trying to move the M sizes. However, a colleague had the opposite experience. Thinking he was taller than average, he went to 185 and got a large bike. Too large, as it turned out. I guess on that occasion either they were trying to move the stock or they were giving the customer what the customer thought he wanted. The customer was wrong that time. Of course, experiences differ, riders and riding styles differ. It is naturally a matter of many factors. I just want to caution against a blanket “we know better” attitude.

24

I’m 182 point something and the Giants in M are too small for me. If Tomas at 188 is too small for an L then bloody hell! :laughing:

25

that ‘point something’ is really important, isn’t it!

the Giant sloped tube geometry is more forgiving than the older flat tube bike designs, but I also found that shops in Taiwan generally size too small, mostly because they don’t stock L sizes and still want to get rid of the frames they have in store.

I take an S in a TCR, but set the seat back a little. I have long arms and legs but am only 173-174 these days. (used to be 177-178, but multiple disc damage from many crashes and drinking too much does that to you).

26

A Giant shop put me on a XS Defy and I am 5’7’’. Careful about the sizing. You might want to look at other brands for larger sizes, Giant is notorious for charging extra for larger frames here in Taiwan. Check out ruten or Yahoo auctions to give you an idea.

27

:laughing: It is! When I stop saying ‘point something’ it will mean the shrinking has started :astonished: . I get measured for the ARC health check so each year they plonk me on this scale and before I have time to stand completely straight this sliding square like thingy comes down and boinks me on the head and at that very moment: it’s all over! Officially, I’m that tall for the rest of the year.

Once I wore thicker socks and stood reasonably upright and I scored 182.7! :smiley: But last year I wore thin socks and forgot to utilize the point of my head to maximum effect, and came away with 182.3. Point three! :cry: I guess ideally I should put a bit more preparation and forethought into the whole exercise. Have a nice long sleep and go real early (because your taller earlier in the morning, right?), wear extra thick socks, maybe even start hand-washing myself in cold water with no tumble dry.

28

:laughing: It is! When I stop saying ‘point something’ it will mean the shrinking has started :astonished: . I get measured for the ARC health check so each year they plonk me on this scale and before I have time to stand completely straight this sliding square like thingy comes down and boinks me on the head and at that very moment: it’s all over! Officially, I’m that tall for the rest of the year.

Once I wore thicker socks and stood reasonably upright and I scored 182.7! :smiley: But last year I wore thin socks and forgot to utilize the point of my head to maximum effect, and came away with 182.3. Point three! :cry: I guess ideally I should put a bit more preparation and forethought into the whole exercise. Have a nice long sleep and go real early (because your taller earlier in the morning, right?), wear extra thick socks, maybe even start hand-washing myself in cold water with no tumble dry.[/quote]

Haha I hit 180 cm last year and I been 178 since I was 17; how the hell did I grow 2 cms at age 46?

I notice no ones mentioned Fuji in this thread…don’t ignore it cos its a Japanese “name”, their bikes are generally as good as Giant (IMHO) and a few thou cheaper. Plus I may be wrong but I think Fuji shops carry more larger sizes, I’m riding a Fuji Roubaix L I got for 20,000 2nd hand.

29

Fuji is cheaper than Giant? Really? I never would have guessed since they are an American company. Never even gave them much thought. I thought Merida and Giant were substantially cheaper than all the other major brands. Yeah Fuji’s are nice bikes…

30

Fuji is cheaper than Giant? Really? I never would have guessed since they are an American company. Never even gave them much thought. I thought Merida and Giant were substantially cheaper than all the other major brands. Yeah Fuji’s are nice bikes…[/quote]

Actually I think Fuji is virtually Taiwanese by now. It has a complicated history but most of the money behind it these days and all of the production of course is Taiwanese.

Giant is not cheap…it has such cachet here that its slightly over-priced if anything. Feel a bit sorry for Merida, nothing wrong with their bikes but terminally uncool.

31

Giant is not cheap but their frames are very, very good quality. Merida are getting better. Their MTB frames have been good for ages but their on-road frames have been too heavy until now. Their new road ranges (2) are looking great.

32

I ended up with the Roam, medium sized. I was told that there are no large sizes available on the entire island. The medium works well enough for now. I figure I’ll ride it for a while and if I get really serious about riding, I’ll hand this over to my son, who is 173cm tall and then figure out how to get a large, perhaps in another model.

Observation on my first few rides: I love riding, but there are a large number of idiots who block the bike paths, riding or walking 3-4 abreast. WTF?

33

Yes. Riding on the bike paths is pretty frustrating, especially in the more crowded areas. The walkers/bikers 3-4 abreast are the most annoying… agreed.

34

your signature move should be the clothesline.

35

Hi,
I like the Bike Forums tom@bikeforums.net Touring thread.
Check this out: bikesdirect.com/products/win … on2_IX.htm

36

For a starter road bike that’s also comfortable, you definitely want to try some flat bar road bikes. They don’t look as cool as drop bars, but they’re much more comfortable and their only disadvantage is usually a bit of extra weight.

