[ebonho]

Originally Posted by drive_angry

Guys, how is Veloce as a brand?

Since Trek FX3 shipment is delayed, I tried Veloce-Dynamic and Veloce V100 and I was blown away by the sheer comfort and the top end components on the bike. Anyone has any experience on the same?

Heard good things about its parent company Meghna Corporation in Bangladesh.

High end and do a lot of imports too.

Heard they are also into carbon frames, which makes them better than any of our homegrown Indian brands.

Go for it.

Cheers, Doc

[drive_angry]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Heard good things about its parent company Meghna Corporation in Bangladesh.

High end and do a lot of imports too.

Heard they are also into carbon frames, which makes them better than any of our homegrown Indian brands.

Go for it.

Cheers, Doc

Thanks Doc, I knew I could count on your speedy reply and your knowledge. I have been quoted the following prices for the respective bikes.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by drive_angry

Thanks Doc, I knew I could count on your speedy reply and your knowledge. I have been quoted the following prices for the respective bikes.

You are most welcome buddy. Bangladesh is big for cycles. If I'm not mistaken even Fire Fox bikes were/are being built from there. They do a lot if exports of supermarket grade bikes to Europe. That's the mainstay of their industry.

Coming back to the cycles you like, I could not find anything on the Dynamic on their website. Please share details and photos of the bikes. All I can make our from the labels is that it's a 700c bike while the other is a 27.5.

Cheers, Doc

[drive_angry]

Originally Posted by ebonho

You are most welcome buddy. Bangladesh is big for cycles. If I'm not mistaken even Fire Fox bikes were/are being built from there. They do a lot if exports of supermarket grade bikes to Europe. That's the mainstay of their industry.

Coming back to the cycles you like, I could not find anything on the Dynamic on their website. Please share details and photos of the bikes. All I can make our from the labels is that it's a 700c bike while the other is a 27.5.

Cheers, Doc

In the eve of pure excitment, happiness and closing hours of the shop I forgot to click pics however, I am sending the youtube video of the bike. Hope this will help in understanding:

Dynamic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqDCvPm8wmg

V100

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tHPzkYGmkk

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by drive_angry

In the eve of pure excitment, happiness and closing hours of the shop I forgot to click pics however, I am sending the Youtube video of the bike. Hope this will help in understanding:

Totally expected! New cycle without excitement would be a very sad thing!!

I would go all things considered with the Dynamic and ask the shopkeeper to swap the ghastly pogostick seat post for a conventional good brand alloy rigid seatpost. And then enjoy the bike!

How much is the weight of the Dynamic versus the V300 (the closest equivalent in specs, components and price)?

The V series bikes are around 15 kilos. Not excellent but not bad either considering discs and front suspension. I'm hoping (expercting) the Dynamic to be a bit lighter due to the frame and components.

You will also loose some 100-150 or more grams with the seatpost swap.

Have the cycles physically weighed in front of you to check.

Most high end shops have a scale.

Cheers, Doc

[superguy282]

An update. So after searching quite a lot of bike shops around me and in the main city areas, I realised finding a better/stronger 29er disk brake type wheel at a reasonable price is a task in itself. Out of the 15 or so shops I enquired at either in person or via call most of them told me that I would have to make do with a rim brake type wheel built with a disk brake type hub. Moreover none of them could guarantee that it would make any sort of difference in strength. The only better wheel I found was at Cycleloggist, Shivajinagar who claimed to have an "LX" wheelset that would hold up well. A Google search revealed that he may be talking about the Spinergy LX wheels which have a good reputation for being reliable, but then he mentioned they were German, and Spinergy is American. Anyways, the price he quoted just for the rear wheel was about 1/3 the price for which I got my bike for. So after deliberation with HQ, I've decided to give my current wheels another chance and got the spokes replaced from Cykler. I've also gotten approval for new wheels if another spoke breaks.

On the flipside of things, I was simultaneously enquiring about thinner tyres and tubes with the various shops I got in touch with, and picked up 700cx38 tyres for a steal deal. I swapped the tyre and tube myself at home and went for a ride on them today, and boy oh boy! Does it make a difference. Even more so when my previous tyres were 29x2.1 inchers. I shaved off almost 20mm . The bike feels great now, looks a bit weird from certain angles with the huge front fork, but I can live with that.





