Spec Me A Road Bike - £3k to £5k

There's still some good deals around eg:

Synapse with eTAP - £4999 (RRP) down to £3249

https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product...bon-disc-red-etap-2019-19cdalesynapsecrbetap/

Synapse with Dura Ace - mechanical shifting but top-end groupset - £3999 down to £2499

https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product...arbon-disc-dura-ace-2019-19cdalesynapsecrbda/

The DA bike leaves a nice budget to replace the stock wheels. Both are in-stock in 58cm which I would think is good for a 6'3 person as I'm 6'1 and ride a 58cm Synapse as well.
 
I have very few actual recommendations here (or time to trawl for them as I'm a bit out of the loop on current offerings/pricing), but I would say to get yourself to a LBS which does Bike Fitting and seeing what they have around and offer you. At your height you can snap up some great 2019 deals, but really getting the right bike fit and recommendations from that from a good fitter should be the most important.

Who told you the groupset on your Felt is 'very old'? It's hard to make it out, but I'll go out on a limb and call them out as being wrong. To me the RD looks like 108/Ultegra. Cassette looks like 10/11 speed. Shifters have internal routing and again look like 105/ultegra, so it's younger than what I would call 'old'. It's either 11 speed 5800/6800 or 10 speed 5700/6700. Not old. The fact you have white hoods, I've seen them more on the older 10 speed. Think they are available if you look hard enough as an extra on 11 speed but not really seen many of them. Think some 10 speed you could generally buy the shifters/bike with them white so saw more of them.

AndyCr15 said:
Such as this? It does look and sound nice. **EDIT** What would be the difference of Ultimate over Endurance? ** Can you only buy direct from them? Does this make the better value then? (A quick google tells me this is the case)
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Canyon generally have the Aeroad and Endurance. Their aggressive aero 'race' bike and their endurance/sportive type comfortable relaxed gometry bike.

Then there is the Ultimate. It's a blend of everything, aimed at being the Ultimate bike. But it's more their attempt at the 'ultimate all-rounder'. So in other words a cleverly branded and marketed 'standard' bike. :D

Lakeland said:
Hambini has an opinion on their aero frames
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Hambini has an opinion on most things! Some of it quite valid (bearings and aero testing) but when he ventures into opinions on frames I'm a little more sceptical of him... It's entirely possible the frame (or small cross section of frames) he tests tolerances on (and then trashes big brands about) are just isolated (maybe even cherry picked) incidents of poor manufacture/QA.

AndyCr15 said:
Quite a bit of my riding gear is in red and black :) . Could be the winner right here.
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Haha don't fall down that rabbit hole... Buying a £3000 frame because it matches several £30 jerseys.

Just get the colour you like best, then buy more jerseys to suit! ;)
 
#Chri5# said:
There's still some good deals around eg:

Synapse with eTAP - £4999 (RRP) down to £3249

https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product...bon-disc-red-etap-2019-19cdalesynapsecrbetap/

Synapse with Dura Ace - mechanical shifting but top-end groupset - £3999 down to £2499

https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product...arbon-disc-dura-ace-2019-19cdalesynapsecrbda/

The DA bike leaves a nice budget to replace the stock wheels. Both are in-stock in 58cm which I would think is good for a 6'3 person as I'm 6'1 and ride a 58cm Synapse as well.
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Oooh, thanks. They both look pretty good deals... I also came across this -

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/propel-advanced-pro-disc

Not as big a discount, but I notice it has a power meter built in, which seems quite a plus as I would spend another £500+ on that otherwise. They have a shop only 40 minutes away from me, so there's the advantage I could go and check them out I guess.

Roady said:
Who told you the groupset on your Felt is 'very old'? It's hard to make it out, but I'll go out on a limb and call them out as being wrong. To me the RD looks like 108/Ultegra. Cassette looks like 10/11 speed. Shifters have internal routing and again look like 105/ultegra, so it's younger than what I would call 'old'. It's either 11 speed 5800/6800 or 10 speed 5700/6700. Not old. The fact you have white hoods, I've seen them more on the older 10 speed. Think they are available if you look hard enough as an extra on 11 speed but not really seen many of them. Think some 10 speed you could generally buy the shifters/bike with them white so saw more of them.
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Hmm, someone in the road cycling thread. You can see the discussion starting here.

Roady said:
Haha don't fall down that rabbit hole... Buying a £3000 frame because it matches several £30 jerseys.

Just get the colour you like best, then buy more jerseys to suit! ;)
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I was kinda half joking. I wouldn't buy one over another because of the colour. It would just be convenient :)
 
I have never ridden the Propel, but the TCR is Giant's "all-round race bike" whereas the Propel is their aerodynamic "go faster" bike. The TCR is probably more comfortable over longer distances, but this can depend on how well the bike fits you and how far you actually ride.
 
