Weaknesses: The bike is heavy and the Sora components are bottom of the line - however they have never failed me
Bottom Line:
I originally bought the bike as a commuter but have also taken it on many club rides, a supported tour and a self contained tour. It has never let me down. I found it to be a comfortable commuter with its carbon fork and steel frame. I have replace the Alex rims with stouter ones for touring, added a brooks B-17 seat and changed the cassette to an 11-34 for ease in climbing mountain passes. While I have done self contained touring on it, I feel it is pushing the bikes limit especially because the largest tires I can fit on it are 700-28. At $650.00, I found it to be an incredible, value. It has done everything I wanted and then some.
Strengths: Price. ($500 !?!?! A STEAL)
Durability (versus aluminum, so I'm told).
Lightweight (versus oldschool steel*).
* Just in case, like me, that's your primary reference point, as opposed to aluminums.
Weaknesses: Heavy (versus some aluminum and carbon).
Fragile (versus oldschool thicker steel*)
Bottom Line:
Can't say that I've ridden very many modern road bikes -- my other cycles are all '80s chrome-moly steel frames, so this bike is more than acceptably lightweight by my (admittedly low) standards.
Bike feels very solid over rough surfaces, brakes & handles excellently.
That there are three crank gears seems to mean that there are a few "off limits" gear settings where the chain is most diagonal (innermost crank gear & outermost wheel gear and vice versa). This is mostly irrelevant since those particular gears are in the middle of all possible gears, and therefore reproducible by other combinations of gearing. I have only ever tried using the smallest crank gear once, and when I did the chain slipped off, but I'm not too concerned considering it's a really ridiculously tiny gear that I don't imagine I'll ever need anyway.
The tubes must be really thin. I randomly noticed a rather large dent in the frame only 2 weeks after purchase -- no recollection of any incident which could have caused this, so I can't really say that it's a weak frame necessarily, though whatever caused it would not likely have so much as phased my '80s peugeot tanks.
In summary, bike seems to be a viable alternative to aluminum bikes for those who can't afford carbon. Lighter than some aluminums I've come across, heavier than some others (doesn't touch carbon, of course). Supposed to far outlast a comparable aluminum bike, and provide better comfort/stability. At $500, mine was cheaper than any (new) aluminum bike I could find anyway.
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Full Shimano 105 12 spd Group
Shimano 105 pedals
Shimano 105 hubs with Araya Rims
IRC 700x25c tires
Sakae Handlbars
Velo Saddle
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