Talking about road bike brands, in Taiwan I’d consider Giant, Merida and Fuji. Gusto sells incredibly cheap carbon bikes, but wheels and other components often suck. Khs is not bad in terms of value, but it’s not amazing either.

Giant has the best frames and asks a premium amount of $ for that. By “best” I simply mean “slightly lighter”, and the weight difference for similarly specced bikes, compared to the price difference, for me is not worth it unless you’re a pro/semi-pro racer.

Merida starting from this year started producing some really nice frames. Reasonable weight, great components and aggressive prices. You can get a Merida Ride 904 with full Shimano components and r501 wheels for under 30000nt (32800 retail but they always offer 10% discount) and they usually give you at least 10% in accessories/merchandising and will often throw in the mix some gifts. The Ride series is very comfortable and weight between 9 and 10kg depending on the model, if you have a look at Merida’s website they have full prices, specs, weight, just remember to remove 10% for the price and that’s what you’re going to pay. Life time frame warranty is nice too.

Fuji is very expensive outside of Taiwan, but here it’s so cheap it feels like cheating. If you want to have a good time, check the prices on their US website, then compare them with the TW website. The difference is insane. The most amazing offer available in TW for me is the Gran Fondo 2.7, a full carbon bike with Tiagra groupset for 35800nt and every store will give you at least 10% discount, so we’re talking about roughly 1100us$ for a full carbon Tiagra bike. Some European bike makers would ask more than that for a non-carbon Tiagra bike. If you want a comfortable bike have a look at their Sportif series. The cheapest model starts at 15900nt (so around 14000 after discount) for a bike with the new Shimano Claris set (8speed), and you can get Sora, Tiagra or 105 as well, with the most expensive one priced at 26500nt (under 24000nt) for an alloy bike with disc brakes and 105 components. The reason why the Fuji are so much cheaper is that they cut corners in some components, so for example cassette and crank are usually not Shimano, and they use their own brand of wheels which is considered to be fairly good though. Sportif is the only road bike from a big Taiwanese manufacturer that comes with the eyelts for a rack, so if you plan to use panniers for touring it’s pretty much your only choice (that, or a flat bar).

I’d highly suggest to get a bike with Shimano Tiagra, or any 10 speed system. If you buy a bike with Claris, Sora or the equivalent Sram/Campagnolo and one day you want to upgrade to 10 speeds you need to change EVERYTHING: shifters, chain, crank, cassette, w derailleurs and if you’re unlucky even the wheels. If you buy a bike with 10 speed Tiagra and you need to replace a worn/broken part, or you just want to give your bike an upgrade, you can simply buy the equivalent 105/Ultegra/Dura Ace component, swap them over and that’s it.

Anyway, more important than the brand is the feel of the frame. Go to a Fuji, Merida and Giant flagship store (they’re usually more prepared on their products, but it’s not always like that) and ask them to have a look at some bikes and try the fit, choose the one that has the most comfortable frame and then see what kind of gearing/components selection they have available.
8 and 9 speeds are not bad at all, but 10 speeds are much more future-proof.

37

Hi ShinStew,

I just bought a nice road bike a week ago. It is not a top notch bike like a Giant or Trek as you have been researching. Regardless of branding, I decided to purchase it because despite it’s lack of branding, it had all the checkpoints I was looking for in an entry level road bike:

700 x 23C tyres
14 gears
Downtube shifters (gear shifters are not at the handles) are located on the downsloping diagonal bar which I had to adjust to in a few days.
Drop handlebars
Steel frame

I am 174cm/ 5.7 feet and the bike size feels normal.

This is not a bike I would recommend if you were deciding to invest in a top level bike but for a budget entry level road bike it would be a very reasonable start. I have ridden it for a week and coming from a mountain bike myself, it is fast. I love the bike and the reason I have to sell it is because I must return to Australia in a few days and the postage cost to send it would cost double the price of the bike itself. I bought it for 3690 NTD and I’m willing to sell it for half price.
If you are interested please call me on 0983251624 and I could send a photo.
Thanks,
Lionel

38

Good comments. I’ve been riding a Bianchi Volpe since 2007 with the Tiagra group set. Its been good for me. I did replace the rear derailer a few years back but that’s par for the course. I wouldn’t go lower quality than the Tiagra. At this stage I thought I would have replaced a lot more parts. It has the Sugino with 28-38-48 cranks which aren’t low enough for steep hills but tolerable. In fact I’d like to find a steel frame road bike with lower gears but can’t find one. Every bike I see has gearing that’s too high for steep hills. Thoughts?

39

If you’re set on a steel frame, I would consider buying the frame by itself and buying the parts individually. You could scrap up some second hand parts that you don’t really need to buy brand new like a saddle, seat post, pedals, or a stem for cheap on some of the second hand bike part Facebook groups.

For group set and wheels, I would buy brand new, unless you were buying those two sets of components from someone you trust.

There are some shops that sell steel frames down in Taichung, but haven’t heard about many of them in Taipei or Hsinchu.

Good luck. Let me know if you need help with finding any parts!

40

Looks great, what would a entry Giant cost for someone who just wants to test out road cycling and not break the bank.

Can you get something decent for 5000nt?