Hehe.. 1/2 of what a new Fulcrum racing 3 selling by pedalspot lor

That will be under RM1k already wor..

Yeap ..What I can say is value for money light weight wheelset lor. Not easy to find wheelset lower than 1.6kg at this price category. sumore got warranty..but I forgotten to check how long liao

[quote=butthead,Aug 11 2012, 10:15 PM]
the idiots answer to your question is "always get the best you can afford to"... whether it is RM3.8k or RM13.8k...

but, the big question is... would you find yourself itching to make changes / upgrades to the bike if you buy one that is under RM2k... an 1.8k bike with a full 105 groupo swap will land you a RM2k debt easily... of course, you can make some money back by selling your old parts and stuff.. but, why the hassle?

then comes the 2nd question and this will make your life even more difficult.. since you are considering tri.. are you considering a tri-specific setup or a normal road bike setup with drop bars and clip on aerobars? (assuming you don't want to spend on having 2 bikes) latter is the more common route for budget people since the bike can be used for training and racing despite some setbacks...

if you will be looking for base bar-aero bar setups with bar end shifters... 10-speed is definitely the way to go for a new bike since there is no longer 9-speed bar end shifters in the KL market anymore... all shimano units are 10-speed dura ace units... and with 10-speed.... it is easier for you to find more varieties in cassette options... i know quite a lot of the endurance fellas run with 11-23 cassettes and you won't find that easily on a 9-speed cassette even if you want to (at least not easily)..

the best guys to ask for their setup and experience i guess would be sky and vin_ann since both of them do a bit of endurance events with their bikes..
most brands offer an entry level, mid-range and high end bikes...


Thanks for the reply... will think bout it over these few days =)

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Added on August 12, 2012, 1:37 amCan i know is there any group of road cycling i can join?(newbie here)
heard that there is a group cycles from sri petaling to summit on tuesdays and fridays...
anyone from the group?

This post has been edited by sunghajung11: Aug 12 2012, 01:37 AM

that sounds like my friend's group.. which i never join haha..
they in the tri community right?

btw dont really need a tri bike if you are just venturing into triathlon, road bikes are more fun, you can group ride with cyclist, slightly more agile and also easier on your back too

This post has been edited by Sky.Live: Aug 12 2012, 12:43 PM

guys, any reason why exitwat is not good? coz i was confused some shop owner prefer exitway than polygon, the owner claimed he got few of customers claiming warranty for leaking frame of polygon bike and he stop selling polygon brands.

Exitway is very new in the market.. I only heard of it few years ago circ 2009 onwards and I think started by Ipoh based co http://www.gccycle.com/index.php/company/about-us

Whereas polygon is already here for years now. In M'sia by Lerun which is also a subsidiary of Polygon after bought over by Indonesian. and their dedicated Rodalink showroom http://www.polygoncycle.com/

Anyway, I dun really go for which one good brand.. I go for the groupset, the wheels, the fork, & etc and must be value for money and the lighthest for whatever budget I willing to fork out

btw the links u gave me is gcshop, the ones i mentioned is this http://www.exitway.com/index.php?option=co...id=86&Itemid=92 that is my soon to be purchased bike.

You just click few link and it will lead you to that Ipoh factory.. I suspect that's the factory for Exitway liao lor

http://www.exitway.com/index.php?option=co...id=52&Itemid=74

The US, address is just a common trick by lotsa website trying to tell ppl they are US based... I suspect my latest wheelset upgrade (Amain-T) also the same. Having the story about their US origin (Probably fake) but actually factory in Taichung, Taiwan

shocking find, but nvrtheless, i am going to ride the bike in trainer mode and hopefully it fits my body well. btw thks very much for this info, really broaden my knowledge of cycling. Wanna ask if want change the cassette need around how much, i will be starting with 8 speed first then if i feel there is really practical need for 10 speed i might save moolah in the future for 10 speed upgrade.

This post has been edited by nightzstar: Aug 12 2012, 08:46 PM

From my past experiences wth MTB, you better spend more on getting a 10 speed now rather than spending more for the upgrades. The parts will not be cheap for sure.

