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GCN's Guide To Buying Your First Road Bike - YouTube
Channel: Global Cycling Network
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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you've decided to buy
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your first road bike amazing you've
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taken your first step
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into a much larger world but buying your
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first bike
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can feel a little overwhelming and
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confusing because there's seemingly
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loads of different types
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made from different material with
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different components on them
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so in this video we're going to give you
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a handy guide and tell you exactly
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what you need to look out for and what
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the differences are
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[Music]
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i'm really passionate about cycling so
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anything that gets more people
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on bikes and share that passion the
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better and that's why we've teamed up
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with decathlon
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they have a really comprehensive range
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of bikes with loads of different
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features
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and they also offer great value for
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money meaning this is the ideal place
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for me to show you everything that you
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need to look for
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oh and and i also need to get a new kite
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surfing kite
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as well so i thought i'd kill two birds
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with one stone
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first thing you need to establish is how
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much money you'd like to spend
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but how much money should you spend well
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there is no right answer to that
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question when it comes to buying a road
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bike
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but what you can be aware of is that
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good quality entry-level road bikes
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typically start
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around 260 euros or 250 pounds
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such as this one here and then as you
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spend more
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money the frames typically get lighter
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and stiffer
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and the components on those frames they
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get lighter and more sophisticated too
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for around 600 euros or 500 pounds you
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can get yourself
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a lot of bike for your money typically
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something with an alloy frame some good
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entry-level components and perhaps even
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disc brakes
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and bikes with this kind of spec are
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incredibly capable
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you could definitely you know ride up
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mountains or
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alps perhaps even do a few races on a
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bike with this kind of spec
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and i know that because they're all
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things that i did
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on my first road bike
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but i would recommend that you don't
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spend all of your money on the bike
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alone
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as it's good to budget for all those
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important accessories such as shoes and
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pedals and clothing and all that stuff
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now a bit of detail the first thing that
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you need to consider when choosing your
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bike are the components that are fitted
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to it and the collective term for the
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brakes
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and the gears is the group set now there
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are different manufacturers of group set
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campagnolo sram microshift and perhaps
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most famous
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shimano but regardless of the brand
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group sets come
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in hierarchies or tiers as you move up
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the group set
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hierarchies they get more expensive and
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the components get
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lighter you typically get more gears
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more
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functionality they get made from more
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exotic materials
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and the shifting of the gears gets
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smoother as well
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now beginner bikes and entry-level road
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bikes typically come with group sets
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that are lower down the hierarchy an
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excellent example
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is this this is shimano sora which is
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shimano's second
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tier group set and it's commonly found
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on bikes around
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the 500 pound price point
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shimano sora might be lower down the
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group set hierarchy don't let that put
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you off
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for a beginner or entry level bike is
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absolutely perfect my first road bike
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had shimano saw on it and i rode it up
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mountains
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in majorca all over the place i even did
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some races on it but one of the things
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you should
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pay attention to is the gear ratios
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on the group set
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[Music]
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this bike has an 11 32 cassette on the
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back which is what i would recommend
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for your first road bike the reason
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being that this 32
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cog at the back of the cassette is
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really useful for hills
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it means that you can ride at a higher
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cadence spinning your legs more
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and it'll just make hills that bit
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easier this is in contrast to some bikes
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which come with
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a slightly harder cassette so an 11 28
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pay attention to that
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and also the chain set now there's
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different sizes
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of chain rings what i would recommend
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for your first road bike is a compact
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chain set
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that's a 50 34 like we have here
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and it's for the same reason i'd
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recommend the 32
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on the back it just makes hills that bit
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easier when you're a beginner
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put simply if you're a beginner to road
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cycling
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and you're wanting gears that are going
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to help you get up hills you want
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bigger ones on the back and smaller ones
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on the front
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as mentioned brakes also form part of
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the group set and broadly speaking there
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are two distinct types
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rim brakes well as you can see on this
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bike disc
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brakes now disc brakes cost a little bit
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more than rim brakes
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but if you live in a hilly area or
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you're gonna be riding in a hilly area
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i'd say they're worth the extra outlay
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this is because
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they offer substantially more powerful
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braking that's more
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consistent especially in the wet and
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just better control
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in general i do have to stress though
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that rim breaks
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are perfectly adequate they've been used
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to win the tour de france for the last
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100 years and they have the advantage of
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being slightly lighter
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than disc brakes too
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the material that the frame is made from
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has a massive
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impact on the overall ride quality of
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the bike
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and the most common materials are
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aluminium steel
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and carbon fiber from around 250
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to 1000 pounds euros or dollars
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most bikes you find will be made from
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aluminium alloys
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and this is great because aluminium is a
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really versatile material
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it's lightweight good strength to weight
