Advice required: Just test rode a bike...
Advice required: Just test rode a bike...
Author
Discussion

Loudy McFatass

Original Poster:

8,995 posts

216 months

Friday 8th August 2014
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As some of you may know I'm after a road bike. My budget is around £1,400. I was ideally going to buy a Cannondale Supersix. The nearest Cannondale dealer to me is about an hour away, so on a whim today and because I had a spare hour I popped into my local bike shop who deals in Trek and Specialized.

Long story short, due to an ordering error the have 2 2014 Trek Domane 4.7's (56cm) going at a discounted rate.

Now to look at its beautiful, it caught my eye as soon as I walked in the shop. So they set it up and let me take it out for half an hour.
I absolutely loved the thing. I can't put into words hoe comfortable it was, I only had a pair of normal shorts on and I felt like I could have ridden it for hours.

I'd really like it, but logically thinking I should wait until I've ridden the Cannondale. They said they'll let me have it for £2,000 which is obviously well over my budget.

Are Trek generally regarded as a good bike compared to Cannondale and has anyone else ridden both to compare?

Also, is the Domane considered to be an "aggressive" geometry?

Edited by Loudy McFatass on Friday 8th August 13:50

Fourmotion

1,032 posts

249 months

Friday 8th August 2014
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You can get it marginally cheaper online, so don't be sold on it thinking they're doing you a massive favour.

I think it's billed as an endurance bike so should be pretty comfortable.

I suggest trying the supersix, if you still prefer the Trek you can buy it online. Or I'm sure they'd still have it in stock at that price.

TheLemming

4,319 posts

294 months

Friday 8th August 2014
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The Domane is the "endurance" bike of the range.

The price they've offered isn't amazing however. Buckingham Bikes (my local emporium of temptation) aren't renowned for being cheap and are advertising those at £2K with a free Garmin 510.

I suspect the impending 2015 models launch event will mean some discounts coming soon...

Disco You

3,748 posts

209 months

Friday 8th August 2014
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£300 off a £2.3k bike which is now "last year's" isn't a "too good to miss" deal, so don't let that sway you.

anonymous-user

83 months

Friday 8th August 2014
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There is no way I would drop £2k on a Trek but thats just me. Personally I dont like the way you pay £2k for an average frame, the 4.7 may be ultegra but its 400 series carbon and very average wheels. The Domane range also has 500 and 600 series carbon frames, then some special cobbles version which is north of £10k so to me its not as great as it seems. I like to know that the money has gone on the frame not the groupset which is incidentally, why I wouldnt buy off the peg again.

I know I bang on about this but you can pick up a Cervelo R3 (which is somewhere in the middle of a Super6 and a Domane in terms of comfort and )with 105 and a similar spec average wheelset for £2k but the point is, there is only one frame in the R3 "range", thats it, you get what you pay for. You wont find any Trek riders using the 400 series but you will find Garmin riders using the R3. And at the end of the day, you have a Cervelo wink

If however, £2k is just too much, I'd wait for the super6.

RGambo

883 posts

198 months

Friday 8th August 2014
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I'm in the fortunate position to have both a domane and a super six .
The domane is a much less aggressive riding position, it's slower in its responses, turning ,accelerating changing direction. But it's a very plush bike to ride over a long distance, the seatpost pivot really takes out the high frequency road buzz and the rough surfaces are a pleasure to ride over. The super six is a totally different animal. Stiff, taught and very responsive. It tuns much quicker and respond much more instantly to changes in pace, you just pedal and go! It's syrprisingly comfortable and foes a very good job of filtering out most road buzz.
So it depends on what sort of riding you are likely to be doing.
I hope that helps.

mikees

2,891 posts

201 months

Friday 8th August 2014
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I'm boring on this topic but I LOVE my super six my LBS has a 105 ss for 1300 in 2013 colours. Honestly really the ss is fantastic but I like the dale geometry- also have a CAAD8.

What height are you ? And where do live?

Mike

RGambo

883 posts

198 months

Friday 8th August 2014
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I will add that like mikees, I bloody love my super six as well. It's the best bike I have ridden/ owned.

Loudy McFatass

Original Poster:

8,995 posts

216 months

Friday 8th August 2014
quotequote all
pablo said:
I know I bang on about this but you can pick up a Cervelo R3 (which is somewhere in the middle of a Super6 and a Domane in terms of comfort and )with 105 and a similar spec average wheelset for £2k but the point is, there is only one frame in the R3 "range", thats it, you get what you pay for. You wont find any Trek riders using the 400 series but you will find Garmin riders using the R3. And at the end of the day, you have a Cervelo wink
I didn't know I could afford a Cervelo, looks wise they're one of my favourite bikes!


mikees said:
I'm boring on this topic but I LOVE my super six my LBS has a 105 ss for 1300 in 2013 colours. Honestly really the ss is fantastic but I like the dale geometry- also have a CAAD8.

What height are you ? And where do live?

Mike
I'm 5'11" and I'm in the Midlands.


Loudy McFatass

Original Poster:

8,995 posts

216 months

Saturday 9th August 2014
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The shop that sells the Supersix has emailed me today. They have no 2014 left, only 2015. They've sent me the pictures (below). Not too struck on either if I'm honest, the 105 looks much better to me if I had to pick one of the two!

