# First roadbike in 25 years!



## Craigmri (Jan 20, 2014)

So, in the late 80's I enjoyed riding my then Murray road bike. No it wasn't fancy, fast or sophisticated but it was fun and loved being out there pedaling and being fit. 

Spent the last 25 years focusing on my career and the little free time I have enjoyed has been on motorcycles. Been thinking about cycling for the last couple of years and recently I'm beginning to really feel my age(46) and just an unfit state. At least I feel unfit although I am 6'1" and 195 pounds and far from obese...Just dont feel the athletic self I once was. It is time to focus on exercise and cycling is my weapon of choice.

I spent the last few weeks visiting bike shops, scouring Craigslist and reading everything I can including this forum. Wow has the bike industry changed. Seems like all(OK 99%) of all bikes are produced by one of three companies out of Asia. Taiwan and Mainland China with the preferred location being Taiwan. 

I wanted to buy local to support the little guy, develop a local relationship etc... Got major sticker shock! OK, initially I was looking at entry level bikes like a Jamis Ventura Sport. My local guy had a leftover 2012. This bike was Aluminum with Alloy front fork and Sora grade component-set. He was firm at $550.

Another local dealer had a 2013 leftover Raleigh Revenio 1.0. This bike also was Aluminum with alloy front fork. Component set was 2300 stuff. Dealer wanted $555.

Third local dealer had a used Specialized Allez my size but was sort of beat up with also entry level components that he was firm at $475. Got to demo ride this bike and immediately fell in love with the brake lever shifter design. 

After visiting these three dealers in addition to a fourth Felt dealer I learned I was a 58cm size. 

Spend a couple of weeks watching Craigslist and became fatigued by the crappy bikes or prices or unresponsive sellers. Gave up and decided I was buying new.

Now, what did I want? Finally decided I wanted a Roadbike with Aluminum frame but with Carbon forks. Sure it would be nice to have an all Carbon bike but didnt want the expense, the short warranty and delicate nature especially if impacted from the side?? Also didnt want entry level components but then again didnt need pro caliber stuff either as I'm never going to race/compete or appreciate "The Best". Something hovering 105 was what I found a good compromise.

A bike with the above criteria locally would be minimum $800 and probably closer to $1100. Spent much time analyzing the Bikesdirect offerings and did find one on there I found appealing. Apparently some kind of affiliate of Bikesdirect(a Sister-in-law) from my understanding is an outfit called Chicabike. Liz(the owner) offered the bike I wanted on BikesDirect for even less!! Since Liz is in Texas I didnt have to pay Florida state sales tax if I bought from Bikesdirect as they have a Jacksonville store so I would be forced to pay Florida state sales tax. So, same identical bike for less than Bikesdirect AND didnt have to pay tax....BONUS!!! So what did I order??? A 2013 Dawes Lightening 2300. Aluminum Frame that I believe is identical or extremely similar to the Fuji Newest 3.0. Perhaps is the Kinesis made product? It has a Carbon fork, 105 Rear Derailleur, Tiagra shifters and Front Derailer, Alex wheels, Continental tires, Tektro R350 brakes, clip-less pedals and Velo seat. All for $598 shipped to my door. Seems like a great value for this component set and will certainly offer me the opportunity to get back into shape and see where it takes me. My son already wants it and it hasnt arrived yet. If I find myself really getting into this I may pass it on to him and look at something even nicer possibly.

I will update this thread with photos when the bike comes and gets assembled. I'm a neurotic Engineer and intend to perform the assembly and tune myself. Same way with my motorcycles as I would NEVER trust anyone touching my stuff. A wise man once told me years ago, the only mechanic you can trust is the one handing you the wrench. After reading these forums at great length I know some do not find this method of bike purchase to be wise. In time I may or may not agree but this is the decision I made with my funds.

Dawes Lightning 2300 (MatteBlack)

Craig


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## Mr645 (Jun 14, 2013)

No reason that it should not be a solid, reliable ride.


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## robnj (Sep 26, 2013)

Congrats. Sounds like a nice ride at a very good price. I would recommend getting a good fit done. Being an Engineer myself (and with the same layoff you had from the sport), I was thinking "I know what I'm doing". But after getting fit and learning A LOT from the guy, it was night and day in comfort.


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

Welcome to this site Craig and thanks for an informative, eloquent post. You will learn lots from this site. I like your "fix it myself" ideal as no-one has touched *my* bikes over my 52 years in this sport.

Just be wary of your enthusiasm getting the better of you and allowing you to do too much riding, too hard and too soon. I've seen many newbs have short careers because of this.

