The thread formerly known as "Which Bike with £5-6k"

cdc02254

I know these threads can get a bit boring but its good to hear from people who may actually own and ride such bikes.

I'm about to buy a new bike with a budget of £5-6k. I am a bit of an all round rider love to get out the seat for a sprint and enjoy climbing.

I currently own a 2011 trek madone 6.9 (SRAM RED) and a Moda stretto (SRAM RED)but its time for a new bike, I have a set of Zipp 202's and 404's which I will probably continue to use and I will opt for SRAM RED as I havnt had any problems with mechanical, can service it and like the idea of the weight saving.

I have been looking closely at the following two bikes in particular :-

Cervelo R5
Canyon ultimate cf slx 9.0

I do really like the idea of the Canyon but am attracted by the pedigree of the Cervelo, it has great reviews and at a good price but every review I read has a line in it something like "at this price its the closest thing you'll get to a pro bike"

So what I want to determine is if the bikes were unbranded which would be best or is there anything else I should consider.
Sadly I don't have the time at the moment to go out testing lots of bikes.

Let the fun begin...

Mccaria

Ok,

I will bite and give some views. Its not clear from your post whether the budget is £5-6k to spend, or the total cost with the wheels you already own should come in at £5-6k.

Assume you are looking at buying a frame and building up since you have the wheels and Canyon don't spec SRAM as one of their build options.

I had the previous generation Canyon SLX and have an R5 VWD. They are both lightweight frames and both have relatively high head tubes. On balance of the 2, I prefer the Canyon to the R5, the BBright bottom bracket on the Cervelo is a bit restrictive and the internal finish on the Cervelo was a bit rough for a frame at its price point. Not sure what price you are looking at for the R5, but I think retail it is pretty much twice the price of the Canyon and I don't think it is worth the price differential. I would be loathe to pay any more for the Cervelo than the Canyon, I put the 2 frames pretty much on a par build and performance wise.

If I was going for a light frame on this budget I am not sure I would go for either, but would probably plump for some variant of the Parlee Z5. This is a light frame and well made with good manufacturer support.

At this price point there are so many frame options available, choose one that is the right geometry (or get one bespoke) for you and then its down to aesthetics and bottom bracket preferences.

cdc02254

Thanks for your reply.

My budget is £5-6k, which would get me the Cervelo with out wheels and I could use my Zipps or but the Canyon which does come with RED 22.
I think you answered my main question when you said "I would be loathe to pay any more for the Cervelo than the Canyon, I put the 2 frames pretty much on a par build and performance wise".

The Parlee Z5 has come onto my radar a few times but the spec I liked was hitting £7-8k.

Mccaria

Apologies - when I bought my Canyon they didn't do SRAM.

I think the Canyon is one of the best "bang for buck" frames available. The trade-off is obviously the distance buying.

I am surprised the Parlee work out that expensive. Circa £3.5k (a bit of room for negotiation) for the frame and then circa £1.2k (Merlin price today) for SRAM Red would still leave quite a bit for the finishing kit ?

Good luck with you choice.

rafletcher

You can choose a frameset up to what, £4k with that budget? Then why not go custom carbon - Legend by Bertoletti 7.5 is £3k, but you might even get a 9.5 which is custom carbon tubes as well as geometry.

http://roadcyclinguk.com/gear/bespoked- ... letti.html

meesterbond

As a very happy R5 owner I probably should come down on that side, but at full RRP it does seem very expensive - I paid £2k for mine which (to me) feels about the right level - not sure I'd ever had gone to £3,500 which appears to be what the VWD is going for.

By the same token, I probably wouldn't pay £5k for the Canyon. Any Canyon in fact. Personal prejudice I know, but if I were spending that amount of money I'd want something a little more special. I've owned a Canyon and I've no doubt the Ultimate would be excellent, but a little 'mass market' for that amount of money.

