Which Aero Bike?

JesseD

I am looking to bite the bullet and buy a new road bike, I have decided that I want a do it all bike and given there are no big hills where I live and the racing is mainly crits or undulating road races I have decided that I want an aero bike.

I have narrowed it down to 3 bikes, these are the new Giant Propel Advanced Pro 1, the new Cervelo S3 or a Merida Reacto CF 905. All have Ultegra but with different finishing kits

The Giant is the most expensive @ £3050 but comes with 55mm carbon wheels, the Cervelo is £2800 has a Rotor chainset and Mavic Cosmic alloy wheels and the Merida is £2425 and comes with fulcrum alloy wheels.

If I get the Giant I will get a pair of training wheels and would buy some carbon hoops to race on with the other 2.

So my question is which do I go for, I have read reviews on all of them and the Cervelo seems to be the clear winner however the Giant also gets good reviews too. I cant ride them as all would need to be ordered in to my lbs so I cant compare personally.

Thoughts and opinions please?

Yellow Peril

I believe Giant spent a long time honing that frameset and they always produce bikes that are either bike of the year or there or there abouts in polls.

Anonymous

1. There is no such thing as a do it all bike

2. If you want to ride Critiriums, get an alu frame unless you can afford to crash a nice carbon one.

sloppyschleckonds

Cervelo or Canyon would be wear my money would go

w00dster

For racing I would look at a canyon Al frame. Light with decent components and from reviews its a very good frame. The odd one won't do too much damage.
If I was just looking for a very good aero bike I would be looking at a 2014 Trek Madone. As these are no longer made you can pick up a dura ace 5.9 Madone for £2800 at the moment (Evans). I'm a bit biased as I ride one myself.

ilm_zero7

biased, but check out the Wilier Air - it makes the Giant look as if it was designed by a blind man !

thegreatdivide

Scott Foil.

meanredspider

thegreatdivide wrote:

Scott Foil.

+1 - I think that there are still a few good deals to be had if you will accept Di2 too. I was reading the Horse for the Course article on BR about the Foil. With the budget you have and one of the cheap Foil frames, you could build an awesome bike.

thegreatdivide

meanredspider wrote:

thegreatdivide wrote:

Scott Foil.

+1 - I think that there are still a few good deals to be had if you will accept Di2 too. I was reading the Horse for the Course article on BR about the Foil. With the budget you have and one of the cheap Foil frames, you could build an awesome bike.

Just read the same article yesterday!

JesseD

Thanks for all the responses so far, there are a couple of reasons i narrowed it down to the bikes mentioned which are that i am buying through my LBS, i don't live on the UK mainland and want the backup a LBS can offer which 8 qouldnt get with buying online etc, also the geometry, on the the Cervelo and the Giant suit me better as they have slightly taller headtubes than the Scott Foil and other aero frames (vanity say minimal spacers under the stem). The Giant is a nice machine but is the most expensive and there is not much wiggle room on price, where as i think there may be a deal to do on the Cervelo!

I thought about an alu frame for racing amd was going to go for a spesh allez f&f with dura ace throughput but the costs soon add up and i already have an old cannondale system six which could be used for crits if i wanted.

Not seen the wiler air, will check it out as i know Big Maggys bike shop sell Wiler, although they are not cheap.

DKay

If you're concerned about the small head tube on the Foil, bear in mind that the fork is 10mm longer than normal. So the overall stack height may actually be smaller than you think.

Cheshire Cat

One thing I can say for the Cervelo S3 is that it's very comfortable on long rides, can't compare it to the others unfortunately.

meanredspider

thegreatdivide wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

thegreatdivide wrote:

Scott Foil.

+1 - I think that there are still a few good deals to be had if you will accept Di2 too. I was reading the Horse for the Course article on BR about the Foil. With the budget you have and one of the cheap Foil frames, you could build an awesome bike.

Just read the same article yesterday!

This is my "poor man's" version of that bike

sloppyschleckonds

Is it safe to ride with all those spacers!?

meanredspider

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Is it safe to ride with all those spacers!?

Both safe and matches my Bike Whisperer bike fit perfectly. Vanity over spacers is something I'll leave to kids

Captain Fagor

meanredspider wrote:

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

Is it safe to ride with all those spacers!?

Both safe and matches my Bike Whisperer bike fit perfectly. Vanity over spacers is something I'll leave to kids

The Bike Whisperer didn't manufacture your fork. I'd check your owner's manual. [For instance IIRC, the Cervelo S5 fork has a spacer limitation which isn't that generous: something like 40mm]

Captain Fagor

On the OP's question: what about a Cervelo S5 frameset? There are discounted 2012 and 2013 framesets available for under £1.5k around, leaving a similar amount for completing the build. [Example: 56cm on eBay via Swinnerton Cycles for £1350]

meanredspider

Captain Fagor wrote:

The Bike Whisperer didn't manufacture your fork. I'd check your owner's manual. [For instance IIRC, the Cervelo S5 fork has a spacer limitation which isn't that generous: something like 40mm]

Thanks. You don't think I checked that already?

