help to choose between these bikes please!!!

mazinevs

I'm buying a new road bike for the first time over the next few weeks and i wanted any advice, i've narrowed it down to three bike but any other options would be welcome

specialized allez sport 27 £749.99
cannondale caad 8 sora 2011 £699.99
trek 1.2 triple 2011 £749.99

I think i need a triple as its my first road bike and it will give me confidence on the hills

any advice would be greatly welcomed

thanks

1stGenRex

have you had a test ride on all 3 of those?

1stGenRex

Also

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/forums/vi ... t=12750847

that should narrow down the selection, maybe?

mazinevs

No haven't test ridden any of them yet was hoping to do that on weekend

taimur

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=44407

This bike has very good reviews. read on the forums that their sizes are smaller than conventional bikes so the 58 may be the same for you as a 54 in a cannondale or other.

at the same price you may even find components to be a tad better as well. I was considering a caad8 Tiagra but reading all the reviews of the low-end caad 8 and the cube bike comparison i have decided on the Cube streamer which comes with Ultegra comps.

Dont get me wrong, i am a cannondale fan but caad 8 seems to be the lowest end bike cannondale produces with lowend components.

giant_man

mazinevs wrote:

No haven't test ridden any of them yet was hoping to do that on weekend

Only will you know which one is right for you after a test ride ... the proof is in the pudding as they say .......

Berk Bonebonce

mazinevs wrote:

I think i need a triple as its my first road bike and it will give me confidence on the hills

That's a good line of thinking. Having a triple means that you can get up any hill out there, assuming a moderate level of fitness. Nothing worse that having to walk up a hill if you are a cyclist.

I wouldn't get too hung up on spec. Just make sure you get a bike the right size.

I have never really seen much point in test rides unless you can test ride a bike that is the right size. If you test ride the 'test bike' in the shop it will almost always invariably be of the wrong size and thus will usually give a wrong impression in terms of its suitability.

getprg

I've only been road riding 3 years and bought my first "roadie" not being sure that I would get hooked (which I now am) but FWIW would make the following observations about choosing the first bike based on hindsight:

Choose a bike with a frame that, if you get hooked, could be demoted to winter riding (essentially this means a frame and forks with mudguard eyelets) and used as your turbo trainer standby in the summer.

A triple is a good idea - and not just for hills. Winter riding and training involves a lot of base building (riding in heart rate zone 2 - quite a slow heart rate). Low gears on triples allow you to stay in this zone whilst still spinning the legs at a high cadence (rpm).

Maybe choose a bike with a transmission that is "upwards compatible". What does this mean and why? Well take Shimano transmissions for example. Their top 3 rear transmissions are all 10 speed - Dura Ace, Ultegra and 105 (whether triples or compacts) whilst lower ranges have less than 10 speeds. This means that swapping a wheel or components between winter and summer bikes may be easier if you start with a 10 speed - this essentially would mean buying a bike with 105 if you go Shimano (you can switch wheels between eg 9 and 10 speed bikes but you then need to change cassettes aswell). The downside is that 105 equipped bikes are more expensive. But you can have a cheap spare wheel with an indoor trainer tyre on it for both bikes to use winter and summer. Other transmissions (eg SRAM and Campagnolo) will probably have similar issues.

I bought a Giant SCR2 (now known as the Giant Defy) with Shimano Tiagra - a 9 speed. It is now my winter bike because it is mudguard compatible but my summer bike is 10 speed so swapping wheels is a bit of a fiddle. The Giant Defys also have mudguard eyelets.

FWIWI have been very pleased with the SCR2.

rolf_f

What's the difference in cadence for a given speed between the average road triple and the average road compact? Not a lot I believe.

Triples are fine if you use the granny ring, pointless if you don't. On my touring bike, I only really use the granny ring once things get to about 1 in 6 I'd reckon and that only because it is a heavy bike. I don't miss the granny ring on my much lighter road bikes.

Test ride well worth it - I wouldn't have known which bike to buy without one. Needs to be a decent length though; quite a few miles. I covered about 45 miles of test riding when I chose my bike.

mazinevs

thanks very much for all your help and advice i will take it on board, i am hoping to go tredz on friday and maybe an evans bike shop soon too

Avanti Roman

Evans will price match and there are plenty of retailers offering the CAAD 8 (TdF & Giro stage winning frame) with Tiagra on www.froogle.co.uk for under £700

I wouldn't bother about a triple tbh - a 50/34 compact with a 12-28 cassette will give you the same range and near identical low first gear as a 50/40/30 triple with a 12-25 cassette.

1stGenRex

Berk Bonebonce wrote:

mazinevs wrote:

I think i need a triple as its my first road bike and it will give me confidence on the hills

That's a good line of thinking. Having a triple means that you can get up any hill out there, assuming a moderate level of fitness. Nothing worse that having to walk up a hill if you are a cyclist.

I wouldn't get too hung up on spec. Just make sure you get a bike the right size.

I have never really seen much point in test rides unless you can test ride a bike that is the right size. If you test ride the 'test bike' in the shop it will almost always invariably be of the wrong size and thus will usually give a wrong impression in terms of its suitability.

at that prive point, the components are pretty much the same, so I would agree that getting hung up on specs is probably not the best idea, although I was choosing between an allez, and a caad8...both 2010 bikes on sale, and the reason I went with the caad8 was because the allez I was looking at had 2300 components, and I didn't want a red bike :P

fat lad in lycra

i went with a caad8 sora but went for the 2010 model as evans price match and got it for £450, and i think it looks better than the 2011

mazinevs

well i went for a cube peloton 2011 triple in the end, it just felt good and the right riding position for me paid a bit more than i was going to but thats life and this is my indulgance

any thoughts on this bike?

Avanti Roman

Nice looking bikes - I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

cumbriamike

I bought a Giant SCR2 (now known as the Giant Defy) with Shimano Tiagra - a 9 speed

Lots of sensible advice. I chose the same bike as you, interested to know what your next bike was?

getprg

Avanti Roman said
Nice looking bikes - I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

+1 now the fun begins

Rolf F said
What's the difference in cadence for a given speed between the average road triple and the average road compact? Not a lot I believe.

I'm sure that's right if the compact transmission offers the desired range - when I bought some did and some didn't. Latest compacts are offering ever wider spreads including eg the latest Shimano 105 and especially the recent entry level SRAM (which IIRC will even go as far as maybe 32 on the rear). But triples offered other attractions to me as a new entrant road rider. My power output was (and TBH still is) pretty weak compared to many riders (I am late 50's) - the triple offers me closer steps between gears meaning I am always in a comfortable gear and enabled me to ride the Etape du Dales, National Cyclosportive plus a couple of other sportives and a trip to the Alps. Plus when I'm training (I live near the Dales) I can warm down on the last 2 miles home involving nearly 800 ft of climb :oops: Oh to live at the bottom of a hill. The penalty I guess is some extra weight and having to "trim" the front changer when riding.

Cumbria Mike saidQuote:
I bought a Giant SCR2 (now known as the Giant Defy) with Shimano Tiagra - a 9 speed

Lots of sensible advice. I chose the same bike as you, interested to know what your next bike was?

I have bought a non-standard Giant TCR carbon with Dura Ace (a triple again) from Ebay. From my existing bike I knew the sizing would fit me, I viewed and test rode before buying - it had less than 900 miles, was less than a grand and is immaculate - I followed Bike Radar's advice about buying carbon second hand. I now need to keep training to do it justice this season. :shock: