Looking at Road Bikes - Any Recommendations?

John Stark

 Hi:

Tried to do a search for previous threads on this subject, but couldn't easily find one.  So here is my question:

I got my wife to loosen the purse strings a bit so I am in the market for a road bike.  All I have ever had is a tri bike.  A Kestrel Talon SL that I absolutely LOVE!  Looking for any recommendations for a road bike and why you recommend?  

• Not tied to a brand.
• Budget is $2,500 to $4,000.  Should give me a range of bikes to choose from.
• I am 6' 4", ~210 lbs. and 34" inseam.  
• Not overly concerend about Ultegra vs. Dura-ace.  But want full carbon.  And I would like to buy new vs. used.  Also willing to buy the frameset and separate components.

Thanks in advance for and advice to help me get started.

 

John

 

 

Paul Hough

John - I have a Trek Madone...wonderful all-carbon road bike with very stiff bottom bracket. Latest models have all internal wires. There are other great road bikes out there as well, but the Trek is solid. I had a Cannondale Synapse before the Trek -- another great road bike, but not as stiff or responsive as my Trek.

mattsull

I picked up a Scott Addict R15 last fall and love it. All carbon, full SRAM Red groupo. Amazing ride.

Steven Ford

Test rides, go find someone who will let you take one out for a bit.

 

Norton

I've loved my Cervelo R3. Linda Patch's husband went through the road bike search last fall and looked at/rode everything. He wound up on an R3.

tgarson

John,

Personally, I think the Cervelo S2 is super sexy, but I've considered going the opposite direction and eschewing the larger brand name bikes all together. I'd consider checking out the Planet-X Nanolight. You can get it either as a frameset, or they do complete builds.

http://www.planet-x-usa.com/pNANOLIGHT/Nanolight-Road-Frameset.aspx

As with everything Planet-X, it's quite a bit cheaper than the big brands. Yeah, the frames are made in China, but so is every other bike today, the company itself is English and they actually have a quite a good rapport over at ST if you keep track of those sort of things.

jwpicciotto

A couple of suggestions:
I ride an old Colnago C-40. Very nice bike for crits, very tight in the corners, very responsive off the line due to the lateral stiffness, also climbs well. Not as smooth on the decent due to the forward position. Unfortunately the replacement for this bike may be a little more than your price range.

Penny has a Cervelo Soloist. Nice stiff responsive frame with good handling characteristics. Seems like a good all around bike.

One of the things that I have noticed as you move up into the higher end frames is the amount of specialization in the geometry. Some bikes good for climbing, others for crits, etc... Be sure that it matches with how you ride.

Something else to look at. At 6' 4" with 34 inseam you have a long torso. Pay particular attention to the top tub geometry. A couple of manufacturers have alternate sizings for this so be sure and check out their web sites. Otherwise you are going to get some bike shop wank trying to stick a 130 stem on the bike.

mancona

There are many many good offerings in that price range. I would personally look at getting a a very good frameset with a mid tier or even entry level build kit. For example you can get a Cannondale, Cervelo, or Scott for $3k that is pretty much the same frame they use on the $6k bikes. I like Sram, and I would take a great frame with Sram Rival and entry level wheels over a Red build with a cheaper frame.

The way I think or road bikes is
- Stiff and light race bikes (Cervelo R3/5, Scott Addict, Trek Madone, Specialized SL3, Felt F Series, Cannondale SuperSix etc)
- Aero bikes (Cervelo S2/3, Scott Foil, Specialized Venge, Felt AR)
- "Comfort" Road Bikes (i.e. high stack) (Cervelo RS, Scott CR1, Trek has somthing too, Specialized Roubiex, Felt Z series, Cannodale Synapse, etc)

My opinion (take it for what is is worth) is that the majority of folks should be riding the "comfort" road bikes as they are very good bikes and will fit most people better. I hate seeign someone on a race bike with 3-6 cm of spacers.

Road bike fitting is much easier than tri bikes and more forgiving, so you should be able to fit just about any of the brands as there is good overlap between the sizes. I would just go to a local shop you trust and take a few bikes for a ride and see what you like. They do feel different if you ride them back to back.

Coach Rich

John,

Since you are in CA, I think you should get a Calfee and keep your $$ local. I've had mine since 2002, though it doesn't have many miles on it . Craig Calfee does some beautiful work with putting irridescence (?) in the carbon, though mine is nude.

Anyway, I always say hi to other Calfee riders as it's a relatively small CA brand with some very cool and unique options for the carbon.

penlynwilson

I *LOVE* my Soloist. After riding it, no other bike could compare. . . . .

mgraffeo

John, with that price range, I'd definitely take Rich's advice and test ride a Calfee alongsides anything else you ride. I've never heard anybody talk about how much they love their bikes like Calfee owners.

Tom Glynn

Love my Soloist too!

I'd contact Kestral, your tri bike manufacturer, tell them you love the fit of your bike and are looking to buy a road bike. Have them suggest one of their models and then look at the bike geometry to compare to other models/manufacturers out there.

Another thought; drop TTBikefit.com a note looking for bike selection advice and then fitting on the new road bike. Todd can be very helpful in this area from what I've heard.

tom

John Stark

 Hi All:

Thanks for all the feedback.

Matt was right on with his bike type differences.  :-)

Day #1 - Went to the local LBS today that focuses on Trek and Specialized.  I rode the Trek Madone 6.2 and the Madone 5.2.  BIG differences in ride.  The 5.2 was a little more "bouncy" than the 6.2.  The 6.2 was solid and road really well.  The 6.2 also had a little longer top tube wo I was a bit more stretched out.

