Domane Tiagra vs 105 & disc vs rim brakes

majster
majster Posts: 66
edited January 2018 in Road buying advice
Hello there

I think I’ve decided on a Trek Domane aluminium road bike

The ALR5 model is £1600 and comes with discs and 105
ALR4 is £1400 for Tiagra discs
The ALR3 is £1000 and is rim brakes with sora


What I can’t work out is which is the best option to go for for best long term value?

Any suggestions please? Are discs worth it? What about 105 over Tiagra?

Comments

  • w00dster
    w00dster Posts: 880
    Discs being worth it is quite a divisive subject.
    I have the ALR5, very good bike, actually for sale in the classifieds, only for sale as I now have a Domane SL5. Mine has been used for road cycling, gravel rides and CX. It's also my winter bike and used in fairly mountenous areas where having hydraulic brakes is reassuring. If you are riding in dry conditions on flat or undulating roads, good surfaces and low volume of traffic, then there is little advantage to discs in my opinion.
    I have wide tyres on my domane(33mm knobblies on the ALR and 32mm bontrager R3s for the Domane SL5).
    I would go 105 personally, but it's not that big a step up over tiagra. Tiagra being 10 gears and also slightly lower spec brakes, but this is marginal in my opinion. The ALR4 appears to weigh 9.5kgs, my ALR5 is just under 9kgs (but a size 52)
    Disc brake bikes are generally heavier than rim brake alternative. I have a rim brake bike as my summer bike and that's close to 2kgs lighter than my Domane SL5 disc.
  • sloppyschleckonds
    sloppyschleckonds Posts: 8,019
    When choosing between a basic low end bicycle, it probably isn't worth too much procrastination.
    105, sora, tiagra, rival, athena all pretty much of a muchness
    Wheels/ tyres usually similar.
    Frames, not going to be lightweight but can it take wide tyres, mudguards. Is it red?
    I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles
  • dj58
    dj58 Posts: 2,222
    SloppySchleckonds wrote:
    When choosing between a basic low end bicycle, it probably isn't worth too much procrastination.
    105, sora, tiagra, rival, athena all pretty much of a muchness
    Wheels/ tyres usually similar.
    Frames, not going to be lightweight but can it take wide tyres,(yes) mudguards (yes). Is it red?(yes ALR 4)
    https://www.trekbikes.com/gb/en_GB/bike ... orCode=red

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