Just going through the bullet points on the side bar quickly:
- Your level of experience with cycling
Pretty decent endurance rider, not interested in racing. Easily Gran Fondo, and can century with a bit of food prep in the days before. Have cycled the lengths of Morocco and Jordan on road bikes.
- What's your price range, and have you considered second hand?
Max £5,000. Happy to consider second hand if the original bike was in excess of £5,000 when new.
- What's your intention with the bike – commuting, fitness, touring, sport, etc?
Gravel and bikebacking! Bit of an all-rounder jack of all trades.
- How far will you be riding, and how often?
2-3 times a week, varying from short 20km workouts to 170km centuries. Also plan on riding this into Europe once a year for much longer trips.
- Riding conditions: roads, pavement, trails, single-track, off-road? Flat or hilly? Traffic and weather.
Road and Gravel tracks.
- Your location (even approximate) can help other locals familiar with your conditions, too.
South East England.
- A bit about yourself: height, weight, and level of fitness can all help people understand your needs better.
179cm, 90kg, moderate level of fitness. Plenty of cardio, not that much strength.
Right, with all that out of the way, I am fawning over three bikes that I have come across. I have always been a road cyclist, but I'm finding the roads a bit too combative nowadays in England and want to get off them and start riding on the local gravel tracks out of the way. It's a sad feeling of defeat, but it's just where we are at in current times and I don't really want to start having to record drivers for evidence later on.
In the past, my philosophy has always been to stick with Shimano, and buy European or Japanese. No clue as to why — as I know there are great offerings from Cannondale and Specialised — but I just like supporting European manufacturers (and I guess I just love Japan). And I just feel the most comfortable with Shimano drivetrains when tinkering on the road or mending any mechanical failures.
The three bikes in question are (in ascending price order):
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Fuji Jari Carbon CX — ~£2,950
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Wilier Jena — £3,760 (Shimano 1×12 model)
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Fara F/Gravel — £4,405 (Shimano 2×11 Di2)
I'm really not that fussed about mechanical drivetrains vs. electronic shifting, as I see benefits with both. Mechanical systems are so much more inexpensive to fix on the road, and often quite easy to diagnose and bodge to a garage or bike shop. Whereas electronic groupsets obviously just don't have the wiring to deal with.
That said, have become so immensely frustrated when running out of Di2 battery in the past. I've sold road bikes shortly after it happening over it — and with this reasoning I'd certainly lean towards the Fuji/Wilier models if not for the versatility of the Fara bike.
I love me some mounting points. Bolts on the fork. Bolts on the chain stay. Bolts under the top tube. Give me as many bolts to secure as many bags as possible, yum yum yum yum yum yum.
But yeah, I'm just having a really tough time deciding, really. Are there any other factors I should be considering with this decision? One example being that I have heard that Wilier spare parts are very difficult to get hold of — another win for Fara as there's just a spares segment of their website to buy these things.
Obviously, taking these bikes on longer tours in Europe, I kind of want that safety net of being able to order something like a rear mech hanger (or something) in the worst case scenario. Having these parts quickly delivered to the hostel or to a local bike shop and whatnot would be a massive (yet unlikely) scenario that I'd like to be able to weather.
Anyhow, and pointers or things you know about these three models are greatly appreciated.
by Ein_Esel_Lese_Nie