Rose Carbon Pro SL 3000

e17blade
e17blade Posts: 215
edited September 2014 in Your road bikes
For a couple of years now I have been commuting into central London and going out for weekend blasts around Epping Forest on my trusty Giant Rapid. It's been a great bike, and I will keep it, but my mileage has got high enough and my riding good enough (I think!) to justify having my first ever "proper road bike".

Months of research - on this forum, in bike shops, emailing manufacturers and annoying everyone I know whose opinion I trust - led me finally to Rose in Germany and a Carbon Pro SL 3000. A huge raft of measurements and an epic email conversation with the extremely helpful Peter at Rose satisfied me that I was getting a bike that fitted well - so I pulled the trigger.

After a fairly short wait my next door neighbour knocked on my door and told me he had taken delivery of "a really big box" for me. Oh happy days.....

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Rather than tearing the box to pieces in the style of a little kid at Christmas, I got as far as this and got really nervous.....

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I got over myself though and got on with it :D

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Frame: High Modulus Aerospace Carbon Fibre
Fork: Full carbon
Groupset: Shimano Ultegra 6700 (inc pedals)
Wheels: Mavic Ksyrium Equipe
Tyres: Continental Grand Prix 4000 S
Seat post: FSA SL-K SB20 Carbon
Saddle: Prologo Nago Evo T2.0
Handlebar: FSA Wing Pro Compact, oversize
Stem: FSA SL-K, oversize, with carbon cap

Went out for my first ride yesterday on my regular hour run round Epping Forest despite feeling pretty lethargic - I am recovering from a bad concussion - and promptly set a whole host of personal bests on Strava :D

I can't think of anything bad to say at all. The compact chain set will take a bit of getting used to though as my Giant had a triple and I was pretty lazy and stayed in the middle ring about 90% of the time.

I am in love!

Cheers.

Dave
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Comments

  • Calpol
    Calpol Posts: 1,039
    Very nice indeed. Is the stem flipped deliberately?
  • mattbell
    mattbell Posts: 203
    you need to flip your stem over, it's the wrong way up! You'll get even faster strava times then!
  • mr_sj
    mr_sj Posts: 507
    Lovely looking bike, i came very close to ordering a rose myself but in the end realised i just couldnt afford it :-(

    You get a hell of a lot of bike for your money and they look great
    summer bike - Kinesis KiC2

    winter bike - Planet x uncle john
  • Markjaspi
    Markjaspi Posts: 729
    Love it, but as mentioned flip the stem mate.
    Cipollini Bond
    Pinarello GAN
  • e17blade
    e17blade Posts: 215
    Markjaspi wrote:
    Love it, but as mentioned flip the stem mate.

    I did think that, but it came like that and I thought I would try it like that and then flip it to see the difference.

    Is it actually 'upside down' or do people just 'prefer' it the other way up?

    Might swap it over before I go out at the weekend.

    Cheers.

    Dave
  • chigman
    chigman Posts: 163
    That bike is a wet dream mate - get out now and enjoy it. :lol:

    Love it 8)

    Steve
    Canyon Ultimate CF SLX 7.0
    Cube Crossteam Hybrid
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Markjaspi wrote:
    Love it, but as mentioned flip the stem mate.

    ironically, his saddle/bar drop is lower than yours with his stem inverted.. ;)
  • Markjaspi
    Markjaspi Posts: 729
    Yeh your right, but I've got short legs Ha so I can't get the saddle much higher, but I think it's the aesthetics too.
    Cipollini Bond
    Pinarello GAN
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Markjaspi wrote:
    Yeh your right, but I've got short legs Ha so I can't get the saddle much higher, but I think it's the aesthetics too.

    you can get the bars lower though...
  • El Correcto
    El Correcto Posts: 6
    Lovely bike. Don't see that brand very often out here in sunny California. Ride safe and enjoy it!
  • philwint
    philwint Posts: 763
    Now that is an extremely beautiful bike - enjoy!
    Phil

    www.philwinterbourne.co.uk
  • nevman
    nevman Posts: 1,611
    Got to say that bike would suit me to a T.Bargain buy there fella.
    Whats the solution? Just pedal faster you baby.

    Summer B,man Team Carbon LE#222
    Winter Alan Top Cross
    All rounder Spec. Allez.
  • canny_lad
    canny_lad Posts: 329
    Very nice, good choice.
  • e17blade
    e17blade Posts: 215
    E17Blade wrote:
    Markjaspi wrote:
    Love it, but as mentioned flip the stem mate.

    I did think that, but it came like that and I thought I would try it like that and then flip it to see the difference.

    Is it actually 'upside down' or do people just 'prefer' it the other way up?

    Might swap it over before I go out at the weekend.

    Cheers.

    Dave

    Stem now flipped................. and it's much better!
  • Markjaspi
    Markjaspi Posts: 729
    How are you getting on with that saddle mate, thinking of upgrading my Kappa to either one of those or the all carbon C.one 30?
    Cipollini Bond
    Pinarello GAN
  • Markjaspi
    Markjaspi Posts: 729
    Imposter wrote:
    Markjaspi wrote:
    Yeh your right, but I've got short legs Ha so I can't get the saddle much higher, but I think it's the aesthetics too.

    you can get the bars lower though...

    Yeh I'm pondering a bike fit, so I might wait until its set up properly.
    Cipollini Bond
    Pinarello GAN
  • e17blade
    e17blade Posts: 215
    Markjaspi wrote:
    How are you getting on with that saddle mate, thinking of upgrading my Kappa to either one of those or the all carbon C.one 30?

    I like it a lot - probably the best thing I can say about it is that I didn't really notice it when riding.

