min spec on bike worth €3000

Amprodude

Looking to change my road bike this year for something more lighter and smoother ride Could someone tell me what bike specs I should be getting on a bike worth 3000 euro? I see some bike shops charge more for bikes that are under spec for price. Just want to have an idea before purchasing. I find my own bike too heavy for steep hills.

Thanks.

marketty

First of all let me just say you can spend as much as you want on a new bike that's entirely your business. And I've never owned a €3000 bike although I have lusted after them!
BUT I really believe once you get above €1500-2000 the benefit of fancier/lighter specs become marginal unless you personally are at your physical best.
For example if weight is your main concern you could get a nice bike under 8kg for less than €2k. Bring it up to €3k and you are only getting down to just below 7kg. If you are carrying an extra couple of kg on your body there's weight you can drop for free (while riding your bike!)
Of course weight is not the be all and end all of high end bikes, it's just that's what you mentioned specifically. Can I ask what bike you are on at the moment?
I think the 'gold standard' of what you can get for a given price point are canyon bikes. If you take a look at http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3089#tab-reiter2 and shop around your local shops to see how the specs compare I think it would be a good guide.
Personally if I had a couple of thousand
to spend right now I'd be looking for something like this http://www.canyon.com/_en/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3083#tab-reiter2
the shimano 105 11-32 rear cassette will get you up any hill in Ireland. SRAM have a similar set up called 'wi-fli' so keep an eye out for that. With a few hundred left over you could get some 'bling' wheels.

Lumen

There is no right answer, since it depends what you mean by "spec". Are you including the frame?

There is an argument to "balance" the spend across frame, wheels, groupset and finishing kit. For instance...

40% frame
30% groupset
20% wheels
10% finishing kit

...but that won't work in a wide range of cases, and it is difficult to judge the value of a frame on bikes where the frames are not available separately (e.g. Cannondale).

That said, groupset wise I'd be looking for SRAM Force, Shimano Ultegra or Campagnolo Chorus on a €3k bike, although I'd dip to Athena if the frame was very good.

Expensive finishing kit is a real extravagance since it makes very little difference to performance, subjective or objective. You can spent thousands to save a few hundred grams.

I wouldn't care much about the wheels, since they don't last forever and cheap ones are still useful for commuting.

bcmf

Whatever about the frame I reckon that the Athena 11sp gruppo is the best value out there although I believe that the shifters are the dumbed down powershift but if you have never ridden Campy before it won't make a difference.
Match that with the Fulcrum Quattro's mentioned in another thread and gruppo and wheels for possibly a grand.
Frame wise/value wise there is now a huge selection with possibly canyon being the best or if op could go used there is now a great selection of great frames out there.

nilhg

If I had that sort of money to spend, like the OP I'd be looking for something to give me a nice smooth ride (really is it that hard to put down chippings evenly?) so top of my list would be a Trek Domane (the one linked is top of the range but the line goes right down to aluminium). When Boonen uses one to win Paris Roubaix you know something is right.

route66

In my opinion, for €3K the best value at the moment is probably something like the Rose Xeon CRS-3100:

• All Carbon, approx 7kgs
• Ultegra Di2
• Mavic Kysrium Elite Wheels

These are also very configurable - wheels, tyres, saddle, handlebar, seatpost, stem, etc, etc. Have a look at this recent thread (link) for further info.

But, as others have stated above, one man's meat ... In a recent Bikeradar review, they tested the SRAM-equiped version of this bike and described it as: "An irresistible cocktail of light weight, high spec and raw speed". For the same bike, others could say "A coldly efficient bike that offers a hard uncompromising ride with little emotion."

I suppose you could also loosely describe their Aero Flyer-3000 (for the same money) as a road bike: (;))

Lumen

nilhg wrote: »

If I had that sort of money to spend, like the OP I'd be looking for something to give me a nice smooth ride (really is it that hard to put down chippings evenly?) so top of my list would be a Trek Domane (the one linked is top of the range but the line goes right down to aluminium). When Boonen uses one to win Paris Roubaix you know something is right.

I'm not sure PR is a great guide, there have been some mad looking bikes used on cobbles that no sane person would use on a normal road.



From what I've read they designed the geometry to shift weight from the bars to the saddle, and then added suspension there. Sounds very odd, and I don't trust those BikeRadar reviews at all.

That said, I'd like to read a long-term review of a Domane used in Ireland. They do apparently sell framesets separately, but the 6 series one I found was almost €3k.

The £1200 2.3 Domane has mudguard mounts and might make an interesting non-racing bike.

Ole Rodrigo

With three grand, I'd be torn between a Canyon Ultimate CF SLX 7




http://www.canyon.com/roadbikes/bike.html?b=3089

or a Van Nicholas Chinook



http://www.vannicholas.com/7/Chinook/bike.aspx

mossym

route66 wrote: »

In my opinion, for €3K the best value at the moment is probably something like the Rose Xeon CRS-3100:

• All Carbon, approx 7kgs
• Ultegra Di2
• Mavic Kysrium Elite Wheels

agreed, so much so that i just bought one

marketty

That Rose Xeon is very very nice. not likely to beat that for the money

andy69

I'm changing my bike shortly as well - in the same price range as it happens.
Anyone think this might be worth investing in? Comes in around 3000...

Kuota Kuraro 2013
http://www.epic-cycles.co.uk/Kuota_Kuraro.html
(I'd be buying it in Ireland but Richies has no photos up)

I know the Kebel was really stiff (I hired one in France....was like riding a bike without any tyres on), but this is a new one for 2013 - has anyone here got one by any chance?

