Cannondale Caad 8 105 or Carbon frame

1964johnr

I like the look of the 2014 Cannondale Caad 8 105 for £1100. Aluminium frame. I also like the Pinarello FP Uno 105 Carbon frame for £2350. I have never had a carbon frame before. Is there £1250 worth of difference between the two?

nochekmate

The simple answer is of course, no it's not. The Pinarello is considerably more expensive than other bikes due to the brand name and you could probably get a decent carbon framed bike for a similar price the to CAAD8 anyway.

This may only be Tiagra but given the price of the Pinarello here, if you are set on that, flog the Tiagra and you could even get Ultegra and come in well under £2K

http://www.cyclingandrunning.com/produc ... medium=cpc

I've just purchased a Giant TCR2 alu bike off this forum with Tiagra 9 speed for £300 (minus wheels) and it is a great bike - is my best carbon bike 10x better? No - in fact in terms of performance/speed there is very little in it (albeit I've put some nice wheels on the Giant)

You have chosen one of the most 'overpriced' brands in terms of spec in Pinarello to compare the CAAD to.

You could always look secondhand for value - this had a £1500 Buy It Now price originally for example, which given the spec looked competitive.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Canyon-Aeroad ... 4acce1c21a

bikeit65

have a look at Planet X brilliant value for money

matt-h

Pinarello is not my cup of tea but as Nochekmate says, you can upgrade the tiagra for less.
Ultegra 6800 11 speed is available for less than £600 and a set of handbuilts and it would ride very well.

Matt

kajjal

I would be careful of the marketing BS in cycling. Most riders are not fast enough, fit enough and don't have the bike handling skills to need more expensive bikes. By all means buy one if you like one but after about £1000 you need to spend a lot more to get a noticeable improvement. Also you need to understand clearly your riding style and what you want from a bike to get the most for your money at higher prices.