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Bought this last year but have since sold it as I just couldn't get on with it. The Giro 200 is Dawes’ entry-level racing bike. It’s nicely made and comes with all the latest gimmicks as far as frame geometry and so on goes. I’d decided the Falcon, as much as I love it, was just a bit too old to be taken seriously at my annual Triathlon event, and I’d already been thinking about getting a new racing bike for some time. I narrowed it down to the Dawes because that was the brand I’d ridden as a child – my first racer in 1978 was a Dawes Velo-Sprint (which superceded the Chevron). The new Giro is a 14-speed model with a lightweight alloy frame which is very stiff. The steel forks help give the whole package some flex and help absorb the worst road shocks.
I was initially quite pleased with it except for one irritating recurring problem: it’s had about 8 punctures in the 2-3 months I owned it – including the one and only puncture I’ve ever had to fix by the roadside! It wasn't just regular punctures either – they were actual blowouts. In fact the last one happened whilst the bike was sitting stationary in the garden (something that also happened twice before). It had me baffled but worst of all, it’s really deterred me from riding it far. The only explanation I could imagine was a problem with either the rim tape or the inner tubes, so I replaced both then pumped the tyres up to pressure – it was absolutely fine from then on. Incidentally, this should be covered under warranty but as the parts only cost about a tenner I decided to just go ahead and fix it myself for the sake of convenience and quickness – I did write a letter to Dawes though, in case it was a common issue, and they took the time to respond with a letter and a cheque to cover the cost of the parts I'd had to replace. Which I thought was excellent customer service.
But still I could not get on with this bike - it never felt comfortable and was not as enjoyable to ride as my older steel-framed Falcon. So over the christmas break in 2009 I stuck it on Ebay and sold it to chap in Wales who I'm glad to say is VERY happy with it. It wasn't a bad bike by any means, just not right for me...
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