Bike advice needed

[ognacy]

Hey Guys,

First of all, I wanted to say hi - been a long time reader, but havent posted anything yet. Love these forums.

I am switching from MTB to road starting next year. I am not that slow on the MTB, I used to race competitively, and one thing I hate is those pesky roadies sucking my wheel for a while and then passing me doing 45kmh (when I am returning from a long, intense training of course . No more, I thought, and decided to look for a decent road bike.

I am usually riding alone, closest mountains are, sadly, 400km away, so I thought about buying one of those slick aerobikes, think Cervelo S2. I am about 85kg during the season, I do some riding in the Alps or Pyreness - usually about 3 weeks per year - the rest of the year I am riding on the flat. Which ones are worth considering in that group? There are quite a few of them, and I'd rather avoid buying a crappy frame that just looks nice. I am currently considering Cervelo S2 and Canyon Aeroad. For the same money, Canyon will come with a one-better groupset and better, or at least more expensive, wheels - but are their frames any good? Also, if this aero design really perceivable when riding, or is it yet another marketing thing? Or should I ditch the whole concept of buying an expensive carbon-fiber bike and buy some basic alu frame with Ultegra?

I hope you'll excuse the lame question; most of my friends ride MTBs only so I dont have anyone to offer a good advice as far as a road bike is concerned.

Thanks for any hints!
Ognacy

 

[rgmerk]

[quote\Also, if this aero design really perceivable when riding, or is it yet another marketing thing?[/quote]

The advantages of aero are real, but very small. They are very hard to pick up just riding around (the only place I really notice is downhill). They're even smaller when riding in a bunch.

Particularly for your first road bike, it's going to be much more important that it fits you properly, and ride and handling characteristics are to your liking.

Take the aero bikes for a test ride, but take some other conventionally-shaped frames for a spin as well. You may find that other things (not least of which is value for money) are much more important than the very marginal improvements in average speed you can get from an aero frame.

 

[ergmonkey]

If you want great value, get the Canyon.

If you want to look just like one of those losers who sucks your wheel while you ride a mountain bike, buy the Cervelo.

 

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Also, if this aero design really perceivable when riding, or is it yet another marketing thing?

Cervelo has a nice little summary in the "Aero vs. Weight" presentation here:

http://www.cervelo.com/en_us/engineering/tech-presentations/

With an aero frame you're reducing your total drag by about 1.5%. Depending on the type of riding you do, that may or may not be significant. Generally speaking, a bike that prioritizes aerodynamics will not be as comfortable and stiff as a similar non-aero bike.

If you can get the Canyon with aero wheels for the same price as the Cervelo with lesser wheels, I'd go with the Canyon. If you're not sure if you should pull the trigger on a CF frame, you should give one a test ride on a bumpy road -- much better than with a steel or alu frame.

Interestingly, Cervelo lost a suit against Canyon for their R series; the round-to-square seat tube design violated Canyon's patent, so Cervelo can't sell the R series in Germany anymore. Also, Canyon does NOT sell to the USA right now.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Carbon Foe

I'm not a fan of full carbon frames. If only for the fact they fail spectacularly when crashed with no recourse.

I think you get a better combination of durability and comfort with an alloy triangle and possibly carbon seat stays. I can't argue the benefits of the deeper-v shaped rims.

"Off the well-worn path" suggestions:
Fort. http://www.fortframes.com/
Hampsten http://www.hampsten.com/bikes/strada-bianca Comfortable and a ton of fun to ride fast. This is a poorly developed niche in cycling right now. Only the fork is carbon... Gasp!!! Andy's onto something big.

Put some deep-v style wheels on either and enjoy!

 

[ognacy]

Thanks a lot for the hints. I think I'll go with a standard frame by Canyon, nothing fancy, probably some entry level carbon one. I checked some other brands and here in europe, considering shipping fees, customs etc. Canyon seems to make most sense, value-wise. Merida comes close, but I had three of their MTB bikes in the past and all of them had frames cracking so thank you, but no thanks.

The aero concept on Cervelo and Canyon Aeroad looks very nice and all, but I dont feel like trading ride quality for a gain that small (for my non-professional racing, that is).

See you on the road!

 

[Polyarmour]

Have you ever noticed that most pros don't get that carried away with the brand of their bike. When they shift teams they usually change bikes. One year they're on Specialized, the next year they're on Scott or BMC. The pros that do stick with a particular bike usually have a financial motive to do so.

So for me, firstly it's about the groupset. Buy the best you can afford. Then it's about manufacturing quality. I don't want a bike that has a bad reputation for returns. Then it's about branding, which "bike club" do you want to join up to or be identified with?

I'm always amused when I read bike reviews. I take notice of the build reports, but the ride reports are usually filled with qualitative subjective nonsense. The reviews are so generic that they could describe any of the bikes of a particular quality level.

 

[ognacy]

Well, I could not care much less about the make of the frame. I know I'd be slower on a $3000, 800gr frame than on a $500 one, as I can't exactly afford to replace a $3000 frame every time I happen to crash. And funny enough, Cervelo's own technical presentations explain, in great detail, why it is completely irrelevant if your frame weights 800gr or 1500gr, and how much aero drag does it have. So I'll be shopping for something with good groupset, durable wheels and not-so-expensive frame with some sort of crash protection.

thx!