Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Gday everyone,

Want some info please on Reid Bikes, your thoughts and comments on them. Are they worth it? How are they maintenance wise and longevity of parts?.. Im looking at the mid range Reid bike (Osprey) at $490...

All info much appreaciated.

Cheers,
Greg. (Huski67)

its a cheap bike with a boat anchor frame with cheapest bottom of the roadbike barrel components, and you run the gamut of a fairly low quality control assembly process judging by the reports of poorly setup bikes. You can do better with their falco, but you'll still get the boat anchor frame.

If you have knowledgeable help to assess condition of a bike, 2yo secondhand bikes with much better spec levels, hardly used, can be had for that money.

zero wrote:
If you have knowledgeable help to assess condition of a bike, 2yo secondhand bikes with much better spec levels, hardly used, can be had for that money.

Sadly I don't... I'm hesitant to buy 2nd hand as you get no after sales help or warranty in most cases. Basically just after a budget priced Road bike.. The Reid Ospray is in my price range. Any reviews on that any1?..

You should wait a bit as their 2013 bikes are coming out

zero wrote:its a cheap bike with a boat anchor frame with cheapest bottom of the roadbike barrel components, and you run the gamut of a fairly low quality control assembly process judging by the reports of poorly setup bikes. You can do better with their falco, but you'll still get the boat anchor frame.

If you have knowledgeable help to assess condition of a bike, 2yo secondhand bikes with much better spec levels, hardly used, can be had for that money.

Have you ridden a Reid bike? I don't know why you call them bolt anchors, of course for $500 you can't expect a super light carbon frame but I would think that the bike frames would be good for the price. Unlike other people on this forum, not everyone can afford few thousand dollar carbon fibre road bikes with dura ace groupset and wheels.The Reid Aquila got a pretty good review from one of the mods here and the review is somewhere here on BNA.

Another thing, if you really look hard you can find "good brand" bikes with similar specs for only a little bit more, e.g. Avanti giro 1 is $599 in a lot of stores.

Philipthelam wrote: Have you ridden a Reid bike? I don't know why you call them bolt anchors, of course for $500 you can't expect a super light carbon frame but I would think that the bike frames would be good for the price.

Its a > 10kg road bike. I don't have to ride that to call it a boat anchor.
52/42 poverty model crankset overgears the bike badly for casual riders. I also don't need to ride it to know that, but that imo is a pretty bad specification mistake in the hunt to keep the bike below $500.

The base model giro is largely the sum of similar parts, but does at least come with new rider friendly gear ratios.

Philipthelam wrote:The Reid Aquila got a pretty good review from one of the mods here and the review is somewhere here on BNA.

Yes I managed to find that online. Looked like a reasonable bike review for $390 bike.. I do like the colour scheme on the Aquila compared to the Osprey. I thought I would go with the Osprey as it may be that little bit better. I'm still undecided.

zero wrote:its a cheap bike with a boat anchor frame

I assume that means the bike frame is heavier than normal road bikes?. At 10kgs that seems very light to me compared to my Steel framed MTB. Would weigh over 15kgs at a guess.

Im not a super fit cyclist and I doubt i will be doing any racing. I most likely would be the casual weekend rider. Who knows i may like it and ride it more. Until then i don't want to spend $1000's for a bike that i wont be using. I can in theory go out and buy a carbon framed bike today but will i still ride it after the novelty wears off?.. Hence something cheap and reliable is what I'm after.

Avanti Giro... Looking online at it now. Cheers..

I agree with Zero, the Reid Osprey components are low tier and whilst they will most certainly allow you to get around on the bike, longevity will likely be much shorter than better quality components.

The Osprey is a heavier bike compared to what you will be able to buy secondhand, but as a basic run-around that's no real issue so I wouldn't be overly concerned about it.

As for buying new to get after sales service and warranty, these are sometimes not all their made out to be - depending on the store, of course.
A second-hand bike can still be taken into an bike shop for servicing, repair or advice.

Or you could go into a few bike shops, tell them your budget and see what they can do for you. They may have 2012 (or even 2011) stock (new) that they can sell you at hugely discounted prices.