I have a fine resource for you - RoadBikeRider - where you can sign up for the free informative weekly newsletter, download e-articles and e-books and join the Premium site where there is tons of archived material on all things bike.

Look up the late Sheldon Brown's site too. Oh and Park Tool's site for tech help.


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## Craigmri (Jan 20, 2014)

Thanks for the welcome and advice guys. Mike, you somehow zero'd in on something without even knowing me and hit the nail on the head. I too am trying to throttle my expectations as I begin after such a lengthy layoff. Need to pay attention to stretching and short non-intimidating rides for the first several weeks and slowly build up before I get with my buddies riding group. I told Eric to not expect me for a few months. Thanks for the links.. I will be touring those sites this weekend.

Rob, I will stop into my LBS whom I have been purchasing peripherals from and ask if he can fine tune my fit.

This site has been great and hope to participate more and more as I progress.

Craig


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

Craigmri said:


> Thanks for the welcome and advice guys. Mike, you somehow zero'd in on something without even knowing me and hit the nail on the head. I too am trying to throttle my expectations as I begin after such a lengthy layoff. Need to pay attention to stretching and short non-intimidating rides for the first several weeks and slowly build up before I get with my buddies riding group. I told Eric to not expect me for a few months. Thanks for the links.. I will be touring those sites this weekend.


Craig, rest and recovery from your rides (whether you be a Noob, someone like us or a pro racer) is at least as important as any riding you do.

Here are two recent threads that should interest you -

Assessing Fitness and Ride Performance

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/beginners-corner/training-century-ride-316880.html


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## Craigmri (Jan 20, 2014)

*Its here!!*

Finally got here!!








Craig


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## Craigmri (Jan 20, 2014)

*Assembled!*

Got it assembled and even took it out for its first shakedown run this afternoon. After assembly I adjusted both brakes, trued both wheels and fine tuned the front and rear derailleur. Got seat height adjusted to what I think is close. I and straight legged if I place my shoed heel on the pedal and a slight bend if the ball of my foot is on the pedal. During installation I placed the stem in the lower orientation but after todays 3.2 mile ride Its too aggressive. I'm going to flip the stem tonight and try that tomorrow. If that still isnt good for me I may have to go with a shorter stem.


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## Craigmri (Jan 20, 2014)

*More photos*

And more photos yet!


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## MS150Rider66 (Apr 30, 2009)

Hi. Very nice bike Craig, Black color is always nice. Before replacing stem you need to play with it.Try to raise it up,your hoods look like you can lower how they look on pic,you can get a more relaxed feel from shoulders. I have a 2010 Fuji Newest3.0 and your specs.are way better than my Sora. I am 48 and 225 lbs.Have lost alot of weight and always move my bars for how I feel. you might be doing the same thing I guess it's an age thing LOL.


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## Craigmri (Jan 20, 2014)

Could you post a photo of your bike and the bars as you described? And yes, we're not 20 anymore :-(

Craig



MS150Rider66 said:


> Hi. Very nice bike Craig, Black color is always nice. Before replacing stem you need to play with it.Try to raise it up,your hoods look like you can lower how they look on pic,you can get a more relaxed feel from shoulders. I have a 2010 Fuji Newest3.0 and your specs.are way better than my Sora. I am 48 and 225 lbs.Have lost alot of weight and always move my bars for how I feel. you might be doing the same thing I guess it's an age thing LOL.


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## pmf (Feb 23, 2004)

You said that you trued the wheels? Did they need to be trued? 

Take the cassette off and remove that spoke protector -- you don't need it, and it looks goofy.


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## Craigmri (Jan 20, 2014)

Yes, the front wheel was slightly out of true and the rear wheel was noticably out. took me MAYBE 5 minutes to get them both about perfect and I've never done it before.

You know, I never noticed the spoke protector before.

Craig



pmf said:


> You said that you trued the wheels? Did they need to be trued?
> 
> Take the cassette off and remove that spoke protector -- you don't need it, and it looks goofy.


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## Craigmri (Jan 20, 2014)

So, I have three rides under my belt. First ride after assembling the bike was 3.2 miles. I found the bars to be too low and aggressive so I flipped the stem. I also needed to lower the seat by perhaps a centimeter. Second ride was much better and did 4.2 miles. For my third ride last night I did 6 miles. I really like the bike. I still find alot of pressure on my hands but my padded fingerless gloves wont be here for a few days.

