Claud Butler Roubaix?

My LBS has the bike in the subject line for £399. I must admit, I do like
it. However, the price seems to be the RRP, and like everyone, I like to
feel I am getting at least a little bit of a bargain, rather than paying the
full whack. Especially at this time of year, when there is much price
cutting of last year's models going on.

So do people think the Butler's worth the money (according to the salesman,
it is the 2004 model, but he didn't appear very convincing, just agreed with
me when I asked if it was)? I'm a beginner, and 14 stone, so frame weight
doesn't make that much of a difference. However, it would be nice to have
something that isn't of use *only* to beginners. I don't want to spend
significantly more than that amount of money though, perhaps a max of £550.
For which I could almost get a Saracen Aubisque (discounted), in the mag
ads, though not at my local shops. Would that (or similar) be a much better
bike?

Also, this Butler has a double chainset. Would I suffer without a triple to
get up hills, or would I quickly get used to it? I'm reasonably fit through
doing a lot of running, but not cycling kind of fit.

Be grateful for any advice. TIA!

Richard

IMO you would be better off spending the same money on a secondhand bike -
you would get much more for your money.

hth

Chris

On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 21:20:49 -0000, Rick wrote:

My LBS has the bike in the subject line for £399. I must admit, I do like
it. However, the price seems to be the RRP, and like everyone, I like to
feel I am getting at least a little bit of a bargain, rather than paying
the
full whack. Especially at this time of year, when there is much price
cutting of last year's models going on.

So do people think the Butler's worth the money (according to the
salesman,
it is the 2004 model, but he didn't appear very convincing, just agreed
with
me when I asked if it was)? I'm a beginner, and 14 stone, so frame weight
doesn't make that much of a difference. However, it would be nice to have
something that isn't of use *only* to beginners. I don't want to spend
significantly more than that amount of money though, perhaps a max of
£550.
For which I could almost get a Saracen Aubisque (discounted), in the mag
ads, though not at my local shops. Would that (or similar) be a much
better
bike?

Also, this Butler has a double chainset. Would I suffer without a triple
to
get up hills, or would I quickly get used to it? I'm reasonably fit
through
doing a lot of running, but not cycling kind of fit.

Be grateful for any advice. TIA!

Richard





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"turkeytickler" wrote in message
news
IMO you would be better off spending the same money on a secondhand bike -
you would get much more for your money.

hth

Chris

Thanks for the reply, Chris. Of course, I realise I could get a much better
bike second hand, but there are too many "ifs". *If* it has been well looked
after (I don't know much about bikes mechanically), *if* I find a suitable
one for sale with the right frame size, *if* there is one for sale in my
local area, etc etc. I mean, I see many a nice bike in the classifieds in
Cycling Weekly etc, but the ones I might be interested in tend to be in
Hampshire or Scotland, etc, and I am in Nottingham! Plus, if anything wrong
there is no guarantee or anything. That's what puts me off buying second
hand. And at least in a shop, you can see a lot of bikes at the same time,
whereas you have to spend a lot of time and money seeing private second hand
bikes all over the place, one at a time.

Thanks for the input, though.



On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 21:20:49 -0000, Rick wrote:

My LBS has the bike in the subject line for £399. I must admit, I do
like
it. However, the price seems to be the RRP, and like everyone, I like to
feel I am getting at least a little bit of a bargain, rather than paying
the
full whack. Especially at this time of year, when there is much price
cutting of last year's models going on.

So do people think the Butler's worth the money (according to the
salesman,
it is the 2004 model, but he didn't appear very convincing, just agreed
with
me when I asked if it was)? I'm a beginner, and 14 stone, so frame
weight
doesn't make that much of a difference. However, it would be nice to
have
something that isn't of use *only* to beginners. I don't want to spend
significantly more than that amount of money though, perhaps a max of
£550.
For which I could almost get a Saracen Aubisque (discounted), in the mag
ads, though not at my local shops. Would that (or similar) be a much
better
bike?

Also, this Butler has a double chainset. Would I suffer without a triple
to
get up hills, or would I quickly get used to it? I'm reasonably fit
through
doing a lot of running, but not cycling kind of fit.

Be grateful for any advice. TIA!

Richard





--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

Thanks for the reply, Chris. Of course, I realise I could get a much
better
bike second hand, but there are too many "ifs". *If* it has been well
looked
after (I don't know much about bikes mechanically), *if* I find a suitable
one for sale with the right frame size, *if* there is one for sale in my
local area, etc etc. I mean, I see many a nice bike in the classifieds in
Cycling Weekly etc, but the ones I might be interested in tend to be in
Hampshire or Scotland, etc, and I am in Nottingham! Plus, if anything
wrong
there is no guarantee or anything. That's what puts me off buying second
hand. And at least in a shop, you can see a lot of bikes at the same time,
whereas you have to spend a lot of time and money seeing private second
hand
bikes all over the place, one at a time.