TCR - Total Compact Road. :cool:

When the first TCR came out it was quite a revelation in frame design and set quite a benchmark for an all-round race bike that many other brands then followed. It was light, stiff and very fast. So Giant revamped the range and relaunched a model with the name after for a couple of years concentrating on separating their range into the Aero (Propel) and Endurance (Defy). Most manufacturers now have done the same carrying an Aero bike, an Endurance bike and a 'do it all' bike. Then there's obviously the further more definitive/specialist splits in frame designs you can now also get - like gravel bikes, steel/titanium/audax/commuter style bikes, TT bikes etc etc.

Good article here about understanding Giants 2020 range and has some nice history references too (you can find similar articles for most manufacturers): https://www.cyclingweekly.com/group-tests/giant-bikes-346737

AndyCr15 said:
Hmm, someone in the road cycling thread. You can see the discussion starting here.

I was kinda half joking. I wouldn't buy one over another because of the colour. It would just be convenient :)
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That was one opinion that several others of us didn't agree with (hence my other comments above!) ;)

Although the groupset is 'older' 10 speed 105 there's nothing wrong with it. Use it and wear it out - then replace with newer 11 speed. There's very little difference between the groupsets really. But if you found the brakes lacking I know that's one thing that vastly improved over the last couple of revisions, also why you found people upgrading rim calipers to Dura-Ace/Ultegra quite frequently in the past (and less so now).

Most of my team kit is for the old NTFO team, so Black/Red with White stripes... Have ridden in those colours (and will continue to do so) but not sure I'd ever match the colours on a frame as I do like bright colours and to wear different kit too... I tend to go for contrasting or bright frame colours as I like things LOUD! :D
 
Roady said:
Good article here about understanding Giants 2020 range and has some nice history references too (you can find similar articles for most manufacturers): https://www.cyclingweekly.com/group-tests/giant-bikes-346737
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Thanks, that's a great link for understanding the brands naming conventions.

The Giant TCR Advanced Pro Disc 0 does look like it would be the Giant model for me, the equivalent of the Canyon Ultimate I suppose.

Roady said:
That was one opinion that several others of us didn't agree with (hence my other comments above!) ;)
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I do wonder if I should just save my money and stick with the Felt for a while. I don't think it's all that nice a ride though. Gear changes, for example, can be a little slow. Maybe I just need it aligning better...
 
AndyCr15 said:
Thanks, that's a great link for understanding the brands naming conventions.

The Giant TCR Advanced Pro Disc 0 does look like it would be the Giant model for me, the equivalent of the Canyon Ultimate I suppose.
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FYI. The front brake cable is external which puts a real downer on it in my view. It was something that I had my eye on.
 
if it's up to me, i would look into a almost new second hand/demo bike at around 2k then get some long lasting (read disc brake) wheels like Enve, zipp, campag bora etc for about 2-2.5k. then the rest goes into clothing/kit or anything peronalised items like stem/saddle/handlebar.
 
What he said ^ Get a bike that fits and you like the look of then spend the rest on good shorts, jerseys, trips away or power meter/direct drive turbo.


For racing I'd get a Carbon frame/Ultegra and budget for a set of carbon wheels. I could do that for about £3k.

If not racing I'd get a Caad 13 in purple with some bling wheels for the looks :D

https://www.instagram.com/p/B0_aYp9gWKQ/

orrrrrr

https://www.instagram.com/p/B7ORBqbn_7S/

#Poser

You'll find the geometry chart for your bike at the bottom of this PDF

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0021/5701/9254/files/2014_Felt_performance_lo.pdf?620

A TCR is very similar geometry to the Felt F series which is the out and out race bike with a longer reach and lower stack height than what the Z range had. The Defy would be the closest to Z sizing.
 
So, I just went and did it... why not! In the end i figured I can't go far wrong with a Canyon. Initially opted for the Ultimate... then saw it was not available in my size, even the XL which would probably be fine was not available until June! Went for the Endurace instead.

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Went out for a quick ride, just to test it and with a segment targetted. Greenhill Dragrace, I've done it 78 times and not been able to better my time I set back in May (when I was still pretty heavy) at 1:13. I got close when I put the new wheels on the Felt and had a go, think I did a 1:16 or something... on this bike I just did a 1:08!!! Well happy! :)

Generally it felt great. Breaks are soooo much better and love Di2, so responsive. Feels a more sporty and stretched position than my felt, but at the same time, really very comfy.

Photo's make it look rather orange, but in reality it's a matt red and looks amazing IMO. Really happy with it. Now I just need to set the wireless part up with the Di2 so I can connect it in to my Wahoo. I understand there's a high rate of bricking the thing when patching up though and needing the battery to be disconnected... which I have no idea how I do...
 
Nice, like that colour scheme! There should be a plastic cover under the bottom bracket to access the lower junction box. Fingers crossed you'll be fine. I've done it once or twice before and now have the diag box to fix it myself.
 
I'm a stat addict though :) I will enjoy checking out what gears I use through my ride on Strava, lol. I will actually like to be able to see my gears on my Wahoo too and be able to control the Wahoo from the handle bars. Not essential, but kinda handy.
 
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