First Serious road bike.....

J1mmys

Hi All,

I recently made the switch from Mountain Bikes to Road bikes. Intially i bought a Carrera Virtuoso as a entry level bike just to get into it, however now Im really enjoying it and ive even sold my Scott Genius MTB. So im looking at getting a more serious Road bike. Im looking really at under £1500. Im 6.1ft weighing 75kg so i guess ill need the stated size? So my choice so far are the:

Cannondale SuperSix Team 58cm 105 - rrp£1999 but can easily be found for £1400
Cube Agree GTC Pro 58cm?? (i heard cube bikes were v small) - £1549
Pinarello FP Due 105 57 or 59cm? - rrp£2299 can get it for £1800 (i could strech to this but 1500 was my limit)
Ribble Gran Fondo (campapnolo centuar black/red - £1300 or SRAM Force £1400) 58cm - £1400

So over I want a carbon frame, minium of 105 groupset really with a bike weight around 8-8.5kg.
CANNONDALE - I've read lots of views on the Cannondale saying how its such an amazing bike and in the team looks it looks stunning.
CUBE - The cube i spotted in Demon Tweeks and i was shocked at such a high spec for the money as the groupet here is part Ultegra/105 and also other features like internal cable routing seen normally on bikes much more than this. Again the bike has very good reviews.
PINARELLO - Then also the Pinarello i spotted in Tweeks they had in the British Cycling colours which looked awesome, although its a lot more expensive is the frame worth it? Review on this arent as good as the above above but it looks stunning and pinarello is the choice of many pro teams. Are they any good?
Ribble - Finally the ribble the most unknown out the 4, hard to get a proper review as its a custom bike. But very good value or it the frame just trash? As here i can go well above spec of the others with a Campag Centaur groupset in red with cabon crank and shifters or a SRAM force for similar money. Hmmmm?

Grill

Out of those I'd go Cannondale then Cube. Other bikes you may want to look at in your budget are the Focus Cayo and Canyon has a few offerings.

greentea

Out of those i would go
CUBE
PINARELLO
CANNONDALE
RIBBLE

J1mmys

Cube before the cannondale? I take it the ribble frame is pants compared to the others then?

arthur_scrimshaw

Cannondale would be my choice 1st, great looking, great to ride.

nmurray

Hi,

I am in the same position and am also looking at those bikes apart from the pinarello (bit too much).

I have read in some places that knocks to a carbon frame could damage it and crack during a ride. Is this something to be worried about? What about the cannondale caad10?

Thanks for your help,
Neil

J1mmys

I guess they are referring to a crash? Depends how bad you crash? The CAAD10 did catch my eye although id rather go SuperSix. One thing i did notice thou is on the tour of britain some of the liquigas riders are using CAAD10s not SuperSix's..hmmm??

With regards to the Pinarello mate, its the best looking bike in person for sure although dont get me wrong the cannondale is awesome looking! Its just the spec on pinarello is poor for a bike of that price its no better than the cannondale. If they were both the same price id go pinarello all day. Is the pinarello frame that much better than a supersix frame? Note the Cube is better spec'd than the other 2!

rolf_f

J1mmys wrote:

Cube before the cannondale? I take it the ribble frame is pants compared to the others then?

Greentea is listing according to personal taste mostly. Personally, I'd put the Pinarello at the bottom of the list because I don't like them! Personal prejudice and nothing more. Same as why Greentea puts the Ribble at the bottom - lots of folk regard Ribble as somewhat low rent but the truth is they sell madly good value bikes.

FWIW I have a Gran Fondo and a Look 585 (which is superficially a "better" bike than any in your list - ie for better read more expensive!). The Look was almost three times the price of the Gran Fondo and whilst it certainly is the better bike, the Gran Fondo is not so far behind. Certainly not to the extent that I enjoy my rides significantly less on the Ribble. The gap is likely to be smaller on the machines you list.

However, you can, via the Special Edition pages, get a Gran Fondo with Centaur and Campagnolo Khamsin wheels for less than £1200 and that's probably roughly where I'd stop with the Ribble. Off your list I'd either go that route and use the difference for other things that would make a real difference to your rides (eg some good quality kit) or I'd get the Cannondale in Liquigas colours which is probably about the only cool team replica bike going!

ugo.santalucia

These days frames are pretty much equivalent, pound for pound... they are all made in the same place, using the same quality fibers, same manufacturing processes, same tolerances and very similar designs. It's down to who offers you the better groupset and wheels for the money. If you get a bike with saying Shimano R500 wheels, within a week you'll be back here asking for advice on an upgrade, so you might as well get that sorted from the start and avoid the entry level junk.
Pinarello used to have a bit of wow factor, but these days there are more Pinarello around than Trek and Specialized, so I am not sure it is still the case.
Finally, if any of the above offers you lifetime warranty on the frame, that's a bonus, as cracks are not unheard of (although most fall outside the warranty cover as they're due to mis-use)