Was looking at Canyon AEROAD CF7.0 (SRAM), and Fuji SST2.1 also, as they come in around 3k or under.

Chips Lovell

Like Lumen, I'd say there's no right answer. You could get a cheap, generic carbon frame and top of the line components or you could get a premium frame and a more modest component package.

In general, when buying a new bike, I'd say focus on the frame first, then the wheels, then the groupset.

Chips Lovell

Oh and Boonen has never won Paris - Roubaix riding a Trek.

bcmf

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

Oh and Boonen has never won Paris - Roubaix riding a Trek.

I was wondering that and searching the empty cavern that is my skull to think when he rode a trek never mind winning P-R on one.

seamus

IMO, if you don't know what spec you want, then you shouldn't be spending €3k+ on a bike. It's like asking what car you should buy with €200k.

From your post history, you seem to be a newish cyclist riding a Trek 1.1. That bike isn't that heavy. You could make it lighter and more comfortable by upgrading the components, but it might work out unnecessarily expensive.

The next logical step up is a full carbon fibre frame running 105 or an Alu/Carbon Fork mix running Ultegra. Around €1500 - €2000. Save your extra money for the inevitable ****load of "stuff" you'll "need" to buy. Unless you have bodyfat approaching 10%, then the best way of making it easier to climb hills is to make yourself lighter, not your bike.

Chips Lovell

bcmf wrote: »

I was wondering that and searching the empty cavern that is my skull to think when he rode a trek never mind winning P-R on one.

He did actually ride Treks for one year, in 2002, when he was at US Postal.

route66

seamus wrote: »

IMO, if you don't know what spec you want, then you shouldn't be spending €3k+ on a bike. It's like asking what car you should buy with €200k.

From your post history, you seem to be a newish cyclist riding a Trek 1.1. That bike isn't that heavy. You could make it lighter and more comfortable by upgrading the components, but it might work out unnecessarily expensive.

The next logical step up is a full carbon fibre frame running 105 or an Alu/Carbon Fork mix running Ultegra. Around €1500 - €2000. Save your extra money for the inevitable ****load of "stuff" you'll "need" to buy. Unless you have bodyfat approaching 10%, then the best way of making it easier to climb hills is to make yourself lighter, not your bike.

This type of commentary is far too sensible for this forum.

The MO around here can be summarised thus:
Shinier = better
more €s = more shiny

I think you need to start posting over here

CaoimH_in

If you take a size 54 on a Cervelo, i'd recommend this: http://jedi-sports.de/Bikes-Custom-Made/Road/Cervelo-R3-Team-Shimano-Ultegra-C-2012::3057.html

Amprodude

seamus wrote: »

IMO, if you don't know what spec you want, then you shouldn't be spending €3k+ on a bike. It's like asking what car you should buy with €200k.

From your post history, you seem to be a newish cyclist riding a Trek 1.1. That bike isn't that heavy. You could make it lighter and more comfortable by upgrading the components, but it might work out unnecessarily expensive.

The next logical step up is a full carbon fibre frame running 105 or an Alu/Carbon Fork mix running Ultegra. Around €1500 - €2000. Save your extra money for the inevitable ****load of "stuff" you'll "need" to buy. Unless you have bodyfat approaching 10%, then the best way of making it easier to climb hills is to make yourself lighter, not your bike.

The trek 1.1 is not that light either believe me. Nice bike but im cycling it regularly and now want something different. Two drink bottles make it even heavier again and I need two drink bottles when cycling. I dont have mud guards on it so to reduce its weight. At 6 foot 2 and weighing 70kg, I cant really get much lighter in fairness. This bike will be good for training though.

ck101

You sound like you have made your mind up. Best get most bang for your buck, some nice secondhand machines on adverts. Top name carbon, dura ace etc just over 2k.

The money you save could be used transforming the 1.1 into a decent winter bike, ie full mudguards and a new wheel set. Wouldn't bother changing anything else.

Brian?

seamus wrote: »

IMO, if you don't know what spec you want, then you shouldn't be spending €3k+ on a bike. It's like asking what car you should buy with €200k.

From your post history, you seem to be a newish cyclist riding a Trek 1.1. That bike isn't that heavy. You could make it lighter and more comfortable by upgrading the components, but it might work out unnecessarily expensive.

The next logical step up is a full carbon fibre frame running 105 or an Alu/Carbon Fork mix running Ultegra. Around €1500 - €2000. Save your extra money for the inevitable ****load of "stuff" you'll "need" to buy. Unless you have bodyfat approaching 10%, then the best way of making it easier to climb hills is to make yourself lighter, not your bike.

If the lad has 3 grand to spend, sure why not leave him to it I say? I am jealous of his spending power.

OP, Give me 3 grand and I'd want Ultegra Di2. The Rose posted earlier would be what I would buy.

Or this:

http://www.roseversand.com/article/rose-xeon-cw-5000-double/aid:624916

Campag chorus and rather fetching cosmic carbone wheels.


Or option 3:

http://www.roseversand.com/article/rose-xeon-cw-5000-double/aid:624916

Spend the few bob saved on some carbon wheels from planet x:

http://planetxireland.com/products-page/clincher-wheels/planet-x-carbon-60-clincher-wheelset-handbuilt-by-paul-curran/


Anyway, why not?