Nashbar Al-1 Road Bike?

[momtohanna]

This may be a crazy question but I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with the Nashbar AL-1 road bike.

It looks like it has decent components on it ~ pretty well in line with the the Giant Avail I'm looking at ~ just wondering what you all think.

And ~ can you tell me what the little levers at the top of the drop bars do?

http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_172815_-1_201511_10000_201512

[Cataboo]

Those are brakes so if you're riding on the top of the handlebars, you can use them to brake...

do you know the geometry of the avail and what fits you there? if you look at that, and then get the geometry of the nashbar road bike, you can probably compare to see if they are similar enough that you would even fit the nashbar bike...

Nashbar has a return policy & you could send the bike back if it didn't fit, but shipping bikes is expensive, so you need to be fairly certain it fits. Nashbar also usually runs coupons, so theoretically you could get that bike for cheaper than that. retailmenot.com is usually a good place to look for coupons...

Nashbar owns performance bicycle or vise versa, so you could possibly check out the bikes at performance to see what they have on a level you want, and if they have a local shop around you, you can actually test ride it.

nashbar won't put the bike together for you, if you get it in the mail, so either you or someone you know will have to be handy with bikes or you'll have to take it to the local bike shop... which may get in the way of any savings that you get from the bike. I don't know what the price differential is.... the bike makes sense if you know what fits you and if you have someone that can do the wrench work for you...

[Yelsel]

It would be easier if you kept everything in one thread...

It sounds like you are interested in long-distance riding, if you want to do centuries. Most companies produce "endurance" bikes that have a slightly longer wheelbase (distance between the wheels) for more stability - you don't want/need a very responsive "twitchy" bike if you are not racing - and a slightly higher saddle-handlebar drop, with about a 3" drop from the saddle, rather than up to 7" for a racing aero position.

The Nashbar bike has a very short wheelbase, especially for the smaller sizes. If you take something larger than a 48 cm bike (about 980 mm), I would expect a comfortable wheelbase to be about 990-1000 mm.

In general, the Nashbar bike has large changes in geometry in different sizes - you can see how the relative proportion of the top tube is shorter as the seat tube / bike size gets larger. The largest bike actually has a *shorter* top tube than seat tube(!)... and the smallest bike has a much longer top tube than someone that size would normally take. Also, they do not give the standover height, so you would need to calculate that yourself... trigonometry redux.

The intro price for most endurance bikes is still under $1000 for most manufacturers; prices did not change for about a decade while bikes got better, prices went up slightly for 2009, and the prediction is a larger increase in 2010. Bikes might seem expensive, but considering the lack of inflation and the better engineering, they really are quite a bargain.

[Yelsel]

And I would take a look at REI - they have a sale on most of their road bikes now. The women's Camera Pro is on sale for about $950 - the equivalent men's bike is the Strada. It is a sweet setup, with carbon seatstays and a carbon fork, and Shimano 105 components (Shimano goes Sora, Tiagra, 105, Ultegra, Dura-Ace -- Ultegra is the highest you usually find on stock bikes.) You are not going to find such a great deal with drop bars anywhere else, even at the retail price (At $950, you will get aluminum with Sora components). Plus shipping to an REI store is free, and they set it up and also provide the first tune-up for free. If the size you need is not online, also check at your local REI, there might be some available locally in another size.

There are other options in the $600-700 range that are decent, as well - many have Tiagra shifters and rear derailleurs. REI bikes are either made by REI, or by manufacturers for sale at REI. This direct-sale makes the same quality bikes a bit cheaper.

[momtohanna]

That sounds cool, but I don't have an REI in my state :(

I'm still learning about geometry and trying to understand what different things mean and translate into me riding the bike. I wasn't sure if this was a bike even worth looking at ~ just trying to do some comparing and contrasting to learn more.

Thanks for the rundown on the component levels ~ that makes it a little easier to know what I'm dealing with. :)

[Cataboo]

That sounds cool, but I don't have an REI in my state :(

I'm still learning about geometry and trying to understand what different things mean and translate into me riding the bike. I wasn't sure if this was a bike even worth looking at ~ just trying to do some comparing and contrasting to learn more.

Thanks for the rundown on the component levels ~ that makes it a little easier to know what I'm dealing with. :)

Unfortunately - you're gonna have to test ride a lot or get fitted to really know what fits you geometry wise. I know someone on here has somewhere posted a website that if you enter in your measurements will spit out what bike will probably fit you....

[uforgot]

I would really be careful ordering from Nashbar (and Performance). Several of us have had our credit cards compromised by them. Fortunately my cc company spotted it and issued me a new card and froze my old account. I won't be using it again with them.

[VeloVT]

I would really be careful ordering from Nashbar (and Performance). Several of us have had our credit cards compromised by them. Fortunately my cc company spotted it and issued me a new card and froze my old account. I won't be using it again with them.

Do you know what annoyed me most by this incident? The fact that they sent me a nice apology letter and a coupon for 30% off my next purchase -- but the coupon code expired 30 days after the date of the letter. Since you discovered and reported the breach a good six months after it happened, couldn't you give me at least 90 days to use my consolation coupon?

I actually might have used it -- I will frequently buy consumable items in bunches at Nashbar (like tubes, they often have good deals on tubes so I'll stock up). I am not prepared to condemn them forever because of a security breach, since this kind of breach happens with increasing frequency, and I think it does happen to companies that take privacy and data security seriously. But I was out of town for most of August (the month in which I received the letter), so I was outta luck.