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that's why it's used
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in aviation it's also very resistant to
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corrosion
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and it can be manufactured at a much
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lower cost
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than carbon fiber meaning that bikes can
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be made more
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affordable
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[Music]
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above a thousand euros dollars or pounds
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you start to see entry-level
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carbon fiber bikes such as this van
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reason edr 105 or
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solsang as they say in front which is
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where we are right now anyway carbon
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fibre
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is typically lighter and stiffer than
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aluminium and
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steel making for better ride quality
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carbon fiber is a great material for
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making bikes but if your budget doesn't
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stretch to full carbon fiber don't worry
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my first road bike was aluminium
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but a good feature to look for is an
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aluminium bike with a carbon fiber fork
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this reduces a bit of weight it makes
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the fork much stiffer and also reduces
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road vibration and buzz
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through the handlebars
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choosing a reputable brand is advisable
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there's that way you'll know the frame
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has been properly designed and tested
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and we'll also have
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a solid warranty
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other little details on the frame that
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are worth looking out for
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are tire clearance the more the better i
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would say as this gives you greater
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versatility you can put some wider tyres
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on if you want
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if you want to like stray off road and
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have a little adventure
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mounting points are useful as well as
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these allow you to attach things like
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mud guards
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pannier racks and a whole host of other
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accessories
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and a final detail on the frame is the
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bottom bracket this is the
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the bearings where the chain set is any
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bike
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that has outboard bearings in a threaded
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bottom bracket gets bonus marks
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in my book as these tend to require less
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maintenance
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and last longer
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[Music]
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i'm now going to tell you about wheels i
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mean they're kind of a
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key component on any bike now
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entry-level bikes tend to come
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with entry-level wheels this is because
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it's the most popular component that
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cyclists
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upgrade on their bikes further down the
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line when they get more into the sport
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and i'll typically swap them for
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something that's lighter stiffer
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and perhaps more aerodynamic but with
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these improved
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performance areas on the wheel comes
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increased cost
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and that's why to keep the price down on
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entry level bikes will come with a more
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basic wheel
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but when assessing the wheels that your
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bike comes with what i'd suggest you
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look for
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is a really high spoke count as this
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helps make the wheel stronger
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and more robust i'd also suggest you
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look at the rim width
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you ideally want rims that are going to
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suit wider tyres better so a slightly
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wider rim width
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such as 25 millimeter tyres or 28
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millimeter tyres
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wider tires can offer a bit more comfort
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a bit more grip
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and they also have slightly lower
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rolling resistance meaning that
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well you can go the same speed for
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slightly less effort
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i'm now going to give you some other
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quick fire information that you need to
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know when buying your first road bike
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road bike saddles are designed to be
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used with padded shores which means it's
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normal for them to feel uncomfortable
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without padded shorts also saddle
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comfort is very personal so it's normal
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for riders to often swap something out
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that better suits their preference most
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road bikes don't come with pedals
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although some low end bikes do come
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with flat pedals however if you're going
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to be doing longer rides or sport eaves
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we'd recommend you upgrade to some
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clipless pedals and shoes as these will
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allow you to push down and pull up with
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the pedal stroke
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making you a bit more efficient you can
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also get women's specific bikes these
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tend to have the same
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frame but have different contact points
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on them to account for the anatomical
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differences between the sexes
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so you'll get a specific women's saddle
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slightly shorter stem
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narrower bars and slightly shorter
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cranks but this isn't necessarily
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essential
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we suggest you go for whatever is most
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comfortable for you
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[Music]
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you may be interested in gravel or mixed
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surface bikes
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these are essentially road bikes with a
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few modifications to make them more
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versatile
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so you have increased tire clearance
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bigger volume tyres which are much more
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capable
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off-road easier gears you can see this
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massive sprocket
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on the cassette here and disc brakes and
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this means
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that you've essentially got a drop bar
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road bike that's going to be much faster
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on
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road than a mountain bike but also
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capable of going on
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gravel or bridleways something you
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wouldn't want to do
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on a standard road bike this versatility
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means they're ideal for mixed surfaces
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people that want to go on adventures
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perhaps do some bike packing or maybe
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you're just a commuter who doesn't want
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to just stick
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to roads also you can swap out the
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knobbly tyres for some skinny slick road
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ones and you've
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well essentially got a road bike i'm a
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big fan of this breed
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of bicycle and entry-level gravel bikes
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can be found for around 500 pounds or
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600 euros
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decathlon's brilliant managed to find my
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new kite but also
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a load of other stuff that i totally
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forgot that i needed
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anyway if you've enjoyed this video and
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found it informative
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then please give us a like and a follow
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and now you've decided
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on the bike that you want you're
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probably going to need to know how to
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determine the size you need
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fortunately we've got videos on that and
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a load of other really useful beginner
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content
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i'm going to go home now play with my
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toys
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[Music]
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