N+ help me decide which bikes to keep

CantGetNoSleep

I've got a few more bikes than I realistically need so looking to offload one or even two. At the moment I have:

• Cannondale CAAD12 disc (in the process of building this up from new with a 105 hydraulic groupset, 3T components and Mavic Aksium wheels). No intention to get rid of this as it is going to be my first build. I'll use it as a winter road bike and a commuter if my commute becomes longer. Not a perfect winter bike but to be honest I stay out of rain usually.
  
• Canyon Ultimate CF 9.0 (2015 or 16 model but only a bit less than 18 months old). This is my main road bike, still perfect condition though. Ultegra 6800 groupset, Mavic Ksyrium wheels. It is quite light at only around 7.5kg
  
• Cannondale Synapse 105 Carbon disc 2018 (brand new - this was the ultimate impulse buy). I was half considering a winter road bike with hydraulic discs but was waiting for my wife to finish in a hair dressers once and found this half price in a closing down LBS. I bought it on the spot but decided it was too good to use as a winter bike and never saw reason to use it instead of the Canyon. It (apparently as I haven't tested it) has some good things going for it in hydraulic discs, endurance geometry and nice gearing (50-34 and 11-32 as opposed to 52-36 and 11-28 on the Canyon) but is a bit heavier.

I commute from time to time (short city centre commute of 5k each way and recently changed from a vintage Peugeot road bike to a Canyon Urban for this and riding around town). I like the flat bars, upright position and 1x gearing for a short commute - if this became any longer I'd try to use the CAAD12 with clip on mudguards

I also have older alu road bikes that I use on holidays & long weekends in both my parents & in-laws.

I'm looking to cut down to keep two road bikes (more for space and choice rather than money reasons) and I'm open to upgrades (carbon wheelset on the Canyon or an upgrade in the 300-500e range on the Synapse wheels) but looking to keep whatever I decide for the next 2-3 years at least (my mileage is relatively modest).

Any thoughts?

Edit: I live abroad so this isn't a disguised for sale thread

Peterx

To paraphrase the bould Marie Kondo - where's the love?
New build has love.
Second bike seems to be liked too.
I would sell the essentially new Synapse Disc 2018. As an impulse purchase it should be easy come and then easy go, and is heavier too.
Should sell as new.

Good disguised for sale thread

tuxy

Well the CAAD12 and Ultimate AL do the exact same job despite one having disc brakes. They are both light aggressive aluminium bikes. I don't see any need to have both of them.
I don't know anything about disc brakes, would the same wheel work on the CAAD12 and Synapse? It's nice to be able to rotate all your wheels between all you bikes.
If you get a new set of lightweight wheels you might be able to get the weight of the CAAD12 close to the Ultimate AL and still have the advantage of disc brakes.

I do also agree with that Peterx says though, while you know the Synapse is a good bike it's unused and unloved. That said I think you should use it over the winter, bearing are not that expensive, except sometimes wheel bearings... don't use your good wheels over the winter. But changing bottom bracket and headset bearing at the end of winter is not so expensive that it should put you off using a bike.

CantGetNoSleep

tuxy wrote: »

Well the CAAD12 and Ultimate AL do the exact same job despite one having disc brakes. They are both light aggressive aluminium bikes. I don't see any need to have both of them.
I don't know anything about disc brakes, would the same wheel work on the CAAD12 and Synapse? It's nice to be able to rotate all your wheels between all you bikes.
If you get a new set of lightweight wheels you might be able to get the weight of the CAAD12 close to the Ultimate AL and still have the advantage of disc brakes.

I do also agree with that Peterx says though, while you know the Synapse is a good bike it's unused and unloved. That said I think you should use it over the winter, bearing are not that expensive, except sometimes wheel bearings... don't use your good wheels over the winter. But changing bottom bracket and headset bearing at the end of winter is not so expensive that it should put you off using a bike.

Sorry that was a typo - it's an Ultimate CF

tuxy

Ah, well that's different. Then I think the canyon is perfect as your main bike and the CAAD12 would be perfect for winter.
Use the Synapse for a week or two and if you don't like it as much as the Canyon it's an easy decision. Or is the Synapse still unused just to keep the resale value higher?