Dave

Philipthelam wrote:The Reid Aquila got a pretty good review from one of the mods here and the review is somewhere here on BNA.

That'd be me. I stand by what I said in that review. You aren't likely to win any races on a Reid but they won't spontaneously destruct if you hit a pebble either. They are a budget bike for a price sensitive buyer but in terms of construction, spec and after sales they leave KMart units rusting by the wayside.

I'm currently mid test of another Reid for review. Not going to preempt a report that is currently only a few pages of scribbled notes but methinks once the test period is over I'll be handing over some cash instead of the bike.

DoogleDave wrote:
Or you could go into a few bike shops, tell them your budget and see what they can do for you. They may have 2012 (or even 2011) stock (new) that they can sell you at hugely discounted prices.

Dave

Yes I noticed a few shops online have better deals for 2011 models. I'm in no rush at this stage. Like to research as much as I can b4 i decide to buy anything. Like with most people the way that a bike looks is more that get the sale rather than the specs.

The price of the Reids is the main factor why i was looking at them. Still undecided.. Maybe I need to ride one?

I'm thinking i need to ride a few bikes... Do Bike shops have bikes with flat pedals on test bikes as I have never used the clip in shoe style ones?..

Mulger bill wrote:

Philipthelam wrote:The Reid Aquila got a pretty good review from one of the mods here and the review is somewhere here on BNA.

That'd be me. I'm currently mid test of another Reid for review. Not going to preempt a report that is currently only a few pages of scribbled notes but methinks once the test period is over I'll be handing over some cash instead of the bike.

Great, I can't wait for your review.

I do understand the bike wont win any races or by no means win an enduro race like tour de "anywhere" lol. I'm just after a basic entry road bike to test the waters in. It maybe sink or swim, i just don't wish to spend heaps of $$$ to find out.

You're from Melbs?

Go and have a look around the shop. If James is there, have a yarn with him too. Reid have come a long way since starting out as a two man show out of James garage.

Huski67 wrote:
I assume that means the bike frame is heavier than normal road bikes?. At 10kgs that seems very light to me compared to my Steel framed MTB. Would weigh over 15kgs at a guess.

Yes its lighter than my MTB too. I'm just pointing out why its cheap.

Im not a super fit cyclist and I doubt i will be doing any racing. I most likely would be the casual weekend rider. Who knows i may like it and ride it more. Until then i don't want to spend $1000's for a bike that i wont be using. I can in theory go out and buy a carbon framed bike today but will i still ride it after the novelty wears off?.. Hence something cheap and reliable is what I'm after.

The novelty will probably wear off on the first hill. Not because of the weight, but because, they've substituted a non matching crankset with a 42T small ring, which all brand snobbery aside is IMO a majorly poor decision.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Avanti-Vivac ... 43b4437e05" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(disclaimer - I don't know the vendor of that bike, that was just a 2 second search).

A couple of friends of mine both wound up buying secondhand bikes roughly similar to that, for just below $500. Its just a patience game because you have to work out your size, and then wait for it to show, but you really do come up with a bike from a different world compared to new $500 and short term resale of something thats already depreciated its first chunk is really good. ie you can stick one of those back up a month later and price it fetches won't change.

zero wrote: Its a > 10kg road bike. I don't have to ride that to call it a boat anchor.
52/42 poverty model crankset overgears the bike badly for casual riders. I also don't need to ride it to know that, but that imo is a pretty bad specification mistake in the hunt to keep the bike below $500.

The base model giro is largely the sum of similar parts, but does at least come with new rider friendly gear ratios.

You called the frame a boat anchor. I'd have to disagree with you there. According to their website an upgrade to Mavic askiums will lower the weight by 0.7 of a kilo. So it has heavy wheels but with the Mavic askiums it gets down to 9.5 kg, which is about the weight of other similarly specced bikes.

Your right, the crank set is a bit funny though.

