Can anyone kindly help to make my mind up for me. I'm stuck between buying the Specialized Allez @£499 or the Guess RB1 at the same price. Both are Black which I like and both have carbon forks. The Allez is available in a triple but the Guess was voted road bike of the year. The Guess would have to be mail order but the Allez LBS. Any advice would be much appreciated. Does anyone know which would be the lighter?. I've checked the spec but weight isn't mentioned.
Only advice I would have is that if you are looking to get interested in cycling the best thing you can get is a good relationship with a decent local shop. I'd personally not buy a bike mail order that I had never sat on. I'd suspect the similarities between the bikes are far greater than the differences and buying it locally means service thereafter. They might just chuck in a few free bits and pieces too!
As you know, I've already suggested you go for the Allez while complicating it for you by mentioning the Guess! I doubt the Guess would be lighter than the Specialized, last year's Allez was 21.1lb without pedals according to the Cycling Plus test. Ask Guess on 01159 411 133 to check for you. The Guess wheelset seemed a bit rough rolling when I spun the wheels at the Cycleshow, so I'd be more confident in the Allez wheelset. You won't get better wheels, kit, or bikes anyway, this is as good as it gets for the money (which is actually amazingly good).
Given your choice between LBS and mail order, surely the ability to make sure you get the best fit (maybe swapping over some contact point parts), actually like riding it, and service from a LBS makes the decision for you?
I bought a Guess RB1 from SuperCycles in Nottingham. I drove the 2 hour drive to get there, because I thought it would be the best bike for the price.
The RB1 WAS the best bike for the price (£499) last year, that was when Specialized Allez was £599 and didn't sport carbon forks, however, 2004 Allez is £100 cheaper, now £499 and sports carbon forks.
The result is that the Allez matches the RB1 for frame and fork. Where the difference comes in is that the RB1 has the sh*ttiest lowest spec unbranded cassette and cheapo shimano chain you can get away with. I know I bought one.
The RB1 with that chain and cassette sucks for smooth gear changes. SuperCycles didn't set it up properly, but apart from that, the chain/cassette combination isn't fitting to the rest of the bikes abilities.
I swapped out the cassette and chain at my cost (£60) for proper shimano hyper-glide cassette and a better matched chain. This coupled with the cost of travel (£20 petrol) and the 4 hour journey, means I was £80 worse off than if I had bought a Allez, not to mention the 12% discount I would have been given in my local specialised bike shop for buying a new bike, so... I was a fool.
All that said, the RB1 rides extremely well. It's a rigid ali frame and drives every force from the legs to the wheels. I can't knock it. It's a lovely ride.
I haven't ridden the Allez but I know I am happy with my RB1, despite overspending on it. - I also replaced the (frankly rubbish) tyres it came with for Continental Grand Prix 3000 (£26 each), but that wasn't a fault of the RB1 or SuperCycles, that's just my preference.
In summary, if you budget is £500 on the nail, buy the Allez, if not and you can afford a few upgrades, buy the RB1.
Thanks a lot Mel, assume you went for the hype surrounding the 2003 roadbike of the year. You've put me off a bit, cause I too would have to travel to Nottingham. My LBS is a specialised dealer. RB1 weighs in at 20.2Llbs, Allez at 22.9lbs. Anyone comment on this?
Combat there are some good offers on 2003 Giants I know,I've got my heart set on the sleek black look (not sure of the model No) which attracts me to the Allez or RB1 which are both £500.Do you think 2lb is a lot of difference?
Arthur, I thought you'd made your mind up a month ago and were already cruising around on the Allez.
I wasn't very convinced by the RB1 I had a look at myself, and reading Melville's post only confirms my impression.
I wouldn't pay too much attention to the weights quoted if I were you, bike weights are notoriously unreliable, pedals included or not, frame size weighed, etc. At the heart of it the frames and forks will be similar, would have imagined the Spesh to be lighter given the higher quality. If you get into road biking properly then there'll be a lot of scope for weight saving upgrades later, afterall these are budget bikes. A good set of handbuilt wheels come the spring, a lighter chainset, and your choice of contact points will start shedding the poundage.
Incidentally a C50 was Rob's joke, it's Colnago's brand new top of the line carbon frame, probably about £2000 frame only guessing against the old C40.
