The Contenders for my new ride

[TNT1]

 

Maybe I'd try get the shop to swop the Ultegra for centaur or chorus if they can.

 

How can you put Campag on a no name brand frame? It's pedigree parts' date=' so it must go on a pedigree bike. Not on a "half naaikie".

 

 

[/quote']

 

 

Looks like that Raliegh carbon is made in a similar factory to a TCRAdvanced, A Scott Team, a Merida whatever it is. Pro-Tour teams ride those bikes... Also, Seen an article in a Cyclesport about Merckx. His full carbon frames are made from an off the peg tubeset in Italy, by a factory that p[roduces them for several other brands. So for me, the Raliegh is a quality frame. Especially at that price.

 

 

[AndreZA]

So for me' date=' the Raliegh is a quality frame.
[/quote']

 

If it only had a different name, it will look better. Maybe you can buy Kuota stickers.

[GoLefty!!]

The Orbea is the nicest bike of the lot you posted.

 

Still made in Spain but if you order it could be like Manjana manjana..

 

If you're going to spend Ti kind of money then I woul not settle for 2nd best. Go with the people who made the Ti bike industry what it is today.

Go Litespeed.

for reallybling bling then get and Independant Fabrications (wubbleyou wubbleyou wubbleyou dot eye eff bikes dot com)

 

titus is lovely of course and I'd rate them as on the same league as Merlin but Litespeed is the technology and fabrications leader in  Ti.

 

For Carbon, well carbon is carbon these days. All the bs about high pressures blah blah blah is just marketing.

 

Thermosetting moulding is pretty std process these days and any reputable manufacturer will create a frame 99.99% void free. It all boils down to fibre orientation and the cost of the glue.

 

For a proper Steel bike look into duel.nl or Scapin.it

Of course Pegoretti is the dogs dangly bits when it comes to retro Italian art...

[IvenS]

I see that Raleigh updated the site' date=' the recommended price for the RC 7000C is R 19 999.95 [/quote']

That's a good deal. I'd take it. Maybe I'd try get the shop to swop the Ultegra for centaur or chorus if they can. But even with Ultegra, that's a good deal. Great value.

ugggh terrible value, paying an extra 3 or 5 grand for the team issue is a good deal - which doesn't even cover the upgrade from ultegra to dura ace, never mind the zipp wheels.

 

In essence you are buying last years alu/carbon frame raleigh 7000 (available at 10-11k) and then paying an extra 10 grand to swop out the frame for carbon- insane,

 

Gumpole - the team issue is basically unavailable unless you got an allocation in the initial order. Secondly the carbon frame is completely different to the alu frame in terms of geometry - I bought my wife the RC6000 Carbon yesterday and compared it to the RC6000 that she has. They are worlds apart. Now, I'm not a particular Raleigh fan but I got to say that the carbon bikes are really nice - the geometry is really aggressive.

[Gumpole]

Gumpole - the team issue is basically unavailable unless you got an allocation in the initial order. Secondly the carbon frame is completely different to the alu frame in terms of geometry - I bought my wife the RC6000 Carbon yesterday and compared it to the RC6000 that she has. They are worlds apart. Now, I'm not a particular Raleigh fan but I got to say that the carbon bikes are really nice - the geometry is really aggressive.

 

I thought that the new geometry was meant to be more 'relaxed' (raleigh 20 page ad in bicycling) anyway I'm not criticizing the geometry or the carbon, simply saying that the bike is overpriced. I think that you would have to get a decent wheelset firstly - which would maybe cost you 3 to 6 grand so you end up with a nice bike that costs the same as the RC team.

 

Assuming the frame is good and I was in the market for a R20k bike I would definitely buy the RC team, even if it means a 3 or 6 month wait OR go for a carbon Fuji, Merida, GT, Silverback which will cost less with the same spec.

[MintSauce]

The Orbea is the nicest bike of the lot you posted.