When I started MTB in mid 2000, I spent RM800+ for my SARS bike wth 8X3 gears.. a year later I started to change the gear to Deore 9 X3, changed blingsX2, changed V-brake to hydraulic brakes & lastly changed my wheelset to American classic.. Now my RM800+ MTB after those upgrade added up to ~ RM4K liao

If you buy a reasonable good 10 gear bike, you no need to worry about future upgrade dy...you almost there except the later blingX2 such as carbon here & there haha

i see, will 10 speed be an overkill? for beginner

Easier to cycle uphill lor esp going to the max 10 bigger rear wheel & smallest compact front front crankset. If you lack no of gear, going uphill.. be prepared to get cramp for 1st timer haha..That's why sometime, MTB going uphill much easier bcos got much smaller front gears ( 3 compare to road bike bigger 2 gears cranks)

If less gears or bigger front crank - naik bukit can be like heh-heh wan and furthermore u are new to biking

Er.. some observation i done to myself.

FYI, i have no problem riding my Giant TCR SL3 when i brought it. in fact, im loving it when im riding it.

Why?

bcoz i'm been riding bike since small. apa-apa macam punya bikes i ride before. started with kid bike, cycle around in my small hometown... then when growing, change to bigger bike, normal bicycle, with front basket....

then, my mum's bike... my grandpa bike (the big wheels, black color bike) then finally mountain bike.... and somehow, i found there's old roadbike (steel) in store... then start riding.

when i'm 1st riding the roadbike, im really dont like the bending... but it's gives me speeds... im start to love it.

for newbie, unless you know what's your direction, your commitment towards your goal, else forget everything, just get few hundreds roadbike to ride....

where to find few hundreds roadbike you might ask. I dont know any specific one in KL, but you can go to your neighborhood's normal bike shop asking.

last time, when i "bising-bising" want to get mountain bike back in my hometown, i selected the model that's cost RM450... the bike owner have to order as he never bring in the bike. waited dont know how many days, finally i got my bike, was gila babi happy!

that's my cycling 2cent worth of experience.

Vinn_Ann, You also too fit liao lor.. esp coming from a marathon + extreme-thon runner.. haha

Me ..My last biking experience was just b4 I got my motorbike lesen way back in mid 80's. Thereafter on motornike & car liao and only pick-up MTB in ~ 2006/2007.. a lapse of 20 yrs!.. So that time...after my 1st 20km...I got my 1st cramp haha.. Now for a mid 40 unker, I think I can be proud liao riding 30km sap-sap water and only feel lethic after 50km ride.. haha.. at 50km marking.. I need to stop for a break b4 coming back haha.. You too extreme liao.. must kowtaow you.. for riding to Ipoh

nicely said...

leaky frames is a funny reason... which frames don't have drain holes to let water out in case you ride in the rain?

i won't vouch for polygon designs... personally.. i don't think much of that brand for somethings i've observed over time... but that is just me nitpicking on things that i should only expect when paying top dollars... overall a brand that makes entry level road bikes all the way up to carbon road and TT bikes must not be too shabby any way you see it...

exitway, polygon? it's your own judgement call at the end of the day...

how much is this?

guan chow as far as i know is a major distributor like gin huat if i am not wrong... not sure if they actually manufacture bike parts.. but they are listed as the distributor in malaysia on exitway... i am not sure they will sell direct to end user since i mailed them before enquiring on some gore ride-on cables... i wanted to see if they brought into malaysia and i got no replies... they said they have a showroom... but not sure if it is meant for end users or the dealers...

you don't want to go into swapping groupsets... very painful process not to mention the money you have to re-invest... if you start with an 8/9 speed.. you will be looking at a complete group swap for almost the price of your bike... even if you just change the chain, shifters, cassette forcefully without the derailleur... purchasing those items separately is going to cost you considerably more when you compare it to an entire group itself...

not to mention if you start off with a pricier 10speed bike... you get better stuff to begin with.. maybe seatpost, stem, handlebar, and saddles are a notch up than your 8-speed bike...

if you remotely have the slightest thought about that... i prefer you either spend more initially or delay your bike buying process and save up until you can afford it...

