New Road Bike - Help me decide...

scott dinhofer

Sooo... after selling my trusty 5 yr old Tarmac last year, I found a Great deal on a Trek Madone - Factory Team Racing version. Always thought i was a size 54. Clearly when I bought the Tarmac the dealer fit me onto a bike he wanted to move and slapped a smaller stem on it. Thus, I've always been riding bikes that are too big... was more of a reach issue than a seat to pedal issue so it only really manifested itself when I discovered that I had the shortest stem you could get on the Aero Madone and was stuck...
Thanks to Ebay, I sold the bike for what I got it for and it's on to next.

I'm looking at will be my last or 2nd to last Great road bike purchase. As I am about to hit 52, it is obvious I will probably shrink through the ownership of this bike as I approach 60 during it's life with me. 

I am looking at the high end and trying to decide between - 
Sworks Tarmac (is it too "pedestrian")
Pinarello Dogma F8 Disc (if I go disc)
Pinarello Dogma F10 (without the Team Sky optional motor) and of course, no disc
Merckx EM 525 Disc or non disc
Scott Addict - Disc or not

The best advice I've gotten is that at this point, they are not very dissimilar. What bike do you like from an "ahhh" and "oohh" factor if you are spending this much dough?

Other considerations
Di2 or E-tap?
Disc or non Disc? What do people REALLY think about discs and the "need" for them vs non discs.. it IS very hilly where I ride. Given Coach Rs recent purchase and move to discs, I am hopeful to hear his thoughts as i know he has strong and well thought out opinions on bikes!

what bikes am I missing or would you add to the list.
Cervelo - don't like the look of thier high end road bikes
Trek - same issue as above
Derosa?

Love to hear other ideas! I want to stay away from complicated aero bikes as I do travel and envision doing more as my kids go to college in the next three years, so getting the fork off and the frame into my henhouse easily is important, while I am a good wrench, I don't want to spend a ton of time on this when on the road.

Paul Hough

"I'm looking at will be my last or 2nd to last Great road bike purchase. As I am about to hit 52, it is obvious I will probably shrink through the ownership of this bike as I approach 60 during it's life with me."    - HA!!  Famous last words.  My vote - Pinerello F10 which as you know voted against disc brakes.  Really though, you need to decide whether you want an endurance bike (most likely will have disc brakes) or a world tour bike with a more aggressive racing fit.  That decision should drive you to the right candidates.

William Jenks

I'm sure those are all great.  I'm your age, too.  

My wife ipretty much bought me a new road bike last Fall without me asking...seriously.  Anyway, she got me a Trek Domane SLR 6, which is about a $5000 bike, new.  (They have ones with somewhat less expensive frames.  This is stock ultegra; you can get it with electronic shifting and/or with a disk brake if you want.)

It's an "endurance bike" with two key features...a bit of flex in the front end and in the seatpost (adjustible) and 28 mm rims that make it an exceptionally smooth ride.  I have no idea if I would have chosen if it if I were in your position, but with it just dropped into my arms, I have been very, very happy with it.  I think the ride makes it worth checking out.  (Don't worry...it's still a very stiff fast road bike...the flex is not in anything having to do with the drive train or main part of the frame.)

Like I said...gotta be lots of good choices out there, but as long as you are looking at new, high end things, I thought this was worth mentioning.

Jorge Duque

All of those choices are great. If I would have to pick one of them, it would probably be the F8 with disc brakes. All the aforementioned bikes have a race profile, so I would add to that category the BMC Team Machine SLR01 and the Bianchi Specialissima Super Record EPS (they also have it with Shimano and SRAM components). Too bad we can't get Canyon bikes in the US, because they have some nice bikes.

Now, if you are looking for something more comfortable I would suggest the new Roubaix S-Works. I ride a 2015 Roubaix S-Works and is extremely comfortable and also very responsive. The 2017 version has a shock system at the top of the fork making it very smooth. 

One way or another, with the list you have you can't go wrong.

Team Endurance Nation

I really like my disc brakes, as I ride in a lot of hills. However, the braking power of the disk is much more than the traction available from the tires, so you need to set everything up correctly:

• I ride 26 or 28 profile tires, the better the better.
• ~60-65psi
• One finger braking

I don't think I'd recommend disk brakes for a beginner cyclists, not without (1) firm psi guidance and (1) strict one finger braking. I could see an inexperienced cyclist grabbing a whole lot of brake in an emergency. 

But the combination of wide tires, low-ish psi (more traction), and tons of braking power = much better descending. 

scott dinhofer

I was just asked by a team member what I ended up doing here, thought I'd post here so others could see as well. If I were to do this again, I'd think hard about disc. I went with the F10 non disc (of course they have now released the F10 disc which they said from the beginning they wouldn't) If it's really shizzy out and I have to ride, i have my gravel grinder with discs. My view is that I've never had an issue locking up my brakes in any condition. The newer carbon rims have better brake tracks than they did in the past. This may be blowing smoke up my own butt as there is always going to be the modulation argument. I would really have to demo discs to see what I am missing to decide.

i did this with my LBS who is a pinarello dealer and does a lot of custom builds. They gave me 20 pct off on this, which was pretty awesome given the cost of this stuff

at any rate the bike set up is as follows - 
Pinarello F10 Frameset
Shimano Di2 (newest series)
Enve 2-3 rims with DT Swiss 240 hubs
Most one integrated bar/ stem
Selle SMP Saddle

Here is "the Hoff" at Al camp

Paul Hough

Industry is now at a point where non-disc bikes won't even be an option.  You are going to get them whether you want them or not.  Meanwhile, I'm flipping my middle finger at the bike industry.  

Meanwhile - sweet looking ride except for that limp-looking saddle. 

Jorge Duque

@Paul Hough adding to your point, I was two weeks ago at my LBS and while talking to the owner he was telling me that at a recent meeting @ Specialized they were told that all production was going to switch to disc brakes really soon. 

It seems that disc brakes will be the only option moving forward.

Paul Hough

@Jorge Duque - it won't be so bad if they could come up with industry standard thru axle size, and industry standard rotor diameter and width.  But the reality is they are far from it and your odds of being able to inter swap wheels between different bikes with disc brakes is very limited.  They simply want to create more demand for parts and service with something else people don't need.  Here in Florida, disc brakes on a road bike are as essential as rain boots in the Sahara; not to mention that my rim brake bikes have all - easily - made steep descents in the Alps on three separate courses.