First roadie advice

marusanek52

Hey guys,
After a few years of riding a mtb, I decided to get a road bike.
My budget is pretty limited (500€). I've been searching through the used market in my area for about a month now and found two options: 2016 Cannondale CAAD8 Tiagra and 2011 CAAD10 Ultegra. Which one should I go for?

homers_double

The red one.

joe_totale-2

The one in better condition

crescent

Although I've never owned one myself, the CAAD is very well respected on here and is a bit of a benchmark aluminium frame, so assuming it is in good nick it will be a very good starting point - general wear and tear is fine but look for evidence of neglect, lack of maintenance and crash damage. Can you try them for size? This would be a major factor for me - ensuring that the bike is the right size. A slightly smaller frame is ok and can generally be adapted to suit, within reason. A slightly big frame is not a good idea as it is much harder to adapt. In terms of groupsets, Ultegra is a few levels above Tiagra but, in this case, is a few years older so may be closer in terms of features and quality given that Shimano often "trickle down" technology as new versions of groupsets are released i.e. Current 105 and Tiagra may have some features of older Ultegra etc. Having said that, Tiagra is perfectly good in its own right. If the frame is good then you will have a good basis for upgrading anyway if you have the inclination to do so. Hope this helps

marusanek52

Crescent wrote:

Although I've never owned one myself, the CAAD is very well respected on here and is a bit of a benchmark aluminium frame, so assuming it is in good nick it will be a very good starting point - general wear and tear is fine but look for evidence of neglect, lack of maintenance and crash damage. Can you try them for size? This would be a major factor for me - ensuring that the bike is the right size. A slightly smaller frame is ok and can generally be adapted to suit, within reason, a slightly big frame is not a good idea as it is much harder to adapt. In terms of groupsets, Ultegra is a few levels above Tiagra but, in this case, is a few years older so may be closer in terms of features and quality given that Shimano often "trickle down" technology as new versions of groupsets are released i.e. Current 105 and Tiagra may have some features of older Ultegra etc. Having said that, Tiagra is perfectly good in its own right. If the frame is good then you will have a good basis for upgrading anyway if you have the inclination to do so. Hope this helps

From photos what I can tell is that the CAAD8 is pretty roughed up (scratched frame, but there are new cranks), contrary to the CAAD10 which seems to be a near perfect condition. As with the size, my height is 183 cm, the CAAD8 is size 56, CAAD10 is size 58. The thing is I just can't resist the fact that the CAAD8 weights about 8.6 kg while the CAAD10 is more like 7.6 kg.

crescent

Definitely try them for size. You sound as if you are swaying towards the CAAD 10 but it sounds as if you are right on the limit of a size 58. The bike might be in better nick but not much consolation if it is too big. Second hand is a good way to go and there can be some bargains out there but €500 is still a lot of money to spend on something that is not right. It's easier said than done but don't let your heart rule your head. Maybe neither of them will be the bike for you so be prepared to walk away if it is not the right size. Good luck.