What bike?

[The Stiglet]

Alright, you've got circa £3,700 (imagine!) to spend on a road bike. What would be your preference and why?

Cannondale Super Six HI-MOD SRAM Red £3,799
Trek Madone 6.2 = £3,699
Specialized Tarmac SL3 Pro = £3,998

From what I have heard the Cannondale is the best bike out there from this group, I'm keen to hear what you guys think.

Cheers

[Harpo]

I just couldn't do justice to those bikes, which is why I have spent about a third of that. Should be here in about 2 weeks time. Trying to get my fitness up so that toddlers on pink tricycles don't pass me .

[itsnotarace]

Generic plastic manufacturer yawnfest. Don't be a sheep and follow the flock

Buy something custom and bespoke, there are millions of choices out there.

Independent Fabrication
Pegoretti
Moots
Enigma
Ritte Racing
Lynskey
Parlee
Vanilla Speedvagen
Burls
Condor
Feathercycles
Brian Rourke
Dave Yates
Holdsworth
Chas Roberts

etc etc

[Jimbo.]

Whichever fits best! The "best" (however that's quantified) bike in the world is ultimately useless if if leaves you in agony and gets left in the shed as a result. Try them all, then try some more. With this much money being spend, it would also be wise to invest in a pukka bike fitting service (see the thread re. Bike Whisperer in this forum) so you've got an idea of what you need and where you should start looking.

Of course, if it was my money (I wish I had that money! ) I'd be tempted to see what Enigma (http://www.enigmabikes.com/) have to offer: for £3500 you'd get something special: bespoke steel frame, Campag bits, etc. Yum!

[okgo]

I'd go to the canyon outlet and end up with a superbike for that money, it wouldn't need any upgrades!

[Rouleur]

itsnotarace said:

Generic plastic manufacturer yawnfest. Don't be a sheep and follow the flock

This. I'd get my arse down to somewhere like Mosquito where they have lots of lovely frames and spec up something like a Pegoretti Marcelo, or maybe base it on a Colnago C50 or a De Rosa.

I'm sure the Trek etc are great to ride, but at this level they're just so dull.

[anonymous-user]

why would anyone want to spend that much money on a bike to end up with an off the shelf bike that any other bloke on the street could walk into a shop and buy....

my advice, buy this, find a good shop that your local roadie club use and ask them to build it up to your spec...

http://www.hotlines-uk.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=316...

[okgo]

Great it may be but it's much more dull than a high end plastic bike.

[Raoul Duke]

To echo the comments above, building something up to your own spec can be achieved with that sort of budget and you will have a much more individual and unique bike rather than something off the peg. You would probably be more inclined to keep it long term and upgrade as you go as well by doing so.
That said if you want carbon then they are all really good, tour proven frames and any would be a very decent bike.
My choice would be the SL3 - although that is down to a personal preferance on the frame geo - if you are dead set on one of those three. I would however go to a lbs and get sized up properly, then whichever of the frames suited me best would be the one that i bought.

[anonymous-user]

okgo said:

Great it may be but it's much more dull than a high end plastic bike.

who cares, you know when you ride it that its much more than a high end plastic bike...but what you really mean is "it wont get noticed as much as a specialized s-works....."

[okgo]

I like bike Bling as much as the next man, if I can get something that performs and looks the balls, I'm happy. Personally I find that a little bland.

But with some nice wheels, 50mm the thin tube look can look awesome.

I'm convinced that most of road biking is marketing and that you should just buy what you like the look of.

[XitUp]

Could you get a Cinelli Laser for that? If so, one of them please.

[The Stiglet]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. To put this in context a little bit, I had my Specialized Tarmac Pro nicked from the office last summer as I was preparing for an Olympic triathlon. I'd only had it 5 months and had already taken part in a couple of Sprints - it was very light and very fast. I commute to work on a cheapo Raleigh normally but had been on a long ride before work that day and didn't have it insured!

Anyway, I've got some money set aside and want the bike to do club runs, longer distance rides (60 miles and above) but also it needs to be rapid for any triathlons I do. I'm not really interested in titanium bikes, I like carbon and I like bike porn! I have always had the bikes fitted to me as I also have one leg slightly longer than the other so use a couple of shims under the cleat and it's very important to get the legs moving symmetrically. Lots of people have variation but never get a bike fitting and complain of cramps or pain in the hip or lower back - cured mine.

I appreciate that I don't have to spend as much money as I'm prepared to and still might not but these bikes are class acts and a test will reveal the best fit but any feedback on their characteristics/unique selling points over the other would be really helpful.

Thanks again.

