Cannondale v Focus - final decisions
pedalbasher
Posts: 215
A pal of mine is on the cusp of buying his dream bike, and has narrowed the search down to two options, as follows:
1. Cannondale SuperSix Evo Hi Mod Red (2013) @ £3,000 (RRP £5,000) - http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/cate ... -12-46892/
- comes with Vision TC24 tubular wheels, which he would look to sell
- has been offered Mavic Ksyrium SLSs for an additional £400, so would look to sell the Visions to cover this
- full SRAM Red
- fantastic reviews but this would be a mail order buy (although he has tried for size already)
- would need to buy pedals and Garmin separately (c. additional £400)
2. Focus Izalco Team SL 3.0 (2014) @ £3,125 - http://www.focus-bikes.com/gb/en/bikes/ ... sl-30.html
- comes with free Garmin 800 and Dura Ace SPD-SL pedals
- comes with Fulcrum WH-CEX 2.5 wheels (similar to Fulcrum 3s?)
- full Dura Ace (mech)
- Tour spec, apparently frame set is an "upgrade" on the award-winning Izalco Pro frame
On face value, in terms of value for spec, the Cannondale probably wins. But is it really worth the extra hassle/risk of buying mail order vs (friendly and helpful) LBS (who have worked hard to cut him a good deal in an attempt to sway him into buying the Focus)? It is very hard to quantify the performance gains between 2 incredibly high-spec bikes - both of which he admits will be more than he will ever need, but ultimately he wants the best bang for buck possible.
Any thoughts much appreciated.
Cheers
1. Cannondale SuperSix Evo Hi Mod Red (2013) @ £3,000 (RRP £5,000) - http://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/cate ... -12-46892/
- comes with Vision TC24 tubular wheels, which he would look to sell
- has been offered Mavic Ksyrium SLSs for an additional £400, so would look to sell the Visions to cover this
- full SRAM Red
- fantastic reviews but this would be a mail order buy (although he has tried for size already)
- would need to buy pedals and Garmin separately (c. additional £400)
2. Focus Izalco Team SL 3.0 (2014) @ £3,125 - http://www.focus-bikes.com/gb/en/bikes/ ... sl-30.html
- comes with free Garmin 800 and Dura Ace SPD-SL pedals
- comes with Fulcrum WH-CEX 2.5 wheels (similar to Fulcrum 3s?)
- full Dura Ace (mech)
- Tour spec, apparently frame set is an "upgrade" on the award-winning Izalco Pro frame
On face value, in terms of value for spec, the Cannondale probably wins. But is it really worth the extra hassle/risk of buying mail order vs (friendly and helpful) LBS (who have worked hard to cut him a good deal in an attempt to sway him into buying the Focus)? It is very hard to quantify the performance gains between 2 incredibly high-spec bikes - both of which he admits will be more than he will ever need, but ultimately he wants the best bang for buck possible.
Any thoughts much appreciated.
Cheers
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Comments
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Ps majority of riding will be up to 50 miles, some sportives, possibly a bit of racing, 24 hour relay race etc.0
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SSE everytime, Pauls Cycles are pretty good as are many othersI'm sorry you don't believe in miracles0
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Cheers, any tangible differences in the ride / quality? Surely tough to argue one Tour-proven bike is so much better than another?0
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go and ride them both, its the only way of getting the right bike.0
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giant man wrote:go and ride them both, its the only way of getting the right bike.
He's ridden them both, they both feel spot on, is there any reason why one on paper is considerably better value than the other?0 -
I own the hi mod supersix evo with the SLS wheels. However, if your mate cannot differentiate between the ride quality of both then I would go for the Focus. Both are pro level frames, SRAM Red is comparable to Dura ace, the SLS is probably better than the Fulcrum wheels but this is countered by the pedal and Garmin 800 offer. The Cannondale at £5000 wasn't a bargain.0
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Cannondale has lifetime warranty vs 5 years Focus?0