Captain Fagor

Looking at the relative inclinations of the saddle, handlebars and the hoods on that Scott, I didn't know what to think.

Whatever the spacer limit of those forks is, I imagine you're pretty close to it.

meanredspider

Captain Fagor wrote:

Looking at the relative inclinations of the saddle, handlebars and the hoods on that Scott, I didn't know what to think.

Whatever the spacer limit of those forks is, I imagine you're pretty close to it.

The inclination is an optical illusion caused by the framing of the pic and angle of the bike to the wall (For reference, looking at the skirting board) - it's just a snap I did for a mate. The main section of the saddle is dead level but the picture makes it look very "nose down".

Yup - I'm at the spacer limit which, as I said, is fine because the geo is all as per my bike fit. Happily churn out centuries on it with no fit issues.

Undertones

Felt AR5(and wheels) or AR4. Better than most.

DKay

Captain Fagor wrote:

Looking at the relative inclinations of the saddle, handlebars and the hoods on that Scott, I didn't know what to think.

Whatever the spacer limit of those forks is, I imagine you're pretty close to it.

The ability of forum users to do visual bike fits for individuals never ceases to amaze me.

JesseD

Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas re different bikes that might suit, I am keen to only buy from an LBS as I do not live on the mainland UK and I would prefer some aftersales support which buying over the internet doesn’t always guarantee.

I went in to see the Cervelo on the weekend and must admit I really do like it, and after a chat with this LBS, they would be willing to do the bike, race wheels (probably Fast Forward F6C’s), some sundries such as pumps, cages, tubes etc and a Rutel bike fit for within my budget, so all in all a good deal.

I am going to pop in to some other LBS’s this week as check out the Scott Foil and the Felt AR ranges and see what they can offer me, then based on what fits out of these bikes and whatthe best deals are I will pull the trigger.

Shortlist is then:

Cervelo S3
Giant Propel Advanced Pro 1
Scott Foil 10
Felt AR2 or 3 (depending on the deal I can get)

I am pretty excited about buying a spanking new bike as I have always bought second hand or nearly new framesets and built up the bikes myself, so to have something brand spanking new will be a new experience for me

I will post some pics once I have taken delivery of the bike, plus a report after a month or so of riding.

DKay

I'd pick the Felt out of that line-up, even though I own a Foil. The AR2 comes with a better frame than the AR3 btw (2015 models).

JesseD

DKay wrote:

I'd pick the Felt out of that line-up, even though I own a Foil. The AR2 comes with a better frame than the AR3 btw (2015 models).

Popped into another LBS at lunchtime and had a look at the Felt, I must admit I was pretty taken by it and the price is pretty good as well. I looked at the 2015 AR3, the AR2 was out of my budget unfortunately but still a very nice piece of kit. Yes the AR2 frameset is better than the AR3 but at my level I am not sure I would notice the difference, whereas if I plumped for the AR2 then my bank balance (and more importantly my OH) would definately notice!

Oh and this LBS actually had a AR3 in stock that I could ride, albeit the lower spec 105 version but at least I get to try it out whereas the Giant and the Cervelo I would be buying blind so to speak.

iron-clover

To be fair, I don't think you can go too far wrong with any of the machines in that selection, they all seem to be pretty decent machines with the reviews all pretty much of a muchness.

I would go for the one that you like the most and have your heart set on. In my case that would probably be the Foil, because it looks more like a 'normal' road bike (I'm not a fan of really thick tubes- each to their own) and I was able to have a quick blast on a friends much cheaper model and it felt pretty good.

At the end of the day you'll be the one that will have to justify the outlay and keep looking at it every time you want to go out- you might as well get the one from your dreams even if you can't test ride it (although it's great if you can!!) as you probably won't be dissapointed as long as you can get the geometry to fit.

JesseD

iron-clover, bike fit is the primary concern for me and I am hoping that one of the selected bikes will then fall into the "bikes that will fit me" catagory.

I do like the aero-look personally but as you say, each to their own!

Each bike is from a different LBS, I am lucky enough to have 3-4 within 5 mins walk from work, the LBS's selling Cervelo and Felt both offer a bike fitting service when you buy a bike from them, one is Rutel Fit and the other I cannot remember. The place selling the Giant was a quick sit on the bike, put theseat at the correct height and see what it looks like. When spending that amount of money I would want to make sure the bike was fitted properly, not just frame size but also stem length, bar width, seat height and setback as well as cleat positioning, because of this was was edging towards the Cervelo and the Felt (after I saw it at lunch), plus these 2 shops were also happy to "do a deal" which lets face facts is also important.

These 2 bike shops also sell, Look, Orbea, Focus, Boardman, Kuota, Argon 18 so if the Felt or Cervelo dont fit then I have some other choices, although they may not be aero.

ilm_zero7

this :