    I haven't put down a lot of miles yet though, and it isn't like I have tried a wide range of other saddles to have much field of reference either, but still, it's all good so far.
  • likeakipper8
    likeakipper8 Posts: 19
    Just got the same exact model as well, only been able to take it out once properly but seems great so far. I'll get my pics up when I get some taken with a decent camera :)
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 61,478
    Very nice - IMO Rose road bikes are under-rated. Also the pics on the Rose website don't do the bikes justice.
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • shamrock134
    shamrock134 Posts: 714
    Rose seem to hide in the shadow of Canyon.

    Perhaps if Rose had a team associated with them in the Pro Peleton they'd get a bigger profile?
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 61,478
    shamrock134 wrote:
    Rose seem to hide in the shadow of Canyon.

    Perhaps if Rose had a team associated with them in the Pro peloton they'd get a bigger profile?
    I was thinking that as well. Canyon seem to have hit the spotlight amongst the German direct sellers, probably for a number of reasons - though I'm not knocking them.

    I also really like the Rose 'build your own spec bike' option, though last time I looked it didn't seem to be there?
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • e17blade
    e17blade Posts: 215
    likeakipper8 wrote:
    Just got the same exact model as well, only been able to take it out once properly but seems great so far. I'll get my pics up when I get some taken with a decent camera :)

    Hope you are as happy with yours as I am with mine. Just got back from 54 miles of freezing fun in Hertfordshire and my enthusiasm is undimmed.

    What was your buying experience like? I thought Rose were absolutely first class.
  • e17blade
    e17blade Posts: 215
    Stevo 666 wrote:
    Very nice - IMO Rose road bikes are under-rated. Also the pics on the Rose website don't do the bikes justice.

    Good point - the website pics are pretty poor - the bike looks amazing in real life. Their marketing department must have a job vacancy or two!
  • e17blade
    e17blade Posts: 215
    Stevo 666 wrote:
    shamrock134 wrote:
    Rose seem to hide in the shadow of Canyon.

    Perhaps if Rose had a team associated with them in the Pro peloton they'd get a bigger profile?
    I was thinking that as well. Canyon seem to have hit the spotlight amongst the German direct sellers, probably for a number of reasons - though I'm not knocking them.

    I also really like the Rose 'build your own spec bike' option, though last time I looked it didn't seem to be there?

    At first I was customising my bike using the online configurator (which is great by the way). However my bike switched to being a "discontinued model" so I couldn't use the configurator. A quick email to Rose though and they replied immediately to say that every single component could be changed if I wanted to and that all I had to do was ask. Seriously great service.
  • shamrock134
    shamrock134 Posts: 714
    Hope you don't mind me adding more Rose love. :D

    IMG_1953.jpg
  • likeakipper8
    likeakipper8 Posts: 19
    E17Blade wrote:
    likeakipper8 wrote:
    Just got the same exact model as well, only been able to take it out once properly but seems great so far. I'll get my pics up when I get some taken with a decent camera :)

    Hope you are as happy with yours as I am with mine. Just got back from 54 miles of freezing fun in Hertfordshire and my enthusiasm is undimmed.

    What was your buying experience like? I thought Rose were absolutely first class.

    Very happy with it, only done a quick 15 miles on it at the moment, but the difference between that and my £500 Specialized Allez is obvious (and I still love the Allez). I think they've made up for selling direct from the factory by having top class customer service. I was tempted with Canyon but the fact that Rose allow you to customise the bike swung it in their favour. I had to wait just over a month (although the bank's fraud department blocking the transaction for a week was out of their control) but to get a full carbon bike with the components I wanted it was worth it. It's not like I would have ridden it much in December anyway
  • e17blade
    e17blade Posts: 215
    likeakipper8 - exactly my thoughts on the Canyon/Rose trade off.

    I am far from a freak of nature size-wise, but among other things I ended up with wider bars (broad shoulders) and a longer crank (big feet). I also ditched the white saddle and tape in favour of black for solely practical reasons.

    Sometimes these small details make all the difference.
  • e17blade
    e17blade Posts: 215
    shamrock134 wrote:
    Hope you don't mind me adding more Rose love. :D

    IMG_1953.jpg

    Is that a Xeon CRS? Very nice indeed!
  • likeakipper8
    likeakipper8 Posts: 19
    E17Blade wrote:
    likeakipper8 - exactly my thoughts on the Canyon/Rose trade off.

    I am far from a freak of nature size-wise, but among other things I ended up with wider bars (broad shoulders) and a longer crank (big feet). I also ditched the white saddle and tape in favour of black for solely practical reasons.

    Sometimes these small details make all the difference.


    Apart from wanting shallow drop bars and a carbon seat post my changes were aesthetic (so long as there was no compromise on quality) and I ended up with red tyres, pedals and bar tape to match the red on the top tube. I'll try and get pics of mine up on here soon although it's not exactly light years away from your machine :)
  • e17blade
    e17blade Posts: 215
    likeakipper8 wrote:
    E17Blade wrote:
    likeakipper8 - exactly my thoughts on the Canyon/Rose trade off.

    I am far from a freak of nature size-wise, but among other things I ended up with wider bars (broad shoulders) and a longer crank (big feet). I also ditched the white saddle and tape in favour of black for solely practical reasons.

    Sometimes these small details make all the difference.


    Apart from wanting shallow drop bars and a carbon seat post my changes were aesthetic (so long as there was no compromise on quality) and I ended up with red tyres, pedals and bar tape to match the red on the top tube. I'll try and get pics of mine up on here soon although it's not exactly light years away from your machine :)

    Unless I am very much mistaken..... it comes with a carbon seat post doesn't it? Mine did anyway.

    Which bars did you go for?

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