I'd definitely look at full-custom for that sort of money - Alchemy, Parlee etc. There's plenty of options out there and for that money they deserve some consideration.

pippi_langsamer-2

Again, some good examples of 2nd hand Parlee's out there that can be had:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PARLEE-Z5-SL- ... 4ad1282da7

...and use the rest of your hard-earned to take it to Majorca or-the-like

I was lucky enough to get a silly deal on one a cpl of years ago- best bike I've ever ridden & I still haven't seen another one on my local roads. High end design & technology yet timeless "classic", look tube wise. Im not into all these faddy "aero", frames etc etc....

cdc02254

Ummmm,

Parlee Z5i £3100
SRAM RED 22 £1400
Seat, Handlebars, cables etc £800
Zipp 202/404 £000
Total £5300

Looks interesting.

LegendLust

Go custom with your budget.

Some custom carbon builders can lay up their carbon tubes and build it to ride how you want it to - not only that if you get fitted you can get it built made-to-measure to ensure a perfect fit.

As someone has pointed out - some very good Legend frames are in your budget

http://www.lebeauvelo.co.uk/index.php/b ... 9-5-carbon

http://www.lebeauvelo.co.uk/index.php/b ... 7-5-carbon

cdc02254

So would Lebeau carry out a bike fit and then order the frame for me?

rafletcher

cdc02254 wrote:

So would Lebeau carry out a bike fit and then order the frame for me?

I got the impression (from talking to the owner of a 7.5 - standard lay-up but custom geometry) that he dealt directly with the factory, sent in his measurements, discussed his type of riding etc. though I'm sure a number of high end resellers like lebeau or bespoked will act as intermediary. The 9.5 (and 10.5!) have custom lay-ups of the tubes as well as custom geometry.

http://legend-bikes.com/

Mccaria

Is this correct ?

Lebeau is pricing the exact same frame at £500 differential. Is it a typo or have I missed something. I am guessing a typo and it should be £3,200 as the pricing on the 9.5 is the same.

http://www.bike-science.com/products/le ... ameandfork

LegendLust

cdc02254 wrote:

So would Lebeau carry out a bike fit and then order the frame for me?

Yes, as do all the other Legend dealers. It's part of the Legend business model - a bit like buying a bespoke suit - you wouldn't dream of getting one without being measured up!

Also if you get in touch with Legend UK they can organise a trip to the factory to meet Marco, see how the frames are built and get fitted there if you like!

LegendLust

Mccaria wrote:

Is this correct ?

Lebeau is pricing the exact same frame at £500 differential. Is it a typo or have I missed something. I am guessing a typo and it should be £3,200 as the pricing on the 9.5 is the same.

http://www.bike-science.com/products/le ... ameandfork

Mmm don't know. I'm pretty sure Legend UK have the same pricing structure for all dealers - perhaps Bike Science haven't updated to the 2014 prices yet?

Mccaria

Took a long look at the 7.5 HT. Last year it was £3k and this year it went up to £3,200 and they changed the rear triangle. Both BikeScience and Velosport have it on at £3,200 with the same 2014 picture of a red frame and like you I am pretty sure all dealers work to the same price structure.

Also at £3,700 I don't think there is enough of a price gap to the all custom £4,100 9.5 HT.

Anyway, net net, shouldn't pay over £3,200 for the 7.5 HT !!

djhermer

cdc02254 wrote:

Ummmm,

Parlee Z5i £3100
SRAM RED 22 £1400
Seat, Handlebars, cables etc £800
Zipp 202/404 £000
Total £5300

Looks interesting.

What he said. Plus you can custom paint your frame for a tad extra. Exchange the Zipps for something with more class and you're onto a winner

northpole

If you are looking to buy new and aren't in any hurry, it may make sense to hold fire until the Colnago C60 is released and see what that has to offer? Only thing is that there seem to be many rumours and very few facts as to when exactly it will be available (or indeed its spec!).

Canyon are great - you mainly need to decide if the badge does it for you at that price point.

I think I would rather look at a Spesh Tarmac S Works than a Cervelo, but that is just my bias. My soon to be superseded best bike is a Wilier Cento Uno. I still think it is fantastic and I will be holding on to it until the new bike proves itself (when built!).

