Is this my perfect road bike? Is £2k Tiagra madness?

[cheesewotsit]

I bought a second hand road bike last year. If I get into it, I said, I'll treat myself...

https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/bikes/road-bike...

It can take big tyres, it's comfortable, it's got i- bike storage (!), it looks mad, there's a Trek dealer 15 mins drive from my house, it looks like a bike that will be a friend for a long time (threaded BB, thru axles, discs, mudguard mounts) but, it's £2100 for tiagra groupset. Should I see past this? In my imaginary £2000 limit, is there much that will be as comfortable? I ride through Hertfordshires crappy b lanes and roads. I'm never going to get a KoM, nor wish too. I want something to waft along at a decent pace over less-that-perfect road and be comfortable and happy. I can get some bikes that have Ultegra for my limit, but I need something on the comfier end of endurance due to dinky legs and arms for my height.

But the tiagra thing.

Is it a thing?

:: eta ::
My other local bike shop is Giant, where I could get this for similar outlay: https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/defy-advanced-1-...

Edited by cheesewotsit on Friday 14th February 14:32

[Azzurrinick]

£2k for a bike with Tiagra is a lot of money compared to what you can get on the market nowadays. It's a no brainer with the Giant over the Trek every time. Don't get me wrong, the Tiagra is a very competent and reliable groupset, previous incarnation was the 105. However the difference between Tagra and Ultegra is massive, in weight and performance. I would expect to see Tiagra on £1k bikes. I have a number of friends who ride Giants, some have 3 Giant bikes in their stable. They are super reliable, well built and excellent value (if you can call £2k for a bit of carbon with metal wheels good value). BTW, you are right to stick to your LBS as you are not sure, at the end of the day, buy the one which you feel more comfortable riding, you can always change components at a later date if it is important to you.

[smn159]

I have bikes with 105 and Ultegra. In theory there should be little difference, but in practice the shift on the Ultegra equipped bike is so much nicer to use. I'd certainly want it on a £2k bike.