 

Still made in Spain but if you order it could be like Manjana manjana..

 

If you're going to spend Ti kind of money then I woul not settle for 2nd best. Go with the people who made the Ti bike industry what it is today.

Go Litespeed.

for reallybling bling then get and Independant Fabrications (wubbleyou wubbleyou wubbleyou dot eye eff bikes dot com)

 

titus is lovely of course and I'd rate them as on the same league as Merlin but Litespeed is the technology and fabrications leader in  Ti.

 

For Carbon' date=' well carbon is carbon these days. All the bs about high pressures blah blah blah is just marketing.

 

Thermosetting moulding is pretty std process these days and any reputable manufacturer will create a frame 99.99% void free. It all boils down to fibre orientation and the cost of the glue.

 

For a proper Steel bike look into duel.nl or Scapin.it

Of course Pegoretti is the dogs dangly bits when it comes to retro Italian art...

[/quote']

 

Mmmm....spoke to a mechanic once who said it took him 2-3hrs of prep(facing of bb and headset shells etc) to get a Litespeed ready for build! Hope they pay better attention to their r&d than they do their finishing!

 

As for ti, as far as I've heard IF actually has the most advanced tubing. After they receive their tubing from suppliers, they send it to another engineering firm to have each and every tube custom butted. The general opinion(this is just what i've read) is that they produce THE FINEST ti and steel frames in the world.

 

Why do you think Litespeed are the leaders? Anything specific?

 

Not looking to stir....just wondering?

[Canaris]

http://www.konaworld.com/Prod/000000380/2K6-FO_KINGZING_med.jpg

[GoLefty!!]

The Orbea is the nicest bike of the lot you posted.

 

Still made in Spain but if you order it could be like Manjana manjana..

 

If you're going to spend Ti kind of money then I woul not settle for 2nd best. Go with the people who made the Ti bike industry what it is today.

Go Litespeed.

for reallybling bling then get and Independant Fabrications (wubbleyou wubbleyou wubbleyou dot eye eff bikes dot com)

 

titus is lovely of course and I'd rate them as on the same league as Merlin but Litespeed is the technology and fabrications leader in  Ti.

 

For Carbon' date=' well carbon is carbon these days. All the bs about high pressures blah blah blah is just marketing.

 

Thermosetting moulding is pretty std process these days and any reputable manufacturer will create a frame 99.99% void free. It all boils down to fibre orientation and the cost of the glue.

 

For a proper Steel bike look into duel.nl or Scapin.it

Of course Pegoretti is the dogs dangly bits when it comes to retro Italian art...

[/quote']

 

Mmmm....spoke to a mechanic once who said it took him 2-3hrs of prep(facing of bb and headset shells etc) to get a Litespeed ready for build! Hope they pay better attention to their r&d than they do their finishing!

 

As for ti, as far as I've heard IF actually has the most advanced tubing. After they receive their tubing from suppliers, they send it to another engineering firm to have each and every tube custom butted. The general opinion(this is just what i've read) is that they produce THE FINEST ti and steel frames in the world.

 

Why do you think Litespeed are the leaders? Anything specific?

 

Not looking to stir....just wondering?

 

Because they made the Ti Tubesets for Merlin, Bianchi, IF, and many others. You forget that Litespeed is a brand that sprang forth from the engineerin department at a foundry that makes titanium metal in all it's grades...

They are the leaders in Ti fabrication.

 

As for the "mechanic who pent hours facing a Litespeed frame" I cannot comment on.

All I can say is all the Litespeed frames that I've seen, new or old have been in perfect alignment and required no BB facing since this was done at the factory post production. Of course maybe the frame was 2nd hand and had been damage by the same mechanic after over tightening a Dura ace octalink BB...

[_Daemon_]

 

Now just add some zondas and centaur.Who wants to ride a Raleigh?!

 

Lovely!

 

[_Daemon_]

I will also look at some of the BMC bikes.