3rd Bike Dilemma

Dizeee

I decided back in June that I will be buying a 3rd road bike early next year. I did a lot of research and narrowed it down to a Cannondale Caad12 or a Canyon. I have pretty much now settled on a Canyon.

The reason behind the purchase is - I have an all year round bike, my aluminium, which is fine but an entry level Bianchi. I have covered 16000 miles on it and am getting a bit bored of it. It's served me well but it's not light and having accumulated a vast amount of experience and knowledge on it - I know now exactly what it is I want from a bike. I intend to keep it as a "spare" bike, there is nothing wrong with it but it's pointless selling for what I would get for it.

My summer De Rosa is a £4k carbon affair which is great, but I only ride that on bone dry weekend rides. At 7.7kg I am told it is heavy for a "high spec" carbon bike although it is an aero road bike of sorts. It feels light enough to me, but it does seem to excel at holding a higher speed, probably helped by the 50mm rims and the aero aspects of the frame.

My dilemma is that I want my 3rd bike to sit in between my current 2 bikes, but it looks like any Canyon I consider is going to trump my De Rosa in terms of spec and/or weight. I am tempted by the 7kg and below Canyons, and I would also like DI2 and discs, neither of which I have on the other two bikes. Therefore, I may end up with two best bikes which I ride sparingly and end up still sitting bored on my Bianchi all year round bike. DI2 is not essential but I think discs will be important, I would cover around 5000 miles each year on this bike in all weathers.

Because I spend most of my time on my all year round bike it is that one I wish to replace but I don't want to render my De Rosa pointless in the process.

Should I bin the idea of a Canyon and consider a Caad12 or something completely different?

bendertherobot

CX bike

fenix

Yeah CX bike is the only one that makes sense. Or just get less precious about the De Rosa, and then youve saved a bike.

Does the Bianchi have full guards for the winter ?

drlodge

What's your budget? I would be hesitant of going CX as it'll be a bit heavy. Sounds like something like a steel bike, Reynolds 853, with discs and clearance for mudguards might be more like it. Mid way between a CX and a road bike.

fat daddy

ride the De Rosa more ... yes you will eventually wear it out, but you can buy something more uptodate with the money you would have spent on a 3rd bike ... AND in that time you will have enjoyed actually using the De Rosa, getting good on it, learning to become part of it.

Grill

3rd bike... How quaint. :P

bendertherobot

drlodge wrote:

What's your budget? I would be hesitant of going CX as it'll be a bit heavy. Sounds like something like a steel bike, Reynolds 853, with discs and clearance for mudguards might be more like it. Mid way between a CX and a road bike.

I reckon my SuperX is lighter. My CAADX won't be far off either!

sloppyschleckonds

The Canyon Endurace disc with dura ace

Dizeee

Budget is as little as possible around the 1k mike, possibly 1200 at a push. I really don't want a CX bike. Steel I haven't tried but it just sounds heavy - is it?

I still get around 2000 miles per year on the De Rosa so am happy with how I am on it, this year has been a very bad year for any riding but that will change next year. I am more interested in performance, weight / aero or a combo of both.

Dizeee

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

The Canyon Endurace disc with dura ace

Looked at the endurance today and really liked the look of some. But that's a lot of money on an all year round bike!

Secteur

I understand the desire to buy more bikes, but since buying my own "£4K Carbon best bike" 2.5 years ago, I haven't ridden anything else.

I ride it in the summer, I ride it in the autumn mud, the spring rain, the salty winter. It doesn't have mud guards but then I always ride alone.

I wash it after every ride and never had a weather related problem with it (rust / salt etc).

But it means I get to enjoy the pleasure of 'best bike riding' 365 days a year.

I kept my old aluminium bike as a spare, but haven't ridden it once in 2.5 years... why would I - it'd feel like a tank!

I don't know why my idea just doesn't catch on!

Failing all of that, just get a good carbon bike with disc brakes.

fenix

I think we've had a great summer - but even so a fair few rides I've had showers on the bike at some point. I suppose it depends how far you ride.