It is worth spending some time over this in the context that 2 or 3 years down the line not many bikes will have any value.

Peter

cdc02254

Been spending some time this afternoon reading up on the Legend HT 7.5, this sounds like a great frame, I hadnt considered a custom frame as I thought i would go over my budget. I have contacted Legend and they are going to forward me some details on the frames and some questions.

I dont want to open another can of worms but "What he said. Plus you can custom paint your frame for a tad extra. Exchange the Zipps for something with more class and you're onto a winner " !!!!!!!!!!!

cdc02254

Just want to make sure im not losing sight of my requirements. I am an aggressive rider, I like to climb hills as fast as I can and sprint whenever I can but also like a nice long Sunday ride around the Kent countryside.

Is the Legend HT 7.5 a suitable frame for me?

DHA987S

Custom custom custom.

Have a spesh roubaix s-works (granted not everyone's cup of tea) running DA9070 with zipp 202s for £5700 depending where you buy

Evil Laugh

Z5 all day long assuming it fits.

Custom paint and awesome customer service/warranty.

ride_whenever

Given the fact you have wheels and like climbing, I'd toss the 695 light into the ring, stock spec is DA900 and aksiums which is kinda ideal in your situation.

The z5 is amazing, and I love it, but it's not quite as racy as the 695, probably due to the cranks which are the most stunning piece of crankset porn you'll ever see. It is still comfy enough to ride all day due to the magic seatpost (if you have to put in the re-post, standard post thing for when you cut it too far, it's massively too stifff to ride for prolonged periods)

Easy to get a custom build to your spec for your money, especially when you don't need cranks, stem and post, and brakes if you go for an aerolight.

LegendLust

cdc02254 wrote:

Just want to make sure im not losing sight of my requirements. I am an aggressive rider, I like to climb hills as fast as I can and sprint whenever I can but also like a nice long Sunday ride around the Kent countryside.

Is the Legend HT 7.5 a suitable frame for me?

Marco can customise the frame so it rides how you want. The main tubes on the 7.5 are custom drawn, in fact I'm pretty sure it's the same main triangle as the 9.5. The 9.5 differs in that the rear triangle is fully custom drawn tubing.

if you get fitted/made-to-measure it will be comfortable for your Sunday strolls but he'll build it stiff enough for when you want to be aggressive

LegendLust

cdc02254 wrote:

Been spending some time this afternoon reading up on the Legend HT 7.5, this sounds like a great frame, I hadnt considered a custom frame as I thought i would go over my budget. I have contacted Legend and they are going to forward me some details on the frames and some questions.

I dont want to open another can of worms but "What he said. Plus you can custom paint your frame for a tad extra. Exchange the Zipps for something with more class and you're onto a winner " !!!!!!!!!!!

Have you read this glowing review?

http://road.cc/content/review/78147-legend-ht-75

galatzo

Agree with the above re flogging the Zipps.
Do it and take a trip to Italy.
Chance to really make it yours.

cdc02254

Flying to Pisa next week for a bike fitting with Giuseppe Giannechini.

Opted for a Legend HT9.5

Now I am excited.

rafletcher

Good choice - I envy you

Mccaria

So you totally blew the budget !!

Congrats.

LegendLust

cdc02254 wrote:

Flying to Pisa next week for a bike fitting with Giuseppe Giannechini.

Opted for a Legend HT9.5

Now I am excited.

Good choice Sir. You'll love the whole experience and especially the bike!

cdc02254

Budgets are there to be blown.

The more I thought about the amount I have spent on stock bikes in the past and although relatively happy with them there has always been a couple of niggles on each bike.

Now I have to choose a colour scheme that will ensure the bike can be taken home without arousing unwelcome suspicion.

Mccaria

So sloping off to Italy will not raise suspicions, but a bike will ?

I try and make all my bikes black and work on the basis that something so mundane will not raise the level of interest. Blew that with the C59 in Mapei colours but sometimes you just have to do it ! Really like the matt blue in the Legend, have fun choosing and hope to see it out in Kent/Surrey soon.