Another thing to note, almost all the shops I visited told me that 700c tyres would not fit 29er rims, however both 29" and 700c are one and the same size of ETRTO 622. So if anyone wishes to do this swap, you can go ahead. Only thing to look out for is to not go too thin, specifically thinner than the rim and if you're upsizing to wider tyres, to check for frame clearances.

[drive_angry]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Totally expected! New cycle without excitement would be a very sad thing!!

I would go all things considered with the Dynamic and ask the shopkeeper to swap the ghastly pogostick seat post for a conventional good brand alloy rigid seatpost. And then enjoy the bike!

How much is the weight of the Dynamic versus the V300 (the closest equivalent in specs, components and price)?

The V series bikes are around 15 kilos. Not excellent but not bad either considering discs and front suspension. I'm hoping (expercting) the Dynamic to be a bit lighter due to the frame and components.

You will also loose some 100-150 or more grams with the seatpost swap.

Have the cycles physically weighed in front of you to check.

Most high end shops have a scale.

Cheers, Doc

Yes doc, dealer told me that the seat post can indeed be exchanged.

The V100 I had bought for the wife as she found that much more smooth as compared to Rockrider ST100. Dynamic I was looking for my 6’2” frame.

Doc, sorry to bother you but your views about this bike as well please? I found it very well accommodating and it’s clean triangular frame, no dangling wires and quick on its feet very tempting to buy such that I had asked dealer to hold this for me till Monday.

The Bike name is Jawa Veloce and dealer said it’s manufactured in Indonesia and exported to all over Europe.

Price is 50k

Link: https://www.choosemybicycle.com/en/bicycles/java-veloce

Website: https://www.javabikes.com/en/Bikes/743.html

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by drive_angry

Yes doc, dealer told me that the seat post can indeed be exchanged.

Doc, sorry to bother you but your views about this bike as well please? I found it very well accommodating and it’s clean triangular frame, no dangling wires and quick on its feet very tempting to buy such that I had asked dealer to hold this for me till Monday.

The further away from.tge 20k mark you go for a local brand, and Veloce is a local brand, make no mistake, the less exciting the value proposition becomes.

30k mark you were already flirting with the outer limit, which could probably only be explained away currently due to supply and availability issues.

But 50k, no way!

General rule is you can ride and get away with a local build on a MTB or a hybrid, especially when within a certain price band. But not so with a roadie.

I vote a definite no on this. And urge you explore availability in other brands as well.

Try Convolution cycles. A Pune based brand. Polygon. Marin. Giant. Even offerings from Montra and Firefox. Or The 25k level ST series MTB from Decathlon, since you don't mind front suspension. The ST520.

For a roadie the RC120 offers a lot.

Cheers, Doc

[AnniHilat0R]

Any bikepacking / cross-country experts here......need help deciding on my next bike.

Planning on doing some extensive bikepacking / some trail riding in North and North-East......would have loved to go for a Gravel bike but all the ones sort of available are heavily north of my budget (50k-60k). So deciding to go for a Cross-Country / Hardtail.

Option 1 is the Trek Marlin 6:
Trek Marlin 6 - Website Link

Which is a 2x8. Been using my brothers Scott which is a 2x9 so kinda used to drivetrain (Altus).

Option 2 is the Trek Marlin 7:
Trek Marlin 7 - Website Link

Its a 1x10 which I have never ridden and sadly due to the way things are out there, no chance of me able to get a test ride as well.

Could someone with cross-country/bikepacking expertise help me out as to which would be a better option to go for ? Will help me big time

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by AnniHilat0R

Any bikepacking / cross-country experts here......need help deciding on my next bike.

There is a bhpian "adc" who has done multiple bike packing trips. Of late I haven't seen him very active on the forum. You can try sending him a PM to ask questions related bikepacking.

Below are the links to a couple of logs he posted.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...mmit-trek.html

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...r-la-mahe.html

[gasinveins]

I'm looking to upgrade from my MTB to road bike and have shortlisted the following bikes. Please help me to decide on a good bike for my requirements.

I am specifically looking at bikes with Shimano 105 groupset and endurance geometry. I would be riding around 100kms every weekend for which I think 105 is the best match for performance and cost. I ride around 50-70kms on the alternate weekends currently.

