new bike purchase

[yetigooch]

Hi there,

I am in the process of buying my wife a new road bike. I'm interested in just buying the frame only and building it up myself. I have narrowed my choice to three bikes: Specialized S works Ruby, Orbea Diva, and BH Cristal. I'm having a problem on deciding which one of these bikes to choose. My wife is not a racer but someone who likes to climb hills and do long rides. Any suggestions?

Thanks for your input.

K

[papaver]

i have a couple of friends who have an orbea and they just love it. Specialized is great too.

[Miranda]

The BH Cristal I am not familiar with. There are owners of both Rubys and Orbeas on this website. Hopefully some will shake out for you. Do you know which geometry fits her the best between the three bikes? That is a good place to start.

My new Orbea is making her voyage to a shop to be built right now. Good for you on being able to wrench the bike yourself. I'm not quite there yet skill wise, so I was going to do a split sale build of a Diva. The Diva and Opal are the two that are available for frameset only as you already may know. I was going to have my local fitter build it for me, and finish my fit (no Orbea dealers near me). But, the color I wanted got sold out of inventory. And the price ticket by doing it this way was getting steep. So, I'm getting an Onix Dama TDF instead.

The Onix is more of a cush feel, vs a race feel. Still nice. Not as stiff or light as the Diva. Though both bikes could do either. I read nothing but good reviews about the Diva. She is light and to be a great climbing bike. I personally have not ridden the Orbea in a carbon. No one stocked my size at that price level. I test rode an aluminum Aqua Dama, based upon the geometry working for me from a local fit, and it felt right. I just know that the carbon will feel at least same, and hopefully even better. (btw, had to drive 5hours round trip to even find that Orbea to test ride.)

The smaller size Ruby I test rode felt either too cramped up, or just a hair big. The geometry was different. And the seat tube angle steeper. Read--not as good of geo for me versus the Orbea (all the models are the same in the ladies--the mens versions, the Orca has a slightly slacker seat tube angle in comparison to other mens models).

Orbea does offer a lifetime guarantee on their carbon frames. Plus a discounted crash replacement policy. Think it's like 20% less. That helps.

Even with my Onix, I wasn't really crazy about the specs of the stock wheels. So, that I have ordered a slightly lighter set to try to help offset the extra frame weight for the Diva. Btw, I'm not a racer either like your wife but lighter things are just less tiring, which equals more fun to ride.

Hope she loves her bike whatever you decide. Come back and see us to post some pics too! If you have not used the search function on here already, do so. There is a man that did just like you and built his SO a nice Diva... includes pics. Plenty of Ruby pics too. Good Luck!

[Bluetree]

Is height an issue? If not there are a lot of good climbers that are not WSD like the Ruby or Diva. I am very short so my options are very limited (no Mondrian LOOK for me!)

My climbing bike is an S-Works Ruby with a Record build. (I test rode a Diva as well.) I went with the Ruby because of it's weight (900g), the 700c wheels, plus the steeper ST means a shorter TT. I prefer to be slightly more upright on long climbs. The only thing I wasn't crazy about are the S-Works chainrings. They don't ramp as nicely as Campy or SRAM rings.

The Diva is a very nice ride but I didn't find it as snappy as the Ruby. It was a little heavy for my preference as well (my Ruby came in at 14-1/2lbs vs a Chorus-equipped Diva at 16 lbs). Plus, the smallest size for the Diva has 650c wheels. I did like the slacker ST for racing but small frames that fit the bill can be found by Pinarello and Colnago, if one prefers to go Euro. My Pinny is a 42.5 and no "WSD" label was necessary.

[Bluetree]

BTW, I bought my Ruby frameset to do my own build. After many experiments with saddles and bars, I still ended up with Ruby SL carbon bars and a Ruby pro saddle. I am a firm believer that Spec is the flagbearer in high-end women's products, not just using the "shrink it and pink it" mentality. Now if they would only make BIB shorts. Sigh..