Mulger Bill can you tell us which bike you are test riding now

Greg, If you want to look at the Avanti giro 1 which I talked about before you can find it on bike exchange. I'm not sure where these places are (but they are in VIC)
http://www.bikeexchange.com.au/bicycles ... /102092301" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.bikeexchange.com.au/bicycles ... /102004223" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

P.S Greg, I know what it's like trying to find a cheap road bike. I'm in high school now and my form of "income" is doing housework for my mum. I currently ride a bike from BigW but am saving up slowly. I have looked at many many bikes and the 2012 Avanti giro 1 seems to be the cheapest new bike I can find (other than online and reid). I'm actually saving up for the avanti giro 1 myself, hopefully I can have enough money to buy it by Christmas. I'm in Sydney and all the stores selling the bike for $599 seem to be in all other states other than NSW, I'm hoping that a store here (which displays a price math policy) will be able to price match for me

Philipthelam wrote: According to their website an upgrade to Mavic askiums will lower the weight by 0.7 of a kilo. So it has heavy wheels but with the Mavic askiums it gets down to 9.5 kg, which is about the weight of other similarly specced bikes.

I'd be suprised if that were true. Aksiums are really heavy (and don't make it to claimed either). going to hazard a guess it should be 200g.

Your right, the crank set is a bit funny though.

Mulger Bill can you tell us which bike you are test riding now

The last time I saw the reid guy here, I berated him about his 1y frame warranty. Whilst I'm not egotistical enough to believe I was the only one to do it, they did shortly change over to a 15 year warranty for frames - which stopped me bitching about the warranty in reid threads. Maybe mulgers next task is to tell them the cranks are wrong for entry level bikes.

I know nothing about the Reid bikes but I've seen quite a few around Sydney not in pieces all over the road. 52/42 gearing is pretty nuts though, I'm a small guy but I consider myself a strong cyclist and I find a 50/34 compact adequate. I live right next to a hill and I think if I started riding on a 10+ kg bike with a 42 small ring and what looks to be a 27 large cog at the back I'd probably be an unhappy rider. I did start riding on an 18kg Aldi bike which is way more of a boat anchor than this thing but it at least had MTB triple gearing which it desperately needed to go up hills.

Philipthelam wrote:Mulger Bill can you tell us which bike you are test riding now

I've dropped enough hints in other threads, test your search skills

Mulger bill wrote:You're from Melbs?

Go and have a look around the shop. If James is there, have a yarn with him too. Reid have come a long way since starting out as a two man show out of James garage.

Yep I will pop by when i get the chance...

zero wrote:The novelty will probably wear off on the first hill. Not because of the weight, but because, they've substituted a non matching crankset with a 42T small ring, which all brand snobbery aside is IMO a majorly poor decision.

Ok, i raise my hand here as I have no idea about gear ratios and cranksets.. Are you saying that even the lowest gear is too hard for an average rider?..

Philipthelam wrote:P.S Greg, I know what it's like trying to find a cheap road bike. I'm in high school now and my form of "income" is doing housework for my mum. I currently ride a bike from BigW but am saving up slowly. I have looked at many many bikes and the 2012 Avanti giro 1 seems to be the cheapest new bike I can find (other than online and reid). I'm actually saving up for the avanti giro 1 myself, hopefully I can have enough money to buy it by Christmas. I'm in Sydney and all the stores selling the bike for $599 seem to be in all other states other than NSW, I'm hoping that a store here (which displays a price math policy) will be able to price match for me

Well my dilema is, will i like riding in traffic on the road or not?.. My current MTB is mainly trail and bike paths and say 5% on the road. Thus spending $1000's just to find out is not something i wish to do..
I went into Ivanhoe cycles today, was very impressed with the store. However the cheapest road bike was a Giant Defy at $999.. Flat bars were cheaper but i rather not buy a flatbar roadie. Basically that shop has priced me out already.. Hence why i have been attracted to the Reids. As mentioned above i need to pop into Reid and have a chat with them.

AndrewBurns wrote:I know nothing about the Reid bikes but I've seen quite a few around Sydney not in pieces all over the road. 52/42 gearing is pretty nuts though, I'm a small guy but I consider myself a strong cyclist and I find a 50/34 compact adequate. I live right next to a hill and I think if I started riding on a 10+ kg bike with a 42 small ring and what looks to be a 27 large cog at the back I'd probably be an unhappy rider. I did start riding on an 18kg Aldi bike which is way more of a boat anchor than this thing but it at least had MTB triple gearing which it desperately needed to go up hills.