J1mmys

What would you suggest then? A supersix with say a 300-400 wheel upgrade?

ugo.santalucia wrote:

These days frames are pretty much equivalent, pound for pound... they are all made in the same place, using the same quality fibers, same manufacturing processes, same tolerances and very similar designs. It's down to who offers you the better groupset and wheels for the money. If you get a bike with saying Shimano R500 wheels, within a week you'll be back here asking for advice on an upgrade, so you might as well get that sorted from the start and avoid the entry level junk.
Pinarello used to have a bit of wow factor, but these days there are more Pinarello around than Trek and Specialized, so I am not sure it is still the case.
Finally, if any of the above offers you lifetime warranty on the frame, that's a bonus, as cracks are not unheard of (although most fall outside the warranty cover as they're due to mis-use)

ugo.santalucia

J1mmys wrote:

What would you suggest then? A supersix with say a 300-400 wheel upgrade?

ugo.santalucia wrote:

These days frames are pretty much equivalent, pound for pound... they are all made in the same place, using the same quality fibers, same manufacturing processes, same tolerances and very similar designs. It's down to who offers you the better groupset and wheels for the money. If you get a bike with saying Shimano R500 wheels, within a week you'll be back here asking for advice on an upgrade, so you might as well get that sorted from the start and avoid the entry level junk.
Pinarello used to have a bit of wow factor, but these days there are more Pinarello around than Trek and Specialized, so I am not sure it is still the case.
Finally, if any of the above offers you lifetime warranty on the frame, that's a bonus, as cracks are not unheard of (although most fall outside the warranty cover as they're due to mis-use)

I don't suggest, I just give you general advice... I think the bikes you mention are all the same things, just with different letters in the logo and slightly different colour schemes.
As for the groupset, I have always been a Campagnolo person, but the latest groupsets are certainly not better than the competition, so again, it's down to what you like the better

greentea

Rolf F wrote:

J1mmys wrote:

Cube before the cannondale? I take it the ribble frame is pants compared to the others then?

Greentea is listing according to personal taste mostly. Personally, I'd put the Pinarello at the bottom of the list because I don't like them! Personal prejudice and nothing more. Same as why Greentea puts the Ribble at the bottom - lots of folk regard Ribble as somewhat low rent but the truth is they sell madly good value bikes.

FWIW I have a Gran Fondo and a Look 585 (which is superficially a "better" bike than any in your list - ie for better read more expensive!). The Look was almost three times the price of the Gran Fondo and whilst it certainly is the better bike, the Gran Fondo is not so far behind. Certainly not to the extent that I enjoy my rides significantly less on the Ribble. The gap is likely to be smaller on the machines you list.

However, you can, via the Special Edition pages, get a Gran Fondo with Centaur and Campagnolo Khamsin wheels for less than £1200 and that's probably roughly where I'd stop with the Ribble. Off your list I'd either go that route and use the difference for other things that would make a real difference to your rides (eg some good quality kit) or I'd get the Cannondale in Liquigas colours which is probably about the only cool team replica bike going!

Yes it is just personal preference (and a bit of experience thrown in :-) ) I own a Cube and cant rate them enough, i also owned a Cannondale and had nothing but problems with the frame, but i know a lot of people havent.
I put the Pinarello second because i know two people who have them and they love them. And i put the Ribble last, not because i think the bikes are cr*p, i actually like them-the way they look and the way they ride from what ive read, but i also know a few people who have had terrible dealings with Ribble which is why i marked them last.

But each to their own, they are all good bikes in one way or another and everyones views are valid (and also worthless) at the same time. My biggest advice would always be to try them out, sit on them and make your own mind up. Its hard giving advice when someone says 'what should i get' because everyones opinion will be different.

J1mmys

Well i went to Tweeks to test the Cube out and the biggest they stock is a 58cm and that felt too small. The pinarello they also had in a 55cm which was big enough for me but the bset they could do was 1800. So i went to see the cannondale in Alf Jones and they had a 58cm in stock i haggled them down to a good price and its local so i couldnt resist. Pics will follow shortly.

J1mmys

Well here she is

chadders81

Lucky man. Great frames by all accounts and I am tempted by one of these myself though they will have sold out by the time I've got the cash together.

Slam that stem and get some road pedals on it

kangarouge

Good choice - great bike! It looks brilliant.

I think you will have a lot of fun on this. Happy riding.

nochekmate

Good choice - enjoy

J1mmys

Yeah you noticed the pedals doh lol, i still havent got round to swapping to SPD SL yet as the SPD's do the job fine and my shoes look fairly roadish for now.

I was lucky they has them for sale in my local bike store at RRP but i know you can haggle with them, he was trying to sell me a 56cm they had in the shop but i was like i want a bigger 58 really as my current 54 kills my hips. Stroke of luck hees only got a 58 boxed up in the back so was able to get the 2012 at a heavily discounted price. The 2013 colours are nice but not worth the extra coin really plus its a lower spec.

greentea

Enjoy the bike, good luck!