So you have the best bike for days when it's absolutely going to be bone dry. (WHY ? It won't melt. A bit of water won't kill it ? I can understand the want to keep the mud and grit off it - but rain ? Mehh)

And your budget is 1200 ? Not many DI2 bikes at that price level ?


If you go the route you're going - you'll make your superbike useless so you may as well just sell it.

A cross bike can do everything a road bike can do - its only slightly heavier - not that this makes much difference on the road. You can fit guards for the winter. You can do rough paths on it with the right tyres. With road tyres it will be as fast as your superbike.

If i could only have one bike it would be a CX bike and 2 sets of wheels. It'd do perfectly.

Thigh_burn

Condor Fratello Disc? It's steel, so not light, but otherwise meets all your criteria. Would allow you to leave the Bianchi at home.

I do have a minor love affair with the Canyon Endurace CF SLX series - which is I guess the Canyons you were referring to.

dyrlac

The obvious answer is a fixie to scratch the third bike itch. Way less than a grand, a wildly different ride (which ensures you won't be comparing it to the De Rosa) and develops the souplesse. And when you pull up a stop light, all and sundry will know that you're a prince of the peloton. :P Some deviants even put disc brakes on their fixies.

alwayscycle

Apologies in advance for using rude words on this forum, but it sounds as though you could do with a mountain bike to fill the 3rd role.

47p2

Recently bought this CX, weighs in at 7.67kg before the pedals and bottle cage went on

apreading

Di2 not essential? With a budget of £1200 max? You will struggle to get Ultegra, never mind Di2.

Caad12 Disc 105 is in your budget and should be a cracker.

I would also look at the Boardman road pro carbon disc, currently at £1200 with 10% off if you are in British Cycling.

Do you need to put full guards and/or a rack on this bike though...?

PTestTeam

Sell the De Rosa

Dizeee

DI2 is not essential. But some canyon bikes around the 1300 mark have got DI2. I would spend a bit more to get it.

Don't need guards or panniers. Still don't want a CX bike. Already got a mountain bike and hybrid which I'm not including in total bike tally.

Caad12 does make a lot of sense. Why sell the De Rosa? It's a lovely bike and I don't need anything more from it... Maybe a lighter stem and handlebars...

fenix

Yeah cos you really notice a stem thats a few grams heavier.....

apreading

Dizeee wrote:

DI2 is not essential. But some canyon bikes around the 1300 mark have got DI2. I would spend a bit more to get it.

If there are then I cant find them on their somewhat confusing website. Closest I can find is Ultegra for £1399, and thats not with discs and not sub 7kg...?

If there is a sub 7Kg disc bike with Di2 on there then please send the link because I want to buy one!

fat daddy

Fenix wrote:

Yeah cos you really notice a stem thats a few grams heavier.....

you don't notice it on its own .... but

when your stem, bars, post, saddle, pedals, cassette, brake levers, Qr's, hubs, mechs, derailleurs, cables, bar tape and BB are ALL a few grams lighter, then the overall weight difference does make a difference ... which then begs the question .... what number of lightweight components makes a difference ... perhaps in the OPs case that 25g shaved off the handlebars will suddenly make the bike the best thing since the 10g shaved off the cables

fenix

Yeah but the OP was just moaning about the 'heavy stem and bars'.

Do people suddenly romp up hills when they've lost some water out of their bottle ? Could they tell how full it is without looking ? If they can then I'd agree that weight like that might be important - otherwise - its not really...

fat daddy

I wonder what the noticeable cut off point is ...... the difference between my commuter that weighs in at 12kg with its panniers ... compaired to my weekend bike which is just under 8kg, is like night and day when it comes to anything except going down hill, which annoyingly all my Strava PRs are on the 12kg lump.

but

I cant tell the difference after a heavy night of carb loading that sees me 3kg heavier the next morning ... or as you say carrying 2kg or water or not.

so for me I guess the cut off point is somewhere around the 3-4kg mark

that's like 20 handlebars

Dizeee

I know its marginal and in the grand scheme of things unnoticeable but they are the next things I need to upgrade, followed by groupset