Diamondback Master

Price Paid:  $1000.00 at The Spoke

Favorite Ride:
Mohawk Trail

Bike Setup:
Full 105, WTB rocket saddle, panaracer Stradium Elite 26c tires, handbuilt 32h 105-Mavic Open Sport wheelset.

Summary:
I am starting to dable in road biking having ridden MTB for years. I knew very little about how a road bike should feel in terms of fit. I passed up a Felt because the Master has a full 105 gruppo and fit reasonable well. I believe the bike is a 2004 model because of the carbon fork. The Shimano R500 wheel set is very sketchy under my 205 lbs. I've built up a set of Mavic Open Sports with 105 hubs and 32, 14guage spokes. Now that I have a second roadbike (CAAD2) the Master seems a bit cramped. I will try to change out the stem for improvements. This little known model is functional, well equiped aside from wheelset and saddle, and great for entry into the sport.

Strengths:
Great drivetrain and relatively light.

Weaknesses:
Noisy, weak wheelset. The rims will clunk and rub the pads if you are heavy or strong. Horrible saddle.

Similar Products Used:
Felt F75, Bianchi Campione d'italia 2002

Price Paid:  $799.00 at Freewheelin' Bikes i

Bike Setup:
Added a computer, but the rest is stock as described above.

Summary:
I am really glad I spent a little extra money to get this bike instead of an entry level Trek or Cannondale. It doesn't have the name recognition of the others in road biking, but I can't imagine I am missing anything.
I wanted the better Shimano components and the bike came outfitted with mostly 105 (Tiagra shifters, Sora brakes, but everything else 105). I would have had to pay over $1000 for anything close in Trek or Cannondale or even Giant.
Also, the bike came with deep rim Shimano 535 wheels (16-spoke) that are way cool looking, and again, hard to believe they came on a $799 bike!
Performance has been excellent so far. I have ridden about 300 miles since I got it about a month ago, and everything works great. I think for someone like me who probably will mostly be using it for fitness and recreation, it will be just fine.

Strengths:
Tremendous value
Shimano 105 parts
Shimano wheels
Nice Selle Italia saddle comes with

Weaknesses:
stem and seatpost seem a bit cheap.

Similar Products Used:
Schwinn Worldsport 12-speed circa 1989.

Price Paid:  $770.00 at Ebay/ Acme Great Gea

Favorite Ride:
Grandview Lake

Bike Setup:
Master setup with new Velox Rim Strips, Titec DH stem, GAS carbon seat post, 3TTT Forma handlebars,

Summary:
This has proven to be a pretty good bike for the money. I've put a few hundreed miles on it, and it has been pretty smooth, and accelerates waaay better than my old C-dale. It seems mildly flexy around the BB shell, but most frames seem to be. The wheels make it look cool, but the cheap bars, stem, and post are terrible. Get new ones. Also, couldn't they have put some kevlar bead tires on these nice wheels instead of the Vittorias that came on it?

Strengths:
Inexpensive, relatively light frame, looks good, rides well.

Weaknesses:
Heavy-ass alloy fork, plastic rim strips, super-generic stem, bars, seatpost. SPD-R pedals are a step up from SPDs, but still not as good as LOOK.

Similar Products Used:
Cannondale SR800, Centurion Accordo RS