Not only when lifting the bike up four flights of stairs, but when you are climbing up a hill on it, throwing it around from side to side or sprinting for the line against a competitor.
So the lighter the bike, the more advantage you will have, but there is a trade-off, more than one, firstly the cost, secondly the differing ride because of composition of metals (or other) used to obtain lighness, means different feedback is given to the rider.
I would take note of the way a bike is weighed, particularilly with what components, and if, as it is claimed, the RB1 is lighter than the Allez (2004) by 2lbs, that is quite a margin, because the Allez will have lighter components as standard, where as the RB1 will be a lighter frame and fork.
On that note, you can ALWAYS upgrade components, most people do, and in my case, I immediately did (in respect of the cassette and chain). I would be looking to replace the rims and hubs and crank, all of which are unbranded (guess stickers on them) and no doubt heavier than what Specialized will be able to put on their Allez.
You not likely to replace a frame or fork, as you might as well replace the bike, full stop. SO my argument to myself, when buying the RB1 was that if the frame and fork are better than the Allez, then that clinches it for me; as I will upgrade components over time.
2lbs is more likely to be 2-3lbs if you take into consideration the inferrior components (read: heavier, not just poorer quality) found on the RB1, so I would argue, as I have in my first posting, that if you budget is set at £500 and that's it, for the foreseeable future, then go for the Allez (and become one of thousands), however, if you want to spend £500 now and may be £100 later, or can afford £50 on replacing the chain/cassette and may be the crank later, go for the RB1, it is no doubt a better frame and better ride.
Thanks Guys, I've been daudling with my decision because the great thing about this forum is the knowledge and input provided by you fella's (notwithstanding the C50, I might be worthy one day). I think riders need to live up to their bikes and "budget" is me at the moment I think.It's also hard to part with old bikes, or make room in the house. Thanks for your help.
I've never understood why the Guess RB1 has been considered either a good bike or good value. According to the Cycling Plus test the frame is heavy, the wheels are poor quality and not very light for the price and it only has seven gears (making upgrading expensive cos you need new STI units as well as everything else).
C+ has tested lots of other bikes in the same price range that seem (on paper) just as good, if not better, but they keep recommending the Guess.
Could it be anything to do with the large adverts which appear in their sister magazine MBUK?
I would imagine the integrity of the journalists (I know a fair few) involved in the C+ review is such that they wouldn't feel complelled to recommend something because the magazine's ad-sales department was meeting their targets.
Whatever the motives for publicing that the Guess was best, the fact remains, that I have one and I like the ride.
It's a UK company and that's a plus point. There was a time when most road bike frames were made in the UK, but not so anymore, so anything that keeps as much manufacturing, design and engineering as possible in the UK is good in my book.
The proof is in the riding, not on paper alone, so just for the heck of it, I'm going to try and trial ride a Specialized Allez 2004 to see the difference and report back here.
That may be the same weekend I test ride the Specialized Stumpjumper Expert 2004 (in yellow unfortunately), for which I will also report back here.
Guys, it's highly unlikely that there's more than 0.5lb difference between the frames and forks with the combined weight likely to be about 4lbs given the aluminium steerers. I suspect the Guess is heavier though because of the aero style fork, but at the end of the day they're both fairly standard Taiwanese frames, it's just the Allez is slightly more bespoke to Specialized's demands and purchasing power.
At this price point almost every component specced could be carrying significantly more weight than a competitor's offering, but this doesn't necessarily mean it's worse, it might be more durable. Even stepping up to the next models won't necessarily lighten things up much. Making a bike lighter is about attention to detail, but performance is the more important guide. To that end you will probably upgrade your components on a performance basis initially based on achieving a better fit while lightening at the same time. Then other components will wear out or not seem worthy of the bike, and you'll upgrade those, and etc.
Therefore you can see that in the end the only thing you'll probably have left is the frame and forks, so choose the best frame you can. Once you've upgraded all the components you probably won't want to buy a complete new bike because it won't have your preferred parts selection on it, but this just means that you now have a complete bike budget to spend just on a top frame and fork. This is what is likely to happen if you get into it, and is why Rob said hang the expense and just go straight for something like a Colnago C50 to save all the fretting. Overall it would be cheaper!
