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  • Couple of roadie questions.
  • 1freezingpenguin
    Free Member

    Couple of roadie questions.

    I’m looking at either a Planet X Ti road frame or a Argon 18 Krypton carbon. I own a Ti frame but have never ridden a Carbon frame.

    1. How do carbon bikes cope with British winters? As this will be my only road bike and will be used all through out winter.

    2. Which groupset Sram,Shimano or Campagnolo? I’ve only ever used older Shimano 105 but willing to try another manufacture.

    3. Are Mavic Ksyrium SL more of a race wheel or do they make a good all round training wheel? As most of the roads I ride are country roads and not all are in great condition.

    peteimpreza
    Full Member

    1, Mine is fine but I rinse it down after a wet ride.

    2, Shimano all the way for me.

    3, My Sls are going to be bagged up for the winter. I will run and old pair of Elites instead. If buying new for the winter I would look at Askiums or equivalent.

    bomba
    Free Member

    You’d have struggled to have chosen two more diametrically opposed choices! Argon’s have a reputation for being really, really stiff. As a first dabble in to carbon, the Krypton wouldn’t be my choice.

    At the other end of the scale, you have a ti frame. I’ve no direct experience of the Planet X, but all the ti frames I’ve ridden have been too flexy for me.

    To your other questions:
    1. Salty, crappy muck through the winter can act like a fine abrasive which dulls the lacquer. I’ve ridden my carbon frame through two winters and it’s been fine apart from that.
    2. Horses for courses. Personal preference more than anything else.
    3. Good wheels are nice to ride on whether you’re training or racing. Ksyrium SL’s are probably a bit too nice to be running through the winter though.

    IainGillam
    Free Member

    Firstly why only those two frames? There are an awful lot out there to choose from and as mentioned above they aren’t really that similar. What do you want the bike for? If you like long rides on rough country roads, a super stiff race frame might not be the one. On the other had if you are a Sir Chris Hoy look a like and you race flat crits in the bunch waiting for a sprint finish you might want to look at something with a hefty BB shell. What kind of winter riding do you do? If you are riding day in day out and not really paying much attention to cleaning the bike then I’d get some cheaper wheels for winter. If you ride mostly dry days and/or maintain the bike well then why not use the Ksyrium all year? Personal opinion but if you race, I’d not bother saving them for races only. I’d only do bunch races on stuff I can afford to crash with, you don’t want to put on your best wheels for the once a month race then pringle them in a crash before you’ve had a chance to enjoy them. If you’ve spent you hard earned on them get some use out of them unless you’re saving them for TT’s where they will last basically forever.

    Iain

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