Caad9 2010 Tiagra worth the money?

stevie63

I am really interested in getting a Caad9 in a few months time. I particularly like the new Liquigas paint scheme. So much better than last years. (Black fork with white and green frame, what were they thinking?)

However whilst you could pick up a 2009 model with 105 for under a grand, (still can in one or two places but obviously they will be gone by time I am in the position to buy) the version with Tiagra is £995. I realise that the price will probably be slightly less than this but it does still seem a high price for a bike equipped just with Tiagra.

I note also that because they use a tiagra BB it means they have to use an adaptor to fit BB30. Surely this means that the weight and possibly the stiffness advantage of BB30 is lost. On another note I'm a bit gutted that we don't have the option of Sram Rival like they do in the states as I would have been tempted to part with an extra £2-300 for that.

Anyway my question is: Do you think that it is foolish to part with a thousand pounds to end up with a bike that appears to have quite a low spec?

flanners1

IMO yes, but then I have just bought a PX for £999 on their C2W with full Ultegra. I can live with a generic carbon frame, high spec gruppo etc and save £££££'s from not paying for the name. Having said that CAAD frames are lovely, if a tad harsh (imo) but to get 105 and own branded gear for 1K is a tad annoying.

If you are doing it on C2W not too bad, but if it is your own saved sovs/Visa then I would buy 2nd hand becausefor a grand you are looking at a really nice bike and gruppo!

John.T

The frame would be just as stiff and you could upgrade to BB30 later. I can not see that it will be any less stiff than a 24mm bracket but it will be a little heavier with the adapter.
As for your question, it is up to you. You are paying over the odds for a bike with Tiagra spec but you are getting a good base for future upgrading. Only you can decide which is best for you. Do you want to get a good bike now and improve it as things wear out or your cash situation gets better. Or get a cheaper bike now that can become a winter hack later when you can afford a better one.

Oceanblue

From what I can see most 2010 stuff has taken a dip in spec... so buy 2009 stuff whilst its about...

Petromyzon

General consensus is that CAAD9's are great. The optimum one to buy, however, is the Ultegra one as it has a full-carbon fork making the frameset a great upgrade base. I would say that you should be honest with yourself about how much money you want to spend on this in the future- if it is a one-off purchase, no upgrading, just replacing worn out bits as cheaply as poss, then I would say that the Tiagra one is not a good buy- too much emphasis on the frame, not enough on the bits. Look at another manufacturer. PX, Boardman and Focus would all get you a much more balanced package.

If you are going to spend more money on it in the future, go for it (but if at all possible save like crazy and buy a more expensive model now, you get very good value in the complete bike market but upgrading piece by piece will seem easy to swallow but end up costing you more, even if you bargain-hunt).

The US sram Rival build is selling like hot cakes to serious riders because they haven't done stupid things like compact-only chainsets. Why it is such a struggle to get a 53/39 chainset on a sub £1500 bike in this country I don't know. PX, to their credit, typically do offer the option.

macondo01

I bought a CAAD9 2009 with Tiagra for £780 two weeks ago. It would have been nice to have a higher spec but would I have noticed I dont know because I havent spent much time riding something with 105 or ultegra etc. I have no complaints about the tiagra - does all I want it to. I rode it today in a triathlon and took 10minutes of a 20km comparative ride time early in the year. Riding faster has been great but I have to say I just love the experience riding this bike.

In the end I guess which is easier to accept a bike colour you dont really like or paying over and above for a colour you like. If you dont like the liquigas colours what about getting the triple in white?

fnegroni

Get a Kiron MTL-Blade, cheaper, better spec, just as good a frame.

drjohnny

i got a 2009 CAAD9 with tiagra about 10 days ago in liquigas colours. it feels so much better to ride than anything ive tried before. was riding a carrera with sora previously and tiagra is nice however prior to my carrera which i only rode for about 2 months my last road bike had gear shifters on the frame and suicide breaks.
anyway really love the caad9

Jimbo.

Meh. Tiagra works. A touch agricultural at times, but it works nonetheless. Save the pennies whilst you use it, then upgrade to whatever you want when it dies, and sell whatever's left to the CX'ers/lkeep it for a winter steed.

stevie63

The thing is that I would probably like to upgrade over time. As previously mentioned I would like to upgrade to Rival gears at some point anyway. Having said that I may find that I quite like Tiagra and not bother until it wears out.

I find that you get conflicting advice with some saying frame is more important and others suggesting that equuipment is the key. However surely having gears that change a bit crisper or a few milliseconds faster isn't going to have as much impact as frame quality or fit.

My heart tells me it's the one to go for, but my head just keeps telling me you can get more for you money elsewhere.

Squillinossett

for a grand, I would be sending my money over to PX for their full Ultegra build

eh

I tend to agree with John.T, although I'm not sure the CAAD9 frame is that great. Good, solid race frame for a couple of season yes, not much more than that though.

Why it is such a struggle to get a 53/39 chainset on a sub £1500 bike in this country I don't know.

Agreed, worse the bike I just bought came with a 12-27 cassette as well!! FFS 34-27 is a mtb gear. Fair enough if the compact is mated to an 11-25 cassette, then thats not so bad, and also means you can run a proper road rear mech not the nasty mid-length cage one, my bike came with. Still suppose it all works OK, but I will have to change it for racing next season. Thankfully I do have box of decent spare parts from another bike.

John.T

eh wrote:

Agreed, worse the bike I just bought came with a 12-27 cassette as well!! FFS 34-27 is a mtb gear. Fair enough if the compact is mated to an 11-25 cassette, then thats not so bad, and also means you can run a proper road rear mech not the nasty mid-length cage one, my bike came with. Still suppose it all works OK, but I will have to change it for racing next season. Thankfully I do have box of decent spare parts from another bike.

34/27 is not an MTB gear round here. I don't use the 27 much but I do need the 24 at times. Only used the 12 about twice other than when racing and only then half a dozen times.
I don't know what mech you have. I use a Shimano SS short mech on 3 bikes with 50/34 and 12/27. It works fine. Only Campag make a medium mech. Shimano do SS (short for double) and GS (long for triple). All longer mechs are in the MTB ranges.