[Roman]

The Stiglet said:

Thanks for all the feedback guys. To put this in context a little bit, I had my Specialized Tarmac Pro nicked from the office last summer as I was preparing for an Olympic triathlon. I'd only had it 5 months and had already taken part in a couple of Sprints - it was very light and very fast. I commute to work on a cheapo Raleigh normally but had been on a long ride before work that day and didn't have it insured!

Anyway, I've got some money set aside and want the bike to do club runs, longer distance rides (60 miles and above) but also it needs to be rapid for any triathlons I do. I'm not really interested in titanium bikes, I like carbon and I like bike porn! I have always had the bikes fitted to me as I also have one leg slightly longer than the other so use a couple of shims under the cleat and it's very important to get the legs moving symmetrically. Lots of people have variation but never get a bike fitting and complain of cramps or pain in the hip or lower back - cured mine.

I appreciate that I don't have to spend as much money as I'm prepared to and still might not but these bikes are class acts and a test will reveal the best fit but any feedback on their characteristics/unique selling points over the other would be really helpful.

Thanks again.

Ideally I'd go for two good value bikes:

1) A good roadbike for longer training & grouprides such as a Moda Stretto or Canyon Ultimate CF 7.0. I doubt a £4k superbike is going to be noticably faster than either of these.

2) A good TT specific bike (such as a Planet X Stealth Pro Carbon or Ribble Aero Carbon TT) with deep carbon wheels for competing

Alternatively, for your intended use, if you must have a single do-it all machine I'd go for one of the new generation of Aero roadbikes & budget for deep carbon wheels. The Specialized Venge & Cervelo S5 are over budget but the Canyon Aero Road or Scott Foil R2 (+ deep wheels are within your budget):

http://www.canyon.com/_uk/roadbikes/bike.html?b=21...

http://www.westbrookcycles.co.uk/bikes-c5/road-bik...

Edited by Roman on Saturday 16th July 14:10

[Mr Will]

Roman said:

Ideally I'd go for two good value bikes:

1) A good roadbike for longer training & grouprides such as a Moda Stretto or Canyon Ultimate CF 7.0. I doubt a £4k superbike is going to be noticably faster than either of these.

2) A good TT specific bike (such as a Planet X Stealth Pro Carbon or Ribble Aero Carbon TT) with deep carbon wheels for competing

Alternatively, for your intended use, if you must have a single do-it all machine I'd go for one of the new generation of Aero roadbikes & budget for deep carbon wheels. The Specialized Venge & Cervelo S5 are over budget but the Canyon Aero Road or Scott Foil R2 (+ deep wheels are within your budget):

http://www.canyon.com/_uk/roadbikes/bike.html?b=21...

http://www.westbrookcycles.co.uk/bikes-c5/road-bik...

I'd be tempted to agree, a TT specific bike will be faster than even a superbike and frees you up to buy something beautiful well suited to the long distance group stuff.

[itsnotarace]

The Stiglet said:

I like carbon and I like bike porn!

Parlee Z4 £2300



http://bespokecycling.com/products/parlee.php?id=3...

2010 Campy Chorus 11 speed £675

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop/Road+Parts...

Campy Neutron Ultra £473.65

http://www.shinybikes.com/campagnolo-neutron-ultra...

Leaves you around £400 to spend on finishing kit of your choice (bars/seatpost/stem/saddle/tyres/tubes)

[anonymous-user]

Fair enough about the intended use, why aren't you looking at TT specific stuff like a ridley dean or a spesh transition? I only see drop bar road bikes on triathlons which are seriously hilly...

[The Stiglet]

You guys might have a point here. Maybe I should go for a fairly decent mid range carbon frame in the October sales say circa £2,000 and keep the rest for a TT specific frame.

I doubt that there is going to be that tangible a difference anyway (for a mere mortal like myself)- the weight saving would be relatively minimal and I'd get a better groupset, but Ultegra is good enough. Saying that, maybe I shouldn't test one just in case!

[anonymous-user]

a planet x stealth with the 82/101 wheelset is around £2k and you cant get anything like that elsewhere for the money, that leaves you at least £1k for a good training/sportive bike. simples, as they say....

[The Stiglet]

pablo said:

a planet x stealth with the 82/101 wheelset is around £2k and you cant get anything like that elsewhere for the money, that leaves you at least £1k for a good training/sportive bike. simples, as they say....

Beautiful bike and great spec! How do they keep the price down with the Dura Ace and carbon wheelset? Is the carbon in the frame a cheaper weave than say the Cannondale Slice?

But do you think a £1k road bike will cut it on the club group rides/sportives? For £1k that's still aluminium with 105's...riding over 2kg heavier than everyone else. I'd lose snap in acceleration for a start.