Bought my bike second hand from the LBS. This meant it was cheaper and they
gave it the full service, replacing parts that were worn etc. Also got set
of lights and a lock thrown in so that knocked £40 of the selling price (I
had to ask of course). LBS seemed really happy with the sale so perhaps I
should have tried to knock the price down. Was slightly cheaper than
equivalents in ebay too (they seem to be about the most expensive place to
buy secondhand bikes). Only problem with buying second hand from LBS is
that road bikes disappear *fast*.

Yup I understand excatly what you mean about the ifs. A couple of things
that I would say in response;

1. Try your LBS (Local Bike Shop) for secondhand bikes. A decent shop
wont let you out of the door with something unsuitable or unsafe. Sorry I
dont know your area but if you ask around in this group for good shops in
the Notts area im sure there will be plenty of people ready to recommend
somewhere.

2. A Claud Butler of any spec these days is a pretty low end machine that
might well put you off cycling altogether. Im not being a snob here - the
bikes are basically marketed to be pretty and not much else. The spec of
the components used means that once you start to ride it hard or
extensively you might end up with more mechanical problems with a brand
new model than an older one with decent quality kit. I think they are
owned by Falcon now (at least they were 10 years ago when I bought one of
their mountain bikes) and they trade on the heritage and name rather than
the quality of the product.

Check out www.shimano-europe.com and www.campagnolo.com to get familiar
with the "groupsets" that bikes come fitted with - this along with the
frame specs (too varied to generalise) will be a good indicator of what
you are buying. Im not too familiar with campag gear but shimano wise,
anything in the 105/ultegra/dura ace bracket is good quality race or
distance worthy kit that you can rely on to work well and be lightweight.
The Tiagra and Sora groups are more aimed at the upper end of the leisure
market and will still be perfectly good albeit heavier and maybe not so
reliable (consisting of more plastic). My guess would be that £399 will
get you a nice 3-4 year old bike with 105 bits. £550 will get you an
ultegra equiped thoroughbred of a similar age. Be careful with aluminium
frames at that age due to metal fatigue - i would go for a Reynolds 531
model - indestructible!

Good luck in your search - and I would certainly echo the other
contributors advice - steer well clear of eBay - unless you are selling ;-)

Cheers

Chris

On Thu, 27 Nov 2003 21:08:53 -0000, Rick wrote:


"turkeytickler" wrote in message
news
IMO you would be better off spending the same money on a secondhand
bike -
you would get much more for your money.

hth

Chris

Thanks for the reply, Chris. Of course, I realise I could get a much
better
bike second hand, but there are too many "ifs". *If* it has been well
looked
after (I don't know much about bikes mechanically), *if* I find a
suitable
one for sale with the right frame size, *if* there is one for sale in my
local area, etc etc. I mean, I see many a nice bike in the classifieds in
Cycling Weekly etc, but the ones I might be interested in tend to be in
Hampshire or Scotland, etc, and I am in Nottingham! Plus, if anything
wrong
there is no guarantee or anything. That's what puts me off buying second
hand. And at least in a shop, you can see a lot of bikes at the same
time,
whereas you have to spend a lot of time and money seeing private second
hand
bikes all over the place, one at a time.

Thanks for the input, though.



On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 21:20:49 -0000, Rick wrote:

My LBS has the bike in the subject line for £399. I must admit, I do
like
it. However, the price seems to be the RRP, and like everyone, I like
to
feel I am getting at least a little bit of a bargain, rather than
paying
the
full whack. Especially at this time of year, when there is much price
cutting of last year's models going on.

So do people think the Butler's worth the money (according to the
salesman,
it is the 2004 model, but he didn't appear very convincing, just
agreed
with
me when I asked if it was)? I'm a beginner, and 14 stone, so frame
weight
doesn't make that much of a difference. However, it would be nice to
have
something that isn't of use *only* to beginners. I don't want to spend
significantly more than that amount of money though, perhaps a max of
£550.
For which I could almost get a Saracen Aubisque (discounted), in the
mag
ads, though not at my local shops. Would that (or similar) be a much
better
bike?

Also, this Butler has a double chainset. Would I suffer without a
triple
to
get up hills, or would I quickly get used to it? I'm reasonably fit
through
doing a lot of running, but not cycling kind of fit.

Be grateful for any advice. TIA!

Richard





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Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/





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Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/