Okay, so some of you may know, some of you may not. I had my 50cm Giant Defy Advanced stolen on Tuesday. Sh*t timing for my 100 mile charity ride on Sunday. Two options i have are, Specialized Roubaix Expert, 58cm Ultegra compact, it's too big for me but the compact is really going to come in handy when climbing up mam tor, cat and fiddle, froggatt, etc etc, or do i go for the Colnago Dream B Stay, 54cm, Chorus racing set up, less give in the gears for the hills, and it's slightly too small. Either way it's going to be a painful ride, but i've got to choose one from the two and i really can't decide. . . . .out of the two i'll be able to set up the Colnago to fit me better than the Spesh, but the thought of riding without a compact considering all my training over the past few months, 600+ miles riding with a Shimano compact set up is worrying me slightly. I fu*king hate thieves. . . .

Always go for the bike that is the best fit.

The colnago's in my hand's right now and my gut's telling me to mtfu and ride through the pain, but my heads dreaming about spinning up the hills with the compact spesh. Sighhhhh.

go for the smaller one, its still 2" longer though which is going to hurt after a while……..

i rode arround there on a 38-26, even snakes pass is doable, just needs some determination and a lot of standing up.

Go for the bike thats best fit Dont worry about the compact. I did away with my compact after 2 yearslast weekend. My first ride with 53/39 and the same cassette was the 106 mile Dartmoor Classic. I was flying up the hills Much better!

No way you can get the casette changed on the Colnago?

Work out the difference in ratio for the lowest gear, see if it really is a lot? Check the weather, I thought it was going to be wet and windy which makes it tougher going.

Colnago better init 😆

Eh?

Just put the compact chainset on the Colnago; it'll work fine, you may have to drop the front derailleur by a bit, and the chain will be a link or so too long when in little-little, but you won't be riding in that combo anyway…

Ride the Colnago, you can get up hills on a 39 ring.

Might be able to help out with another bike choice if you get stuck…..

How can a 54cm frame be smaller than a 50cm frame ?

Just stick a 26 on the back and you should be able to get up anything (within reason)

Sorry to read about your loss. On reading your previous thread I assume you work for J E James.
Come on J E James surely you can loan a suitable bike of the correct size with gearing to suit, to an employee doing a Charity Bike ride.

PS. If you don't work there, then my comments are meaningless. Hope you have a good ride. 🙂

Crikey i can't butcher the bikes, or i would. Cheers for the input all. . . . .shifted the saddle up 25mm and took it back 10mm to give be a bit better reach, angled the bars up slightly for a bit of extra leverage so it feels not that indifferent to the Shimano set up i had. Game on Dream B-Stay. Little 20 mile spin in the morning to see how things are, may tweak some more. Speak to you all Sunday evening with hopefully some beautiful scenic pic's of the peaks to post too. . . . . ! Cat & Fiddle i'm coming for you. P.S – big thanks for the offer though crikey, very generous of you, much appreciated that man.

No worries, I've got a 9 speed carbon Trek (old but good..) with a compact and 12-21 doing nothing this weekend; it's got crudguards on too…check out the weather!

The weather isn't looking good your right which to be honest is the icening on the cake for the week i've had, but enough's enough, i'm not letting anything else drag me down now, only one way to go and that's up from here, literally. Tah chap's.

Take all of this weeks' sh*t Andy, put it in a box, and nail your ride to the floor.

Bullheart style…

Good luck friend

Take all of this weeks' sh*t Andy, put it in a box, and nail your ride to the floor.

Bullheart style…

Good luck friend

Only just seen this…..cheers buddy.

By the way young man, i needs to speak to you asap – email me at work andylivo@jejamescycles.co.uk !!