The GT Grade Carbon 105 I ordered from Wiggle has arrived! In true Yodel style it was left outside my house in the rain wth no card through the door or notification it had even shipped, but thankfully carbon fibre is waterproof and luckily for Wiggle, I’m an honest chap!

I’ve read that the Grade is fairly heavy in road bike terms, but it feels very light to me. I’ve only had a quick sit on it but I’d forgotten how low road bikes are at the front,.

Is it bad form to flip the stem and run it raised slightly?!!

No photos yet but it looks just like this:

The shifters/brakes/hoods also seem MASSIVE. Is this because of the hydraulic disks or is that just the way they are now? The last road bike I owned was a 2007 Planet X Carbon which had Dura Ace and I seem to recall those being quite a bit smaller?

Might try and have a hangover clearing blast out in the morning.

That is pretty.

That’s very sleek.

Is it bad form to flip the stem and run it raised slightly?!!

Yes, especially on a bike with a headtube as long as that one. Do a few sit ups, work on your core strength and you’ll be fine. Faster too as you’re putting less effort into propping your upper body up with your arms.

funny looking handlebars for a mountain bike.

jekkyl – Member
funny looking handlebars for a mountain bike.

Fear not! I have a proper bike too!

Tidy, hoods are massive because they’ll have the hydro gubbins in there (I assume)

It’s slightly bad form to flip the stem, but it depends on what number birthday this is, also, you’ll get used to it as you ride it more and want to go lower anyway. My commuter started off with about 30mm of spacers under the stem and felt low, now it’s slammed all the way down.

Go ahead and flip the stem – it’s your bike (and your back)
The hoods are large, because they are the 105 shifters – the (newer, I think) 6800 type are more like normal size.

Very nice bike – hope you have a great deal of fun on it.

That looks really nice.

Yes, flipped stem is terrible form.
New shimano hoods are indeed huge to accomodate hydro stuff.

“New shimano hoods are indeed huge to accomodate hydro stuff.”

Mechanical ones are the same size .

The original 105 hydro brifters are mahooosive, newer stuff has dropped down to normal size. The ones on that grade are newer though so pretty standard size, same as mechanical.

That looks bloody good for a road bike

I haven’t ridden it as yet so I’ll give the current stem a try and see how I get on. There’s about 20mm of spacers below the stem so I’ll try that first and MTFY before I start looking at alternatives. Just about the right side of 40 so can’t use age as an excuse quite yet I don’t think….

Those levers are pig ugly but they work very well so who cares

I had to put a shorter stem on my Grade, I think they spec quite long ones, so try that, then flip their stem if its the right length.

Love my Grade, it’s done thousands of miles only niggle i have is the rear tyre clearance is pretty poor.

Looks a lot more refined that my cheapo alu one, enjoy and Happy Birthday!

But I still love mine, and it’s a proper workhorse. Coming from the wrong side of the biking tracks, I’m currently trying to get my stem lower.

munrobiker – Member
Is it bad form to flip the stem and run it raised slightly?!!
Yes, especially on a bike with a headtube as long as that one. Do a few sit ups, work on your core strength and you’ll be fine. Faster too as you’re putting less effort into propping your upper body up with your arms.

With respect, sorry but thats complete bollocks. Depends on the frame reach/seat height relative to your physiology. You need to be able to ride comfortably on the drops. I see 50-60 weekend road warriors hammering away on the back lanes on the 10 mile journey to my club ride on a Saturday and less than 1/5th are riding on the drops. Flip and spacer away if you need to.

Oh and thats a sleek looking bike.

Well I took it for a short spin this morning – **** me it’s fast! Been a long time since I road a proper road bike so am unsure how this compares in terms of outright pace, but it’s certainly a compliant frame as I hunted out some bumpy bits and it felt much smoother than I remember my old one being.

Not ridden a double chainring for 3 or 4 years so that took a bit of getting used to.

I might try a shorter stem as I found myself sat on on the front of the saddle like a time triallist a few times and it feels more like a tiller when you’re on the hoods!

Overall, I am very pleased with it although there was a strange clicking sound from the front wheel once per revolution. The spokes all feel tight so I’m not sure what that is and unsure if Wiggle will be able to get it looked at?

Will the standard fit 32mm slick tyres be OK for a blast round the woodland paths at the local park? I’m quite keen to chuck some CX tyres on and see what it’s like properly off road – slightly scary I suspect!

One final Q – the valve stems aren’t threaded so haven’t got any lockrings on them – is that normal?

Bump for the morning crew.

Not sure on the front wheel. Try taking it off and rotating it in your hands to isolate the issue. Might be the front hub but could be something on the disc rotor.

If the tyres are slick then you’ll want to avoid anything but hard pack imo. You’ll hugely benefit from something with more tread on anything else.

A lot of cheaper tubes aren’t threaded so that’s not an issue. If you want to go offroad a lot, I’d recommend some wider tyres setup tubeless as the lower pressures improve grip & comfort considerably.

Thanks I’ll give that a whirl. Wiggle have suggested I get my LBS to take a look at it!