Which bike?

burrage9

Hello everyone,

Yes, its another of those 'which of the following bikes would i buy' threads, but I'd be very grateful for any advice you could give. My criteria is that I'm looking for a bike to race on, I prefer stiffness over comfort and ideally I'd like it to be campy, to be compatible with my other bike, although i'll take SRAM at a push (no shimano though.) My budget is £2000, although ideally id like it to be a bit under that. Oh and im not looking for a bike everyone else has, so heres the shortlist:

Canyon Ultimate CF 7.0 - athena 11/kysrrium equipe £1619
+ its cheap, and comes with athena 11. Good reviews everywhere.
- cant test ride one, and its not the greatest wheel set

Red Bull Carbon SL-4400 Force/DT Swiss R1600 £1749
+ great kit for the money, light (claimed 6.9kg) Supposed to be super-stiff
- cant test ride one, not too much info out there

Ridley Damocles 1117a Centaur/4ZA stratos £1999
+ proven race winner, good reviews about
- 'only' centaur, unkown wheelset and finishing kit. Right at the top of my budget, so no spare money for upgrades

Moda Stretto Force/AC aero 420 £1900
+ good kit, great BR review,
- slightly unknown company

Wilier Izoard Centaur/Fulcrum R5 £1900
+ Good reviews, and a good deal
- poor wheelset, 'only' centaur


Any opinions on any of these bikes (especially if you own one!) would be very appreciated. Oh and if you know of anything else i should be thinking of, please let me know!

Thanks!

StillGoing

The Izoard Centaur is going to be 2010 old stock. The new 2011 Izoard is lower spec. If you can get the Centaur then yes but I'd try and find an Athena first. See if the dealer will do a deal on the wheels?

Henri Le Conte

Have you had a look on the canyon outlet store in the UK as they have some decent deals backed up by the standard warranty on unused bikes ?

£2025.00 would get you a CF 9.0 with Chorus

http://www.canyon.com/_uk/outlet/list.h ... &sort=p-up

burrage9

philthy3 - Wow, they've downgraded for 2011! and it was already a poorly spec-ed bike. I think I can rule the Wilier out then.

Henri Le Conte - I have looked on the Canyon outlet store before, and the sizes always seem to be either very large or very small (I'd want a 54) but I'll keep looking. Extending my budget by £25 to get Ksyrium SLs and Chorus? very tempting...

Mad Roadie

I ride with someone who has the isoard - it is a stunning bike - its the frame and handling that make the relative groupset less relevent

I also own 2 Wiler bikes (no i dont sell them or work for them) and my Cento Uno has Chorus, when you could easily say the frame might justify super record - i am affraid the rider does not

glasgowbhoy

Maybe have a look at the Kuota range?

burrage9

Mad Roadie wrote:

I ride with someone who has the isoard - it is a stunning bike - its the frame and handling that make the relative groupset less relevent

I agree that the frame is the most important part, but in the 2011 range, the only one i could afford would come with veloce, and when you look at what else you can get for the same money, thats poor.

burrage9

Glasgowbhoy wrote:

Maybe have a look at the Kuota range?

but for less than £2000 id be looking at a Kebel with rival, right? (as i said before i want to stay away from shimano). That doesnt seem like the best option to me.

glasgowbhoy

burrage9 wrote:

Glasgowbhoy wrote:

Maybe have a look at the Kuota range?

but for less than £2000 id be looking at a Kebel with rival, right? (as i said before i want to stay away from shimano). That doesnt seem like the best option to me.

I'm sure you could speak to someone like Epic Cycles and spec it with Camapg or SRAM to suit your budget.

mrwibble

I bought a Focus Cayo Milram a couple of months ago and its a fabulous bike. Focus seem to make some very good sub £2k bikes

burrage9

mrwibble wrote:

I bought a Focus Cayo Milram a couple of months ago and its a fabulous bike. Focus seem to make some very good sub £2k bikes

I thought Focus only equipped their bikes with Shimano?

arlowood

HI Burrage


What about the Planet X Nanolight. Comes with Chorus as basic but can be upgraded to Record or Super record to meet your budget

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/CBP ... lo-chrous-

Maybe it's not "different enough" for you?

burrage9

arlowood - you hit the nail on the head there - planet x isnt really my thing. Its fairly illogical reason, but i just dont get too excited about them. And when i get a new bike, i want to be excited by it! But thanks for the suggestion anyway.