Again i'm unsure what this means.. 50/42 means more cogs, wouldnt that make it easier?.. Is that gearing on the Osprey??.. Thats the one i was looking at. $490 one.

Road bikes tend to only have two chainrings (front cogs). Those numbers are the amount of teeth on the chainrings. The smaller the number the easier to pedal. Standard is usually something like 53-39, compact is usually something like 50-34 (I believe). So 50-42 is going to have a harder to pedal lower gear.

Whether or not it's too hard for a beginning rider, that's up to the terrain and the rider.

Carriage wrote:Road bikes tend to only have two chainrings (front cogs). Those numbers are the amount of teeth on the chainrings. The smaller the number the easier to pedal. Standard is usually something like 53-39, compact is usually something like 50-34 (I believe). So 50-42 is going to have a harder to pedal lower gear.

Whether or not it's too hard for a beginning rider, that's up to the terrain and the rider.

Ok thanks, that clears that up a little..
My MTB has 3 front cogs (Chain rings) and 7 in the back.. No idea how many teeth etc etc it has. Also just weighed myself with and without the bike in my arms. Total i got was around the 15-16kg mark for the bike. Give or take a few grams. Is that normal for a MTB?...

Just been surfing at the Avanti Giro 1.0 specs at a discounted $599 versus the Reid Osprey at $490..

According to the Internet the Avanti Giro has the following :
Crankset: FSA Vero Compact 50/34

and the Reid Osprey has :
Prowheel alloy 42/52T 170MM

Going by what has been said above the Avanti has easier lower gears. The Reid Osprey weighs in at 10.2kgs.. Any1 know what the Avanti weighs?... Nothing more annoying when they dont display bike weights IMO...

Its a trade off, Avanti is easier lower gears but costs $109 more than the Reid. I'm interested to know what the Avanti weighs..

I would expect it to be of a similar weight as both are alloy frames with carbon forks and similar/the same equipment on it. The thing I've found with hills is is that a lot of the difficulty is not being bike fit, not just being fit in general. Your leg muscles need to get used to working that way. The difference in gearing between the Reid and Avanti is significant, but you may struggle up hills with them anyway, at least to begin with.

Carriage wrote:I would expect it to be of a similar weight as both are alloy frames with carbon forks and similar/the same equipment on it. The thing I've found with hills is is that a lot of the difficulty is not being bike fit, not just being fit in general. Your leg muscles need to get used to working that way. The difference in gearing between the Reid and Avanti is significant, but you may struggle up hills with them anyway, at least to begin with.

Yeah i'm fairly sure i will struggle.. I struggle up hills on my MTB..

Huski67 wrote:Just been surfing at the Avanti Giro 1.0 specs at a discounted $599 versus the Reid Osprey at $490..

According to the Internet the Avanti Giro has the following :
Crankset: FSA Vero Compact 50/34

and the Reid Osprey has :
Prowheel alloy 42/52T 170MM

Going by what has been said above the Avanti has easier lower gears. The Reid Osprey weighs in at 10.2kgs.. Any1 know what the Avanti weighs?... Nothing more annoying when they dont display bike weights IMO...

Its a trade off, Avanti is easier lower gears but costs $109 more than the Reid. I'm interested to know what the Avanti weighs..

Avanti is a pretty good brand, I'd expect the weight to be around mid to high 9 kg. You'd probably have to go in store to see it and confirm though. Don't be put of by bike weight though, how the bike rides and feels (no matter how light or heavy the bike is) will largely be due to the frame. I'd expect that the avanti has a better frame and parts (other than the derailleurs and shifters, they are the same).
Too many people judge bikes by their weight, which is why (I think) most manufacturers don't display their bike weights. Unless you are a professional where every second counts) generally total bike weight doesn't matter too much and it will mainly only affect you when you are climbing or accelerating. Here is a video I found by durian riders about weight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UisTybib ... plpp_video" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;