Jayce
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I posted a while ago that I picked up a 54cm 2010 GT GTR Series 3 road bike. After more roading I began to feel as though it wasn't the best bike for me. It had an extremely racey feel to it and despite the fact it was a nice bike, the bars were much lower than what I wanted. I wanted a bike that I could ride for 90 miles and still feel great. So I decided to sell it and began shopping some more.
I took my time this time around. I rode several bikes. The Specialized Secteur, Giant Defy 1, Trek 2.1 H3, etc etc etc. I also broke down the warranty and additional features of each bike to really figure out what I wanted.
- I liked the Specialized Secteur, but @ 1400 I expected a decent crankset with hollowtech bb, not some integrated spin off of square taper like they had on the Secteur Apex Elite.
- I liked the Cannondale Synapse, but it's BB30 "open" standard hasn't seen the best reviews yet. While light, a lot of people complain about creaking noises that are unavoidable.
- The Trek 2.1 H3 was a nice ride, but the H3 is only available in silver/blue (wtf?), and it's bold lettering of TREK TREK TREK 3 times on each side in size 800 font is beyond obnoxious. Other than that, it was a good ride.
- The Felt Z85 was sweet, but once again it seemed to have less than favorable reviews in regards to the crankset.
Ultimately, I checked out the 2011 Giant Defy 1, seen here:
http://www.jtcycles.com.au/images/product-images-large/defy12011-1_lg.jpg
I was unsure of this bike at first, and did not want to make an impulse buy. Giant uses a compact geometry, which threw me off when I realized that the 53.5cm was the absolute perfect fit for me. Oddly, the 53.5cm by Giant was bigger in a lot of regards to the 56cm Trek 2.1 H3. I rode the bike and could not get off of it. I spent about 20 minutes at the bike shop just doing laps around the building. Somehow, I walked away from the bike and slept on it.
Further comparisons revealed several things. The Giant was 100 bucks cheaper than any of the other bikes I checked out and it had the best warranty, lifetime/frame lifetime/fork. It also had a solid crankset as well with the hollowtech setup that I expected. The only other bike that compared was the Trek 2.1 H3, which was nearly identical except it was 100 bucks more and had a lifetime/frame and 5 yr/fork warranty, which while good, wasn't as good as the Giant's. I also found out that Giant makes frames for a lot of manufacturers, and I believe Specialized and Trek were in there as well, which kind of makes sense why those bikes cost more cause instead of Giant-Bike Shop-Customer, you're going from Giant-Trek-Bike Shop-Customer...
SO... I got the Defy 1. Last night I rode around in 37*F weather for about 20 miles or so in shorts with it. I can't say that was one of the brighter things I've done in life, but nonetheless it's a sweet ride.
From my road bike purchase experience I would advise that anybody out there looking into road bikes ride as many as you possibly can. While bikes are very customizable in size (different length stems, stem flipped up/down for more rise/drop, swapping out spacers to drop/heighten handlebars, etc) it's amazing to see the difference from one bike to another. Ride as many as possible before you make a buy.
Any other roadies out there? If so, whatcha got?
I took my time this time around. I rode several bikes. The Specialized Secteur, Giant Defy 1, Trek 2.1 H3, etc etc etc. I also broke down the warranty and additional features of each bike to really figure out what I wanted.
- I liked the Specialized Secteur, but @ 1400 I expected a decent crankset with hollowtech bb, not some integrated spin off of square taper like they had on the Secteur Apex Elite.
- I liked the Cannondale Synapse, but it's BB30 "open" standard hasn't seen the best reviews yet. While light, a lot of people complain about creaking noises that are unavoidable.
- The Trek 2.1 H3 was a nice ride, but the H3 is only available in silver/blue (wtf?), and it's bold lettering of TREK TREK TREK 3 times on each side in size 800 font is beyond obnoxious. Other than that, it was a good ride.
- The Felt Z85 was sweet, but once again it seemed to have less than favorable reviews in regards to the crankset.
Ultimately, I checked out the 2011 Giant Defy 1, seen here:
http://www.jtcycles.com.au/images/product-images-large/defy12011-1_lg.jpg
I was unsure of this bike at first, and did not want to make an impulse buy. Giant uses a compact geometry, which threw me off when I realized that the 53.5cm was the absolute perfect fit for me. Oddly, the 53.5cm by Giant was bigger in a lot of regards to the 56cm Trek 2.1 H3. I rode the bike and could not get off of it. I spent about 20 minutes at the bike shop just doing laps around the building. Somehow, I walked away from the bike and slept on it.
Further comparisons revealed several things. The Giant was 100 bucks cheaper than any of the other bikes I checked out and it had the best warranty, lifetime/frame lifetime/fork. It also had a solid crankset as well with the hollowtech setup that I expected. The only other bike that compared was the Trek 2.1 H3, which was nearly identical except it was 100 bucks more and had a lifetime/frame and 5 yr/fork warranty, which while good, wasn't as good as the Giant's. I also found out that Giant makes frames for a lot of manufacturers, and I believe Specialized and Trek were in there as well, which kind of makes sense why those bikes cost more cause instead of Giant-Bike Shop-Customer, you're going from Giant-Trek-Bike Shop-Customer...
SO... I got the Defy 1. Last night I rode around in 37*F weather for about 20 miles or so in shorts with it. I can't say that was one of the brighter things I've done in life, but nonetheless it's a sweet ride.
From my road bike purchase experience I would advise that anybody out there looking into road bikes ride as many as you possibly can. While bikes are very customizable in size (different length stems, stem flipped up/down for more rise/drop, swapping out spacers to drop/heighten handlebars, etc) it's amazing to see the difference from one bike to another. Ride as many as possible before you make a buy.
Any other roadies out there? If so, whatcha got?