G'day, I'm looking at purchasing my first road bike, mainly for commuting and social rides but potentially some competition in the future. I'm after some advice. My budget is around $1500-$1800, I'm just under 6 foot about 75 kg. I have sussed out what my local bike shops have to offer, the bikes I'm considering are: Trek Madone 2.1 Specialized Allez Elite Felt F75 Felt Z85 disc Merida Ride 400 The specs and components all appear excellent, so I'm particularly interested if anyone who has ridden one or more of these bikes can suggest one over the other, or one to avoid.
They're all good bikes. You need to ride them all and see which one gives you the best performance for you. If you can't decide, make the decision on price and how the shop seems to treat you. If you still can't decide, buy the red one. Everyone knows red is faster. :big-smile::big-smile: BTW, Merida owns 49% of Specialized and makes their frames. Much of what they sell in Europe is identical to what is sold as Specialized in the US. I'm not familiar with specific Merida models.
I also was looking at the same bikes as you along with the Giant. I ended up with a used specialized Allez. I would have bought the Madone (if buying new) though has all the best stuff. Seemed the most reponsive. My 2 cents!
Some brands sell for less in certain parts of the world.
For example a 700USD Specialized bike is sold for about 700EUR in Europe. (Which sucks. [IMG]files.cyclingforums.combig smile.pngOpen ↗[/IMG]) The same is happening with Giant.
If you are located in the US, you would probably get a better price for Specialized - Cannondale etc.
The Allez is a fantastic bike. [IMG]files.cyclingforums.comwink.pngOpen ↗[/IMG] But it's an Alu bike. Is any of the other bikes on that list Carbon?
I didn't get an answer to my question. The reason I asked that was because if you're not doing something athletic now I would buy a much less expensive bike, like around $350 instead because about 93% of the people who try a new fitness program quit after 3 to 6 months and in your case you'll have a $1,800 piece of garage art.
If all I said doesn't apply then the three best bike of the ones you selected are the F75, Madone 2.1, and the Ride 400 in that order. The reason I selected those 3 is because those three use Shimano 105 which is a better groupset than the Tiagra which isn't bad it's just that it's a step down and will not last quite as long and not shift quite as good. The Ride 400 is an odd one and not sure if I would get that one because it seems to be a generic bike with some generic parts that may be worrisome in the long run, plus the rear seat stays seem to thin for my taste to have back there made of aluminium. The Felt also mentions it uses a replaceable dropout hanger which appears, note I said appears, that th Trek does not, this could be important if you have a minor accident and the hanger is bent it can be replace otherwise you have to throw the frame away, but I thought the Trek used a replaceable hanger but they don't mention it nor do I see evidence of screws on the dropout to allow for that so you may want to check that out.
If you plan to compete, make sure your frame is UCI approved. At the moment, this means no disc brakes. They seem to be evaluating that, but they haven't come to a ruling yet.
