Opinions on REI brand bikes (Novara)?

greggery peccary wrote:

if you are an
rei member & can wait there is a 20% off any 1 reg priced item sale later
this spring. it's a good time to buy something big.

It's going on now.

"SMS" wrote in message
...
greggery peccary wrote:

if you are an
rei member & can wait there is a 20% off any 1 reg priced item sale later
this spring. it's a good time to buy something big.

It's going on now.
oh crap!

just curious, I'm more than a beginning rider but not advanced yet. I
have an aluminum frame and love it, although I'm not sure what I'd be
looking for not to love it. However I've heard people knock aluminum
before and I'm just curious what's all the beef about?

wrote:
just curious, I'm more than a beginning rider but not advanced yet. I
have an aluminum frame and love it, although I'm not sure what I'd be
looking for not to love it. However I've heard people knock aluminum
before and I'm just curious what's all the beef about?

Prejudice. Myth. Snobbery.

Bill "4 bikes and 3 are AL" S.

41 wrote:
Claire Petersky wrote:

put more shock up through the butt than many peo ple would like

Since you are American, I believe the correct and patriotic expression
is "shock and awe".

Please, do your part to support the President in this time of war.

Or, be like you and look for any far-fetched excuse to bash him.

NF

Nuckin' Futz wrote:
41 wrote:
Claire Petersky wrote:

put more shock up through the butt than many peo ple would like

Since you are American, I believe the correct and patriotic expression
is "shock and awe".

Please, do your part to support the President in this time of war.

Or, be like you and look for any far-fetched excuse to bash him.

He don't need no help these days, but I am glad to offer..

"Zix" wrote:
Here is in the USA we have a co-op outdoor store chain
called Recreational Equipment Inc (REI) which has its own
brand of bikes called Novara.
I was looking at their Strada racing bike which has an
aluminum frame and Shimano 105 components in 5 places,
-snip-
Can anybody offer any experiences / insights / advice
on whether this might be a good bike to get? It's on sale
locally is why I ask.
Personally I am not sure that an Alu frame is for me,
-snip-

Ryan Cousineau wrote:
Behold the Approved Standard rbt answer:
-the most important factor in enjoying a new bicycle is ensuring the
fit is correct, and this is likely to mean dealing with a shop that
can fit you properly and is willing to make the appropriate
stem/bar/saddle changes to get things right.
-the feel of "stiffness" is best tuned by adjusting your bike's tire
pressure in 5 psi increments. There are only a few exceptions, most
notoriously the infamously whippy Vitus 979 frames. The second most
important factor in the ride of a bike is probably frame geometry,
followed by the type of bar tape you use.

jim beam wrote:
that's parody, right? tire pressure has absolutely ZERO effect on a
frame's mechanical properties or a wheel's mechanical properties, both
of which are significant factors in ride quality. it may be ok to joke
about this stuff once in a while, but it's dangerous here on r.b.t.
because repetition means people start to believe the most outrageous
b.s. as "fact".

Hmmm.
"wheel's mechanical properties" ??

I bet you or I could feel the difference between a 130psi
23mm tire and a 90psi 28mm tire.

I bet you or I couldn't feel any differences among any
wheels as long as the spokes are tight enough to not fall out.


--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

A Muzi wrote:
"Zix" wrote:

Here is in the USA we have a co-op outdoor store chain
called Recreational Equipment Inc (REI) which has its own
brand of bikes called Novara.
I was looking at their Strada racing bike which has an
aluminum frame and Shimano 105 components in 5 places,

-snip-

Can anybody offer any experiences / insights / advice
on whether this might be a good bike to get? It's on sale
locally is why I ask.
Personally I am not sure that an Alu frame is for me,

-snip-

Ryan Cousineau wrote:

Behold the Approved Standard rbt answer:
-the most important factor in enjoying a new bicycle is ensuring the
fit is correct, and this is likely to mean dealing with a shop that
can fit you properly and is willing to make the appropriate
stem/bar/saddle changes to get things right.
-the feel of "stiffness" is best tuned by adjusting your bike's tire
pressure in 5 psi increments. There are only a few exceptions, most
notoriously the infamously whippy Vitus 979 frames. The second most
important factor in the ride of a bike is probably frame geometry,
followed by the type of bar tape you use.


jim beam wrote:

that's parody, right? tire pressure has absolutely ZERO effect on a
frame's mechanical properties or a wheel's mechanical properties, both
of which are significant factors in ride quality. it may be ok to
joke about this stuff once in a while, but it's dangerous here on
r.b.t. because repetition means people start to believe the most
outrageous b.s. as "fact".