BTW, there are no longer 8-speed in the market my bad... forgot about the st-2300... even the cheapest sora is already 9-s???

on an MTB... the difference between 9 and 10-speed are sometimes not that felt...yes, maybe there can be an extra 36-t cog instead of just a 34-t...but, on a roadie... more cogs meant less jump in teeth count and that lets you maintain a much lesser difference in cadence when you shift up or down during rides... by far, not a very important thing... but helps reduce a certain amount of fatigue in super long rides...and most importantly.. easier for you to find that right gear just for the speed you are riding...

there is no such things about no future upgrades... but, it's good to help prevent UN-necessary upgrades... for example... let's say you have a set of shimano 2200 or 2300 group on your budget bike and you want a swap to new 10s transmission because you want more gear choices or a wider range casstte but you are limited by $$$... so, you get the cheapest there is... a tiagra set... then once you are on a tiagra... you start wanting more and you aim for a 105 or ultegra... then you have to plan for another upgrade which means more $$$... but this time... there isn't much functional diff. except for better performance and stuff... not the best of examples... but if you feel what i am trying to convey...and all the time on a ill matched frame which is kinda demoralizing...

there are also instances where you find yourself in a pickle for example, if your old 9-s shifter broke and you can't source a replacement 9-s shifter... then, you are forced to move to a 10-s unit... and more money is spend on changing thing you might not want to change...again lousy example.. but possible to happen...

i won't guarantee you a no upgrade story... but at least if you get the base functionality on the bike right during the purchase.... you can possibly delay that upgrade by a bit or hopefully for that impulsive thought to blow over and be contempt with what you have in hand and save up for something bigger...

like i said above... maybe, maybe not.. but once things gets serious... you will at one point find the use for that 1 or 2 extra cogs... and this is a sort of inevitable thing...

i am on a wide range cassette and i miss out on a lot of cogs especially in the mid range... so, i sometimes find it hard to find the right gear on the flats... but i can laugh at other people on the slopes... sometimes, you just wish there is another 2 or 3 cogs to fill that gap...

as long as you ride by yourself... you don't catch the difference as quickly.. once you ride with a group of friends... you will find yourself comparing and analyzing when you are trying to follow wheels and things like that... this is where the danger comes...

This post has been edited by butthead: Aug 12 2012, 11:45 PM

Stimix.... different person have different stamina ma...

i'm enter with strong foundation, my 1st ride on my Giant nobita bike were riding up to Genting Sempah... with normal pedals only.

it's feel good. after that, got my clip shoe and 2nd ride was with P2K on Sat, short ride, 65km.

ride more, ur butt will get use with the seat... then no more pains...

of course la... your TCR SL3 is almost the cream of the crop in alloy bikes already..only the CAAD10 or canyon AL9 ultimate will be capable of topping your giant...

i am quite resistant to super cheap bikes from my past experience.. i bought a super cheap mountain bike... considered cheap as it was the only 3 figure MTB with a disc brake and 9s drivetrain at that time... and i saw some SRAM X5 parts and got too excited for that price...

little did i know... it came with some lousy crankset... poorly made hubs... and within the first 2 months of riding... ran into problems with a loose BB and forced to change it was busted... then, not long after... it was busted again with the crankarms coming loose once in a while...finally, fed up and decided to spring a bit more to fix the problem once and for all... had to buy a shimano entry level crank with it's BB for a little over RM200... that much for a bike that only costed RM950... then came the wheels which i had to swap out because rebuilding with a replacement hub costs as much as the factory made wheels and i had to fork out money as the factory made shimano wheels demanded a different rotor (center lock) and that was more money down where i don't see a purpose... that's among the list of problems that i ran into with that bike... total tally of repair costs on that bike alone is much more than the initial costs of that bike itself...

i would have been so much better off (financially) getting that giant bike with 8-s and v-brakes... at least, it had a complete more reliable shimano group on it...

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Added on August 12, 2012, 11:40 pmthen you qualify for this after that...



This post has been edited by butthead: Aug 12 2012, 11:40 PM

Wondering whta will happen if that thing pecah in the middle of cycling and the poor rider .....

Offcourse the story of 9 / 10 speed is ultimately bound by your financial capability..

Don't go overburden yourself tho, getting a bike and start it without owning debts to ahlong is much more important..