orbea aspin

[dirty_harry]

hi there
I'm looking at buying an Orbea Aspin from my local bike shop, it came to him with a scratch on the frame (very small almost non noticeable) and im not real fussed about that, due to this he put it in his fleet and says it has been ridden bout 100km (seems pretty genuine still got mold marks on the tires) it has 105 rear derailleur tiagra crank and tiagra shifters and shimano 500 wheels hes asking 1300 to 1400 for it but said its negotiable and has offered a test ride to me on the weekend which i will take. he also has a Orbea Enol same setup i think however the cranks are FSA (dont know the model soz) and he wants 1100 or 1200 for that (the enol is meant to have sora gear on it) he has also offered a test on this which again i will take up. could anyone who owns these bikes please give me a little review. are they worth the money? is this a good deal? what do they normally retail for? the orbea website says 1400 for the enol 2000 for aspin, what would you recommend?
thanks for any reply

[Andrew69]

Ive got an 07 Aspin and am very happy with it.
Was bought as my first roadie and while not super flash carbon, I find it a great bike.

The only thing I would check is the front derailleur. If it is a FSA, get the LBS to change it. I had nothing but problems with it and changing to a 105 has made a world of difference in shift quality.

To be honest though, Orbea's are at the expensive end of the price range for what you get, and it may pay you to shop around (different brand)
The reason I bought mine was the fact it was the only bike I could get that came with an uncut steerer and that was important to me at the time as I was recovering from a neck injury. I could have bought a Giant slightly cheaper with the same sort of spec level, but again, they all came with cut steerers.

Having said that, I have found the bike to be fantastic, ride well, handle well and be stiff enough. The is a fair difference in stiffness between it and my Cervelo, but with the Cervelo being almost 4 times the price, you would expect that.

[dirty_harry]

thanks
the aspin has tiagra cranks (definitely) and front derailleur i think. The enol is what has the FSA cranks so possibly the derailleur is also FSA ill have a look
as i said previously im going to test ride them both tomorrow (sat) does urs have the carbon fork and seat post as that is what these have. it seems a reasonable price and although i would love a pinarello colnago or cervelo with full campy gear this is all i really need and at 1300 negotiable i think this is quite a reasonable price
thanks for your help and ill get back to you over the weekend and tell you what i have decided
harry

[snedden9485]

Get the aspin. Dont get the sora bike, you will want to upgrade fast if you do IMO. If you can get the aspin for the same price (i say u will), then jump on it.

[dirty_harry]

thats exactly what I've been thinking snedden, is tiagra a huge leap from sora or is it a small step and 105 is the huge leap just wondering also would there be a lot of difference in frame or is it just components that change also back to my first statement are the different components little upgrades that are hardly noticeable or are they quite large, i have a trek alpha 1000 (2001/2 i think) with sora gear im quite happy with this but its getting a bit old and i want an upgrade
thanks
harry

[im_no_pro]

IMO:
Sora - Big Upgrade - Tiagra - Not so big upgrade - 105

Mainly cos I hate sora levers.

[BandedRail]

Yep, get the Apsin. I recently bought an '09, my only regret is I didn't get it at the price you're being offered! Sheesh, for around $1300 it's an awesome deal (unless the frame is the wrong size, then it's just $1300 worth of pain ).

[snedden9485]

IMO Tiagra is a big step over sora. Generally sora is 8 speed (some is 9 speed), it has crappy thumb shifters and it isnt the greatest quality. By getting tiagra, you get 9 speed gear, STI shifters (up on lever) and the quality is nicer. I have tiagra on my specialized and it works pretty well. I have ultegra SL on the cerelo which is very nice, however costs much more to run and buy. So in my opinion buy the aspin and ride it as is. I wouldnt get caught up in modifying cheap bikes, just ride the bike for what it is. The package will be fine for all sort of riding and entry level racing. You mentioned you want a pinarello or such, well if you get one of these in the future, youl want the aspin to log all the miles and ride in the rain. Thats the best thing about having two bikes, you dont have to trash your nice bike.

[Kev365428]

Moving this topic to Buying a Bike/Parts as that's where it's most suited.

Kev.

[dirty_harry]

alright kev thats fine
the frame is perfect size for me a 54 the pinarello and like is rather a dream but one day it will come true, I'll make sure of it I'm only 17 so plenty of life to make it come true lol thanks for the upgrade table so to speak thats sort of what i was thinking and i wasnt really planning on changing anythnig thats on it neway ill take them out today provided the rain doesnt bucket down (im in adelaide and the forcast is rain for the nxt few days not happy long weekend too cmon be nice) but ill get bakc too you when i have ridden them

[snedden9485]

Good luck.

Just a tip also, please use some fullstops and commas, its bloody hard reading! One continuous sentence is hard to understand

[dirty_harry]

sorry snedden, english isnt my strong point.
I bought the Aspin this morning, bargained him to $1250 with a service as there was a slightly loose head and the front derailleur was slightly out of line. it was just rubbing a little but just enough too really annoy me. still a pretty good deal though i think. i took it for an hour test ride and within the first 10 minutes i was sold its just beautiful compared to my trek. as it should be because its got better gear on it and its a better frame.
thanks for all help
Harry
(snedden is that good punctuation)

[snedden9485]

sorry snedden, english isnt my strong point.
I bought the Aspin this morning, bargained him to $1250 with a service as there was a slightly loose head and the front derailleur was slightly out of line. it was just rubbing a little but just enough too really annoy me. still a pretty good deal though i think. i took it for an hour test ride and within the first 10 minutes i was sold its just beautiful compared to my trek. as it should be because its got better gear on it and its a better frame.
thanks for all help
Harry
(snedden is that good punctuation)

Much better.