I am going back tomorrow to test ride the Specialized Roubaix Elite and compare to the Trek Madone 6.2.  After that I will hit another bike shop and look at Scott and Felt.

Couple of quick questions:

 - I live in a hilly area.  Should I go triple ring or stay double compact crank?

 - Any thoughts on handlebar widths?  Narrower better than wider?

 - For the last 5 years all I have ridden is a tri bike.  While test riding the road bike today I kept wanting to drop into aero position.    Just weird sitting up.  Will this feeling eventually leave me once I starting riding a road bike regularly?

Thanks.

John

mancona

@John - you can just be a fred like me and set up your road bike with a steep seat angle and 14 cm of drop to the top of the bar ... that way it feels just like a tri bike :-)

I'm slowly working my way into a roadie position.

neilmacd

I love my Specialized Roubaix. Not by any means the stiffest, but comfortable and I can still race crits and road race on it.

I live in the Santa Cruz mountains, with about a 400' climb in the last mile to our house, and 2000'+ climbs with grades up to 18% in almost every direction. Can't really ride any distance inland without doing thousands of feet of climbing. I sucked up my pride and stuck a triple on my Roubaix, along with a mountain bike rear derailleur and a cassette with a 34 big ring. With that bailout gear, I can get up anything around here, and keep going all day. If I'm feeling strong, I just have a hole spare ring in the front and a few unused rings on the back. And I'm confident that I won't be needing an orthopedic surgeon, which I would be without that setup.

If you fancy making a trip, John, I wholeheartedly recommend Wade Hall at Spokesman in Santa Cruz. Folks come from all over the area to buy bikes and get fit by him. Last time I was there I ran into a colleague from Pleasanton doing just that. He is an excellent fitter - worked with Specialized on fitting the HTC pro team recently, and is very widely used by local triathletes and roadies. If you want connected, let me know. If you came over on a Friday, I can hook you up for a wharf swim at 5.30 as a bonus :-)

Good luck with the bike choices.

John Stark

@Neil - Tahnks for this.  Ya, the Tarmac is a more agressive design while the Roubaix is more "comfort" like Matt noted below.  At least the guy at the LBS described them that way.  Which Roubaix do you have?  I mis-typed below.  I am actually looking at the Roubaix Expert, not Elite..

Amd I am doing Big Kahuna again this year and plan a few trips to Santa Cruz over the summer to swim, ride and run the course.  Would love to hookup.

John

 

kjanracing

Rich's bike is bad ass! You could be BA too!

Scott Alexander

I love my Specialized Tarmac, but looking to upgrade to a SL3 S-works relatively soon!

jwpicciotto

@John on the bar width it is like buying a suit coat, you have to get the width based on your chest measurement. If you get the bars too wide, then you will be squirrelly on the bike as every bump in the road forces the bars in your hands. If you get them too narrow it will close off your chest and restrict your breathing. You want your hands and shoulders to be as close to in line as possible when you are in the drops. If you feel your hands forced out or in, then the bars are the wrong width. I have a 39 inch chest so I tend to ride a 40cm measured center to center.

On the triple chain ring I can't help you, but I don't think my ego would let me put one on my bike .

John Stark

 @John - Thanks.  Ya, they measured me today and it looks like a 42 works best for me.  The 44's just felt too wide.  And I saw my old tri coach while I was test riding (she was out for a run) and she said NO NO NO to the triple.  :-)  But we shall see.

I did go back and try the Specialized bikes and really liked them.  But I think the Trek Madone 5.2 top tube length is best for me.  A little shorter.  Very solid cornering.  The bouncing I felt yesterday on the 5.2 was because it was a 58 and the seat post was higher and flexing.  The 60's shorter seat post eliminated the bounce.

And I just can't justify the $500 more for the 6.2.    Also, his local LBS is also partners with my local Tri club and I get 15% off the retail price of the bike  That's ~ $500 off the 5.2.  Very tempting.

Tomorrow I am going to another local LBS and look at Felt F4 and Cervelo RS Ultegra.  Also snooping the Calfee.

Thanks everyone!  Will keep ya posted.

Tom Glynn

John, no to the triple. Go compacts

Steve West

Not to hyjack John's thread, but what is so wrong with a triple?

Tom Glynn

In my opinion, most people rarely use the small cog on the triple. There are also a lot more duplicate or near duplicate gears with a triple. I think the small is just a little too small, the big, just a little too big. Compacts generally give you plenty of gears, still allowing you to spin up hills and push coming down.

John Stark

Ok, I have ridden:

Specialized - Tarmac and Roubaix

Cervelo - RS, R3 and S2

Trek - Madone 6.2 and 5.2

Giant

Not much else in the area.

So I think I am going to go with . . . . . Trek Madone 6.2 w/ Ultegra.  Handles great, they fit me on the size 60 demo and it was fabulous.  The 6 Series is also part of Project 1 and you can (almost) completely customize the bike (paint, gruppo, etc).  So far, this is what I have come up with.

Will probably pull the trigger tomorrow.

mgraffeo

looks nice. were you able to ride the Felt? Hard to go wrong with the 6.2, sure you'll enjoy it for many, many miles.

John Stark

Posted By Mike Graffeo on 14 May 2011 08:54 PM

looks nice. were you able to ride the Felt? Hard to go wrong with the 6.2, sure you'll enjoy it for many, many miles.

Thanks.  I have been tinkering with the customization more tonight.  May go Dan Socie Euro-pro and do white bar tape and white seat.    :-)

No on the Felt.  I wanted to ride the lower end F series, but no one close has any to try.  Just the Z series.  Bummed.