I'm easing into cycling as you can tell. At 46 I'm afraid if I do too much too fast I may have an adverse reaction. My thinking is if I can slowly and steadily improve I'll have the most success. Dont get me wrong, I do have large goals. In fact maybe an unrealistic goal but aim high is what I was always told. I want to do my first Century in six months. Dont know if I'll make it but I'm going to give it everything I have. To be honest, I dont really know the best approach to making this happen other than ride 4 or 5 days a week and build up to it. I already have the route selected and is a fairly flat ride on a paved bicycle trail.

So, now that I have all of 13 miles on the bike I am happy with it. I still wonder if I should go with a slightly shorter stem or wait to see if my body adjusts to the bar location. According to all the "fitting" recommendations I've seen and read I have things pretty much set up correctly. At some point I will still stop by the local shop and inquire about a fitting check.

Next, I'm trying to focus on my riding technique. I've read so much on the importance of maintaining a good cadence. I have a bike computer but it doesn't do cadence so I decided to measure it myself to see if a "normal to me" crank pace is good so I got on a flat surface and got into a comfortable pace and counted my pedaling for 15 seconds(per the bike computer) then multiplied by 4 and got 80 so I think this is fairly close to what I should be doing. I'll re-check this every ride just to pay attention to it until I am trained to keep a specific crank pace. 

I'm hoping I can slowly and gradually grow my endurance and in turn distance throughout the coming months without too many brick walls. I know I wont be able to add an addition mile every day as I expect at some point I'll slow in progress and or time. If anyone has any advice on how I can better prepare for my summertime goal I am all ears.

Craig


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## MS150Rider66 (Apr 30, 2009)

Craigmri said:


> Could you post a photo of your bike and the bars as you described? And yes, we're not 20 anymore :-(
> 
> Craig


Sure, I'll post as soon as I can take pic. My wife needs to teach me cause I don't know.LOL But what I mean is loosen the two of four bolts on your stem just a little and then grab the hoods and slowly push down and see it go down a bit and then just play with it. All trail and error stuff we gotta go through


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## rm -rf (Feb 27, 2006)

Craigmri said:


> So, I have three rides under my belt. First ride after assembling the bike was 3.2 miles. I found the bars to be too low and aggressive so I flipped the stem. I also needed to lower the seat by perhaps a centimeter. Second ride was much better and did 4.2 miles. For my third ride last night I did 6 miles. I really like the bike. I still find alot of pressure on my hands but my padded fingerless gloves wont be here for a few days.
> 
> I'm easing into cycling as you can tell. At 46 I'm afraid if I do too much too fast I may have an adverse reaction. My thinking is if I can slowly and steadily improve I'll have the most success. Dont get me wrong, I do have large goals. In fact maybe an unrealistic goal but aim high is what I was always told. I want to do my* first Century in six months*. Dont know if I'll make it but I'm going to give it everything I have. To be honest, I dont really know the* best approach* to making this happen other than ride 4 or 5 days a week and build up to it. I already have the route selected and is a fairly flat ride on a paved bicycle trail.
> 
> ...


All the best advice on training for longer rides involves two types of riding. 

One, a steadier effort, building up to long hours on the bike. You need to be able to sit on the bike for 6, 7, or 8 hours to do a century! 

Two, adding some "intervals", where you go very hard for a short time, recover, then do it again. Small hills are good for this.

For me, group rides keep me motivated. I need to stay in shape to hang with the other riders, and the scheduled ride starts keep me from putting off the ride to another day. I'll go harder and ride much farther with a group than I would usually do by myself. The trick is to find a group that's not too fast or too slow.

Here's a plan from bicycling magazine that sounds good to me. And it's pretty simple.

As as a new rider, I'd just do simple riding around the neighborhood the first month or two, to get used to the bike, and get some basic fitness going. Then start the 8 week plan.
8 weeks to a century ride.


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## Craigmri (Jan 20, 2014)

After seven rides I am still very happy with the bike. The stem length is now a non-issue for me as I am already getting comfortable on the bike. In addition, I'm starting to already see improvements to my fitness so quickly. The initial ride I did of just over three miles seemed tough while yesterdays ride of 10.1(in my hilly neighborhood) miles seemed somewhat easier. Looking forward to this weekends ride on a flat trail and hope to do 20 miles.

So, with 50 miles on the bike I am pleased with the purchase. For anyone who wants good components and knows what they need and want and who's done their homework this Dawes 2300 Lightening is a winner. Just buy it from Chicabike instead of Bikesdirect because Liz is cheaper on this model for some reason. I would buy it again if I had to do it over again.

Craig


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