Gentlemen of PH, wearers of lycra...

[Jimbo.]

...and funny shoes. I present to you a question:

What bike?



CTW time. I have, say, £1300 (absolute maximum!). I did have my eye on an utter bargain of a CAAD10, but sadly some bugger beat me to it. So, the hunt begins again. Amusingly my only criteria is that it is of road/cross origin and ideally, hailing from the stables of Cannondale, Trek, Genesis, Specialized, Charge and Bianchi: the brands local to me, which I can try before buying.

I can't decided, purely because my current bike (Genesis Equilibrium) does everything bar take to the dirt (justification for a 'cross bike, p'haps?). I'm currently flitting between a Genesis Vapour Disc (Tiagra, would prefer 105), Genesis Volant 30, Cannondale CAADX 105, Synapse 105 etc, etc.

Do I go 'cross for dirt and winter, keeping the Equilibrium for summer?
Do I go for another road, and keep the Equilibrium for winter?

Your answers to this not-at-all vague question, if you'd be so kind!


EDIT: Hello!
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...

Edited by Jimbo. on Saturday 25th May 13:55

[anonymous-user]

why bother spending £1300? i appreciate its a new bike etc but its not like you are going to be getting anything better than the equilibrium so i'd get something like a CdF as a "nice option to have bike", save a bit of cash and keep saving for something like a super six if the caad10 took your fancy....

[Bobley]

I went all out for 105 groupset but wish I'd gone Tiagra as the 105 shifters with the cables bent around under the bar tape are crap

[Jimbo.]

pablo said:

why bother spending £1300? i appreciate its a new bike etc but its not like you are going to be getting anything better than the equilibrium so i'd get something like a CdF as a "nice option to have bike", save a bit of cash and keep saving for something like a super six if the caad10 took your fancy....

Fotgot all about the CdF(s)! The only thing that makes me hesitate (and this also applies to me earlier suggested Vapour Disc) is the need for yet ANOTHER wheel type (6-bolt 130/135mm hubs with 700c rims), which wouldn't be compatible with my other wheels. A strange hang-up I know, but the fewer bikes-specific parts, and the more "nick one as a spare on Saturday morning" parts, the better!

re. 105/Tiagra: I've nothing against Tiagra, however I've had no problems with my 105 gear and I really like the shape of the hoods.

EDIT: And for the Vapour and CdF, the rear disc positioning is an issue: if I wanted to use the rack mounts, then I'd need a disc-specific rear rack and some bodged 'guard mounts.

Edited by Jimbo. on Saturday 25th May 16:30

[anonymous-user]

Fair point about wheel swap capability. Cotic x might be worth a look too?

[Vladimir]

I have a Tiagra groupset and childishly chuckle at how much it sounds like Viagra. Before I get shouted down for being a tight ar4e skinflint, my MTB is all X0, XTR, tart-age.

[BadgerBenji]

Go for cross, that way it can do winter road duties/race cross season and then play on the dirt for the summer as well leaving your current road bike for best on the road in the summer.

Out of the choices it would be a CaadX, massive cannondale fan.

[Jimbo.]

CAADX the current favourite: seems equivalent spec' bikes from the likes of Specialized, Trek, Kinesis etc are all arount £200 more. Bizzare. I'm aware there's some blatant cost-cutting with the wheels and crankset, but then others aren't amazing in that respect either.

Just the comedy CX geometry to work through now. Seems "open" front triangles give plenty of room for shouldering, but absolutely sod-all room for your nuts WRT standover!

Edited by Jimbo. on Monday 27th May 21:45

[Dixie]

http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/cannondale-super...

If your a 56 this is a good deal. i've had mine 6 months now and love it.

[jamiebae]

You're welcome to come and have a go on my Volant (00, so cheaper bits than the 30) at the weekend if you want, although you might struggle to get your leg over the frame as it's a 58cm

I'd go for some kind of CX type thing personally, you don't need another road bike and a CDF or similar opens up a load of new rides you can't do at the moment

[Jimbo.]

58cm? The saddle's in the clouds for short-arses like me! Thanks for the offer though

Test rode a 51cm* CAADX 105 today, and straight out of the box it felt bang-on. Sold! Even the cantis felt OK.

(*)My CAAD9 was a 52cm that felt a little too small. Going for a 51cm 'dale (ignoring differences in road vs. CX geometry) felt just plain wrong!

[BadgerBenji]

An excellent choice

[Gizmoish]

Another Cannondale

Don't seem to get the brand recognition of some competitors, for some reason, but everyone who has one loves it.

[Jimbo.]

Gizmoish said:

Another Cannondale

Don't seem to get the brand recognition of some competitors, for some reason, but everyone who has one loves it.

A number of reasons:
They don't (didn't?) have the "presence" of Trek, Specialized, Giant etc: no dedicated stores.
They didn't have a "budget" bike like the above.
What they did have was, thanks to the "Handmade in USA" production model, pricier and/or lower spec'd that the others. They also didn't have the production numbers to sell.
The European distributor is/was crap, meaning supply could be shaky.
They were teetering on the edge of bankruptcy thanks to their utterly stupid foray into motocross bikes.
They had an iffy rep thanks to pushing the material/design technologies of the time (late 90s?), resulting in the Crack'n'fail nickname.

A shame as they're utterly stonking bikes (the USA bikes were even more "boutique" than most other high-end brands: they really were hand made in their own country).

Since being purchased by Dorel, they've moved production to Taiwan, which has reduced costs and upped the production numbers. They've introduced cheaper bikes (CAAD8 etc) and seem to have a few more sellers.