105 - £1,349

Ultegra - £1,749


At that shop I also have to pay £95 for a pro fit which will let me test ride 2 bikes of my choice.





Edited by Loudy McFatass on Saturday 9th August 16:36

Loudy McFatass

Original Poster:

8,995 posts

216 months

Saturday 9th August 2014
quotequote all
Has anyone used Pedal On bikes? They have the exact colour scheme I want. They're a bit of a drive away but I don't mind that.

http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/cannondale-super...

ecsrobin

18,659 posts

194 months

Saturday 9th August 2014
quotequote all
Loudy McFatass said:
Has anyone used Pedal On bikes? They have the exact colour scheme I want. They're a bit of a drive away but I don't mind that.

http://www.pedalon.co.uk/acatalog/cannondale-super...
My mountainbike is from pedalon brilliant service and very competitive on pricing its 40min away from me and find it to be the best LBS around.

Magic919

14,493 posts

230 months

Saturday 9th August 2014
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I've bought a few bikes from Pedal On over the years. I found them friendly and helpful. They make decent coffee too. They are quite a few miles away from me, but I keep going back.

Dammit

3,816 posts

237 months

Saturday 9th August 2014
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I would steer clear of anything with 10 speed on it (105 from 2014) as it's now obsolete and you'd be looking at an annoying "change all the things at once" step in upgrading, should you wish to do so.

As has been said, the SuperSix is a race bike, the Domane is a Sportive/Endurance bike, closer to the Synapse than the SuperSix.

The question is what are you going to use the bike for?

If it's crit racing, then a CAAD10 would be better, if it's fast club runs and trips to the Alps then the SuperSix is the choice, or finally if you want a bike for tackling Sportive's and longer rides in the countryside then the Synapse/Domane would probably be the better choice.

If you ignore all the other advice given in this thread please don't ignore this - test ride the bikes you are considering before making your choice.

Finally - the wheels will make a massive difference to the character of all of the bikes you are considering, and at the price point you are looking at the stockers will be biased firmly toward the budget end of the market.


Birdthom

790 posts

254 months

Saturday 9th August 2014
quotequote all
pablo said:
There is no way I would drop £2k on a Trek but thats just me. Personally I dont like the way you pay £2k for an average frame, the 4.7 may be ultegra but its 400 series carbon and very average wheels. The Domane range also has 500 and 600 series carbon frames, then some special cobbles version which is north of £10k so to me its not as great as it seems. I like to know that the money has gone on the frame not the groupset which is incidentally, why I wouldnt buy off the peg again.

I know I bang on about this but you can pick up a Cervelo R3 (which is somewhere in the middle of a Super6 and a Domane in terms of comfort and )with 105 and a similar spec average wheelset for £2k but the point is, there is only one frame in the R3 "range", thats it, you get what you pay for. You wont find any Trek riders using the 400 series but you will find Garmin riders using the R3. And at the end of the day, you have a Cervelo wink

If however, £2k is just too much, I'd wait for the super6.
Is that right? Those R3s do seem a very good deal, but I'm sure I'd read/heard stories that this year's special cheap edition of the R3 was a lower grade/layup of carbon than the R3s of old. Whether you could tell the difference or not is another matter, of course, and it's still a great bike. There is also the possibility that the stories are nonsense, but it's worth researching.

Agree with the other posters above that your choice should be dictated by the type of riding you will do. Be honest with yourself!

Loudy McFatass

Original Poster:

8,995 posts

216 months

Saturday 9th August 2014
quotequote all
Pedal on hand no 56cm left frown

Think I'm going to have to risk buying one blind.
The place below has a few in stock in the team colours.


http://www.westbrookcycles.co.uk/cannondale-super-...

Daveyraveygravey

2,112 posts

213 months

Saturday 9th August 2014
quotequote all
Dammit said:
I would steer clear of anything with 10 speed on it (105 from 2014) as it's now obsolete and you'd be looking at an annoying "change all the things at once" step in upgrading, should you wish to do so.
Really?! What are us old timers with 9 (and 8 and 7) speed bikes doing when things wear out then? Oh yeah, buying the parts we need, individually. Might be cheaper too.

Dammit

3,816 posts

237 months

Saturday 9th August 2014
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You are continuing to maintain obsolete technology- which is a nice thing to do, but don't kid yourself that it's the most practical and affordable route to follow.

As an example, upgrading from 5700 to 6800 would require the replacement of almost the entire transmission and (at best) the freehub and (at worst) the hub (or wheel, which would probably be easier).

Whereas upgrading from 5800 to 6800 could be done one unit at a time.


Jasper3.0

652 posts

229 months

Saturday 9th August 2014
quotequote all
Loudy McFatass said:
Pedal on hand no 56cm left frown

Think I'm going to have to risk buying one blind.
The place below has a few in stock in the team colours.


http://www.westbrookcycles.co.uk/cannondale-super-...
I bought me evo from them recently (although they are local to me).

They had no 56 in the 105 full group set. I ended getting the ultegra one.

d8mok

1,951 posts

234 months

Saturday 9th August 2014
quotequote all
Loudy McFatass said:
Pedal on hand no 56cm left frown

Think I'm going to have to risk buying one blind.
The place below has a few in stock in the team colours.


http://www.westbrookcycles.co.uk/cannondale-super-...
My super6 and cosmic carbone wheels came from them by mail. Id use them again