The bikes with 105 groupsets that I have considered are,

1. Scott Speedster 10
2. Merida Schultra 400
3. Trek Domane Series with 105
4. Giant Contend 1
5. Cannondale Synapse 105
6. Polygon Strattos S5
7. Ridley Damogles 4.1 or Fenix A
8. Fuji Sportif 1.3 (Tiagra groupset)

Not a single bike is available in TN with 105 groupsets with stocks expected to arrive by the last week of April. Scott dealer is a couple of minutes away from my home but Scott weighs a bit more than Merida. My preference is inclined towards Scott speedster 10 provides value for money and is easier for me to service.

I'll be upgrading from Cosmic Entourer 29 which is quite a heavy bike.

[AnniHilat0R]

Originally Posted by shipnil

There is a bhpian "adc" who has done multiple bike packing trips. Of late I haven't seen him very active on the forum. You can try sending him a PM to ask questions related bikepacking.

Below are the links to a couple of logs he posted.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...mmit-trek.html

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...r-la-mahe.html

Thanks a ton for your reply shipnil
Just checked the links which you posted and he has done some amazing backpacking trips! Will definitely dm him and check. Thanks once again.

[Mi10]

Originally Posted by gasinveins

I'm looking to upgrade from my MTB to road bike and have shortlisted the following bikes. Please help me to decide on a good bike for my requirements.

I am specifically looking at bikes with Shimano 105 groupset and endurance geometry. I would be riding around 100kms every weekend for which I think 105 is the best match for performance and cost. I ride around 50-70kms on the alternate weekends currently.

The bikes with 105 groupsets that I have considered are,

1. Scott Speedster 10
2. Merida Schultra 400
3. Trek Domane Series with 105
4. Giant Contend 1
5. Cannondale Synapse 105
6. Polygon Strattos S5
7. Ridley Damogles 4.1 or Fenix A
8. Fuji Sportif 1.3 (Tiagra groupset)

Not a single bike is available in TN with 105 groupsets with stocks expected to arrive by the last week of April. Scott dealer is a couple of minutes away from my home but Scott weighs a bit more than Merida. My preference is inclined towards Scott speedster 10 provides value for money and is easier for me to service.

I'll be upgrading from Cosmic Entourer 29 which is quite a heavy bike.

Personally I prefer the Scultura - it’s more a all round bike even though it is billed as endurance model.
Scott speedster 10 is also very good option. Very comfortable over long distances.

[drive_angry]

Originally Posted by ebonho

The further away from.tge 20k mark you go for a local brand, and Veloce is a local brand, make no mistake, the less exciting the value proposition becomes.

30k mark you were already flirting with the outer limit, which could probably only be explained away currently due to supply and availability issues.

But 50k, no way!

General rule is you can ride and get away with a local build on a MTB or a hybrid, especially when within a certain price band. But not so with a roadie.

I vote a definite no on this. And urge you explore availability in other brands as well.

Try Convolution cycles. A Pune based brand. Polygon. Marin. Giant. Even offerings from Montra and Firefox. Or The 25k level ST series MTB from Decathlon, since you don't mind front suspension. The ST520.

For a roadie the RC120 offers a lot.

Cheers, Doc

Thanks Doc for your wisdom. So Java is now out of the list of consideration. On a side note, I got a good deal on a new Road Runner pro V (21-Inch, Shimano Tourney). So my question is, how does Triban-100(Flat Bar) matches up with Road Runner Pro-V?

[W.A.G.7]

Where in Pune, can I try out different saddles? I have recently started riding 50-60 kms on weekends and I find the stock saddle a bit uncomfortable towards the fag end of the ride. However, before I invest a good amount of money in getting a comfortable saddle, are there any dealers or showrooms in Pune where I can try one of those before getting it for myself?

To note here: My bicycle is the Frog Snow Leopard 29T. I have been riding on the stock saddle since day 1; I got rid of the Gel seat cover on the same day that I got the cycle.

I am very satisfied with the overall sitting posture on the cycle and haven't experienced any back pain or knee pain so far. So I am assuming now, that the slight butt(sit bones) pain that I experience towards the end of the long ride has got something to do with the saddle. I also use B-Twin padded cycling shorts from Decathlon on these rides.