Bike Recommendation!

[KnottedYet]

I had a white Nishiki in the 70's. I loved that bike with a burning passion. It was the first "real" bike I had and I rode it like a madwoman all the time and everywhere. It disappeared, and I replaced it with a Peugot.

Spending that much to upgrade the Etape, yeah, I'm leaning with Kathi on this one toward buying a higher end bike instead. You're looking at paying half again the price ($629 is what I found) for the Etape at your LBS. Putting that money toward a Tourmalet would buy you a lot of other improvements in a "bundle".

[xeney]

I don't think Nishikis have been made since the 90s so that was probably an older version of 105 than you'd see in stores now. (Nishiki was under the same umbrella as Raleigh for a while, but I don't think those had any real connection to the original Nishikis, and they disappeared altogether about five or six years ago. My favorite bike is my converted '84 Nishiki, but I never tried to shift it!)

[DebW]

Lots of good thoughts and ideas so far. When the shop switches components on a brand new bike, you pay the difference in the old and new parts, not the full cost of the new parts. If you ride the bike and decide to swap later, you forfeit most of the value of the old parts. Upgrading when you buy the bike is usually cheaper than upgrading later.

In addition to all the things mentioned so far that affect front derailleur shifting, the gaps between chainrings are also important. That is, the bigger the gaps, the more difficult that shift will be, and thus the more value in a well-designed crankset and front derailleur. A 46-52 double would shift pretty well with even a cheap derailleur and crankset, but a 36-52 or any triple won't. So in effect it is the trend towards triples and compact double on low-end bikes that is causing alot of poor shifting.

[quint41]

Well, I went out and test road the Lemonds yesterday.

Oh my gosh, can I fall in love with a bike? Rode the Etape first, and found it VERY comfortable, smooth, agile, quick. Could not shift that TruVativ crankset up to the big ring, though. Then I took out the Tourmelat. That is a beautiful bike! And, yes, it shifted like a charm with the 105 crankset.

I have no doubt the Tourmalet is the superior bike. But the Etape was wonderful. I have to say, both bikes were the best I've ridden so far, and I've ridden a lot of bikes. With the Tourmalet retailing for $1,300 in this area, that is out of my price range. Maybe someday when I don't have to face my kids' college bills anymore, but for now it will be the Etape with some upgrades. After riding my 10 year old, 34 lb. mountain bike up hills, I will be the happiest woman in Connecticut with the Etape!

Thanks to everyone!

[pooks]

Congrats! Must feel great, eh?

I was looking them up -- very cool bike!

So, anybody got any idea why the one picture on the LBS page:

http://bikemart.com/itemdetails.cfm?...gId=39&id=1048

Is different from the one on the Lemond page?

http://2006.lemondbikes.com/2006_bikes/etape.shtml

Or does available in black/white mean black or white, and the LBS shows the white version?

Oh, sorry -- the LBS site is confusing. It does come in other colors.

[quint41]

To my knowledge, Lemond does not do alternate colors. Last year's Etape (men's version only) was black and blue. This year's men's Etape is silver and yellow, and the women's Etape is silver and blue.