Hmmm.
"wheel's mechanical properties" ??

I bet you or I could feel the difference between a 130psi 23mm tire and
a 90psi 28mm tire.

of course! that's not what i'm saying andrew. please read it again.


I bet you or I couldn't feel any differences among any wheels as long as
the spokes are tight enough to not fall out.

rubbish. did you ever bother to look at damon rinard's wheel testing
page? he's /measured/ it all andrew, but you're retort is purely
subjective. that just doesn't wash.

jim beam wrote:
A Muzi wrote:

jim beam wrote:

that's parody, right? tire pressure has absolutely ZERO effect on a
frame's mechanical properties or a wheel's mechanical properties, both
of which are significant factors in ride quality. it may be ok to
joke about this stuff once in a while, but it's dangerous here on
r.b.t. because repetition means people start to believe the most
outrageous b.s. as "fact".

Hmmm.
"wheel's mechanical properties" ??

I bet you or I could feel the difference between a 130psi 23mm tire and
a 90psi 28mm tire.

of course! that's not what i'm saying andrew. please read it again.

I bet you or I couldn't feel any differences among any wheels as long as
the spokes are tight enough to not fall out.

rubbish. did you ever bother to look at damon rinard's wheel testing
page? he's /measured/ it all andrew, but you're retort is purely
subjective. that just doesn't wash.

You could measure the difference in stiffness between
a metal bed frame and a wood bed frame. But could you
measure the difference in comfort between the two
frames once they've got a mattress and boxspring on?

The mattress doesn't affect the mechanical properties
of the bedframe. But the differences between mattresses
damp out the _perceptible_ differences between bedframes,
even though the bedframes test different in a testing jig.

"Sorni" wrote in message
...
wrote:
just curious, I'm more than a beginning rider but not advanced yet. I
have an aluminum frame and love it, although I'm not sure what I'd be
looking for not to love it. However I've heard people knock aluminum
before and I'm just curious what's all the beef about?

Prejudice. Myth. Snobbery.

Maybe.

I once test-rode (i.e., 10-mile hilly loops) a Fuji Roubaix and a Roubaix
Pro in quick succession. This was when (2003?) the only significant
difference between the two was that one had a steel frame and a double and
the other had an aluminum frame and a triple. Same wheels, tires, forks (cf
with steel steerers), saddles, pedals (mine), bars, stems, etc.

The frames had the same geometry, although obviously their mass and the
size/shape of the tubes were different. And these were not high-end bikes,
so the sort of refinement of some more thoroughbred frames was no doubt
absent.

Still, the difference was pronounced. The aluminum bike chattered over road
irregularities that the steel bike soaked up. The aluminum bike kicked me in
the butt. The aluminum bike felt more solid when climbing out of the saddle.
The aluminum bike also *sounded* different, but some of that might have been
the extra links due to the triple.

This is, of course, subjective, anecdotal, and based on a single set of
samples. Not conclusive in any way. A different rider might have had a
different experience and a different reaction.

But my experience was that the differences between steel and aluminum in two
otherwise similar bikes are real, and meaningful, and contribute to the
character of a bike in ways that matter. That doesn't make one better than
the other, but I think it is something that helps make a particular bike
what it is.

Personally, I look for long-distance comfort, even in my "training" bike. I
don't race, even against myself. So when choosing road bikes, I've ended up
with steel (a Novara touring bike and my Roubaix Pro) or ti (an Airborne
'cross frame) every time.

I did once buy an aluminum hybrid, though. I agree with the general
principal that the fatter the tires, the less the frame material matters
from a comfort perspective.

RichC