Wishbone Ash

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

... was waiting for my wife to finish in a hair dressers once and found this half price in a closing down LBS. I bought it on the spot...

Love it!

Cee-Jay-Cee

My preference would be to keep the Canyon and Synapse and sell the caad12. The Synapse is a newer more versatile bike than the Caad. I also think the Caad would sell quicker than the Synapse.

AmberGold

Stay disc, it’s the future like it or not.

Use the CAAD12 as the good bike. Change the wheels at the very least to some Hunt lightweights and the seatpost to the Carbon Save.

Keep the synapse carbon as the winter bike / commuter as it takes full guards. Sell the rest and upgrade the chainsets, cassettes, wheels, seatposts and bars if you feel weights an issue. If cash isn’t an issue (doesn’t sound like it keep the askiums as a spare set of wheels.

Some really nice CAAD12 builds about and both the Synapse / CAAD are great bikes with good clearance.

CantGetNoSleep

I'm going to have to keep all three am I not?

eeeee

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

I'm going to have to keep all three am I not?

Yep.

I agree with Alex, I have a Caad12 disc (ultegra) and it's fantastic, discs rock. Streets ahead of rim brakes, always reliable, way of the future etc. etc.


They look absolutely hideous.


But keeping the Caad12 and the Synapse makes the most sense.

robyntmorton

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

I'm going to have to keep all three am I not?

Short answer - Yes
Long answer - Yes, but you really need a 4th bike, just to be sure.

Hope this helps

Plastik

There's also a CAAD13 en route, so that'll likely see the CAAD12 reduced everywhere to clear old stock at some stage.

CantGetNoSleep

Just to update on this - I finally (i.e. wife forced me to) put an ad up locally to sell the Synapse, someone came to buy it but saw the Canyon beside it, that was a better fit so he took that.

So I'm left with an unbuilt CAAD12 disc (need to take a few days off over summer to do that) and an unused Synapse 105 disc which now needs to become my main bike for the summer. It seems fine, any reviews I've read were great and there were certain things better than keeping the Canyon (discs, prefer the Cannondale geometry, gear ratios suited better) but only issue is that it's 1.5 - 2kg heavier than the Canyon (disc brakes, 105 instead of Ultegra and a cheap stock Cannondale wheelset vs Magic Ksyrium's are the main reasons for that I think).

Anyone recommend a wheelset in the 400€ range as an upgrade to shave a bit of weight off / or any other recommended weight savings? The Cannondale chainset seems to be lighter than Ultegra so I probably won't touch the groupset tbh

Cee-Jay-Cee

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Anyone recommend a wheelset in the 400€ range as an upgrade to shave a bit of weight off / or any other recommended weight savings? The Cannondale chainset seems to be lighter than Ultegra so I probably won't touch the groupset tbh

I’ve been using a set of Fulcrum Racing 5 disc wheels on my winter/wet bike for the last 18 months and they’ve been faultless. They’re as lightweight as you’ll get in their price range (1630g) and under €300. To get anything lighter you need to spend a lot more money.

They totally transformed my Felt VR30. The factory wheels were 2060g so a 430g weight difference for under €300 is pretty good going. They spin up faster and hold speed better than the factory wheels they replaced.

Highly recommend them.

Oberkon

Plastik wrote: »

There's also a CAAD13 en route, so that'll likely see the CAAD12 reduced everywhere to clear old stock at some stage.

I love that purple caad12 .105 model
Think I’d have to get one if a 52 comes up reduced

CantGetNoSleep

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

I’ve been using a set of Fulcrum Racing 5 disc wheels on my winter/wet bike for the last 18 months and they’ve been faultless. They’re as lightweight as you’ll get in their price range (1630g) and under €300. To get anything lighter you need to spend a lot more money.

They totally transformed my Felt VR30. The factory wheels were 2060g so a 430g weight difference for under €300 is pretty good going. They spin up faster and hold speed better than the factory wheels they replaced.

Highly recommend them.

Thanks, would probably be a 400/500g saving for me too